Books

Books
Arts

Struggling Writers Steal Someone Else's Work In 2 New Suspense Novels

1:45pm June 01, 2021

by Maureen Corrigan

Chris Power's brooding literary novel A Lonely Man and Jean Hanff Korelitz's nightmare of a thriller The Plot explore the dangerous consequences of sticky fingers in the literary world.

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Mapping A Path Forward For The Asian Diaspora In 'Imagine Us, The Swarm'

12:34pm June 01, 2021

by Jeevika Verma

In her latest collection, Chinese American poet Muriel Leung considers what it means to assimilate, and ultimately heal, against the collective memory of grief and vulnerability.

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Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of the poetry collection Counting Descent.

Slavery Wasn't 'Long Ago': A Writer Exposes The Disconnect In How We Tell History

12:07pm June 01, 2021

by Terry Gross

In How the Word is Passed, Clint Smith visits eight places central to the history of slavery in America, including Thomas Jefferson's Monticello plantation and Louisiana's Angola prison.

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Arts

'House Of Sticks' Is An Immigrant Success Story With Filial Bonds At The Core

11:57am June 01, 2021

by Thuy Dinh

Ly Tran's narrative power lies in its nuanced celebration of family devotion that withstands the enormous cost of the American dream.

Sinead O'Connor performs at August Hall in San Francisco, Calif., in February 2020.

Sinéad O'Connor Has A New Memoir ... And No Regrets

6:13am June 01, 2021

by Allyson McCabe

Fiery singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor became a star in the MTV era, rewriting the rules while courting controversy. Now, she reclaims an influential legacy with a new memoir, Rememberings.

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The Star-Touched Queen, by Roshani Chokshi

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What's In A Genre Name? The Trouble With 'Asian Fantasy'

4:54pm May 30, 2021

by Kalyani Saxena

Asian fantasy has been increasingly popular over the past few years, but some authors shelved in that category are wondering whether it's really a useful way of describing a vast and varied subgenre.

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Books

In 'Instructions for Dancing', A Cynical Former Romantic Gets A Magical Surprise

8:56am May 30, 2021

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Nicola Yoon about her new romance novel, Instructions for Dancing, in which a disenchanted teenager fed up with love gets a strange superpower.

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Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, by Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martínez

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A Stunning Graphic Novel Uncovers The History Of Enslaved Women Who Fought Back

7:00am May 30, 2021

by Etelka Lehoczky

Wake, by Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martínez, blends passion and fact to set a new standard for illustrated history: Not just action scenes of daring, desperate women, but the struggle to make them known.

The original cover of Jewell Parker Rhodes' novel, Magic City.

Books
Arts

In Both Fact And Fiction, The Truth Of Tulsa Is Hard To Stomach

12:25pm May 29, 2021

by Karen Grigsby Bates

When author Jewell Parker Rhodes tried to publish a novel retelling the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre, she found that not everyone was ready to reckon with the city's painful, traumatic history.

Books

Alice Waters Gets To The Heart Of America's Health And Food Problem In New Book

7:43am May 29, 2021

NPR's Scott Simon talks to chef and restaurateur Alice Waters about her slow food manifesto, We Are What We Eat.