Books

Books
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Books Can Help Kids Learn About What Happened On 9/11. Here Are Some Good Ones

12:08pm September 09, 2021

by Juanita Giles

On 9/11, it was impossible to connect the dots for adults, nevermind children. Here are some books that can help kids try to understand that fateful date 20 years later.

Books

Some Novels And Short Stories That Have Been Inspired By The 9/11 Attacks

6:11am September 09, 2021

NPR's Rachel Martin talks with author Marlon James about how novelists have approached writing about the Sept. 11 attacks. He also has some reading recommendations.

Books

Pakistani Novelist Mohsin Hamid Explains What 9/11 Meant For Pakistan

5:19am September 09, 2021

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid about the sprawling and tragic effects of the war in Afghanistan. Hamid's novels include: The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Exit West.

Books
Arts

In 'Civilizations,' Inca Emperor Atahualpa Conquers 16th-Century Spain

5:00am September 09, 2021

by Lily Meyer

Laurent Binet seems to genuinely want to know to what extent conquest and the cruelty it inevitably produces are reducible, redeemable, or escapable. He also plainly wants to play around.

These three books provide a detailed accounting of events that have largely defined the U.S. role in the world in the first part of the 21st century.

3 Books — And 3 Lessons — 20 Years After 9/11

2:39pm September 08, 2021

by Greg Myre

These books provide a detailed accounting of events that have defined the U.S. role in the world in the first part of the 21st century. None makes for cheery reading, but all offer sobering lessons.

On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint, by Maggie Nelson

Books
Arts

Writer Maggie Nelson Asks What It Means To Feel Free

11:58am September 08, 2021

by Annalisa Quinn

In On Freedom's allusive, blunt, funny essays, the author of The Argonauts and The Art of Cruelty tries to imagine freedom as it exists in the contemporary contexts of art, sex, drugs, and climate.

Books
Arts

In This Poetic New Novel, An Ancient Form Of Dance Frees A Modern Storyteller

7:00am September 08, 2021

by Marcela Davison Avilés

Shruti Swamy has won awards for her short fiction; The Archer, her debut novel, is a coming-of-age tale inspired by the graceful, precise storytelling of India's ancient Kathak dance form.

The state of Alabama has a new poet laureate: Ashley M. Jones is the first Black poet to claim the title, and at 31, also the youngest.

Books
Arts

Alabama's First Black Poet Laureate Takes A Personal Approach To 'Reparations'

6:56am September 08, 2021

by Jeevika Verma

Ashley M. Jones is Alabama's youngest and first Black poet laureate. Her new book Reparations Now! discusses America's history of Black oppression, and asks for more than monetary repairs.

Books
Arts

'Poet Warrior' Centers On The Role Of Poetry, Art And Music In Joy Harjo's Life

5:00am September 08, 2021

by Gabino Iglesias

More than an autobiography following a strict chronological path and detailing all major events, this book focuses on the role of art in the U.S. poet laureate's life and her development as an artist.

Hilma Wolitzer On Writing The Short Story That Helped Her Process Her Husband's Death

4:35pm September 07, 2021

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Hilma Wolitzer about her collection of short stories, Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket, which illuminates the complexity of motherhood and marriage.