Books

Eric Carle with a cutout of his famously hungry caterpillar at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Mass.

Books
Arts

Eric Carle, Creator Of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar,' Has Died

7:49pm May 26, 2021

by Neda Ulaby

The beloved author and illustrator drew more than 70 books for kids — often about friendly bugs like that famous caterpillar. He said he got his inspiration from nature walks with his father.

Yusef Salaam, shown above in 2019, reflects on his wrongful conviction in the memoir, Better, Not Bitter.

Central Park 'Exonerated 5' Member Reflects On Freedom And Forgiveness

2:06pm May 26, 2021

by Terry Gross

In 1990, Yusef Salaam was one of the five boys wrongly convicted in the so-called Central Park jogger case. They weren't exonerated until 2002. Salaam tells his story in Better, Not Bitter.

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Derrick Young, co-owner of Mahogany Books in Washington, D.C., says his store has seen new customers in the last year who seem to be "willing to do the work" to educate themselves on issues of race in America.

A Moment Or A Movement? Black Bookstore Owners On Business One Year Later

11:30am May 26, 2021

by Jason Fuller

After last summer's surge in anti-racist book sales, NPR spoke to three Black bookstore owners across the country to ask if customers are still engaged with their businesses and anti-racist reading.

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Books
Arts

'On Juneteenth' Historian Examines The 'Hope' And 'Hostility' Toward Emancipation

1:35pm May 25, 2021

by Terry Gross

Juneteenth celebrates the day slavery ended in Texas, June 19, 1865. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed studies the early American republic and the legacy of slavery.

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Books
Arts

A Bullied Kid Finds Unconventional Freedom In 'Heaven'

5:00am May 25, 2021

by Lily Meyer

Following the success of Breasts and Eggs, Mieko Kawakami's publishers are releasing a beautiful new translation of her 2016 novel Heaven, about an unnamed teen dealing with bullies at school.

Dawnie Walton left her job as the deputy managing editor of Essence to write The Final Revival of Opal & Nev.

Books
Arts

'70s Music Journalism Gets An Overdue Rewrite In Debut Novel 'Opal & Nev'

12:58pm May 24, 2021

by Terry Gross

Dawnie Walton's novel is a faux oral history about an interracial rock duo. Opal is a Black proto Afro-punk singer from Detroit, and Nev is a goofy white British singer-songwriter.

Books

Yasmin Khan's Cookbook Tells The Story Of Pieces Of Home Left Behind

7:54am May 23, 2021

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with cookbook author Yasmin Khan about her new book, Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories from Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus.

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Members of the Workers Assembly Against Racism gather across from an Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market in New York City as part of a nationwide solidarity event with Amazon workers seeking to unionize in Bessemer, Ala., on Feb. 20.

What The Rise Of Amazon Has To Do With The Rise Of Trump

7:46am May 23, 2021

by Danielle Kurtzleben

The new book Fulfillment, by Alec MacGillis, looks at America's economic history — as well as its future — through the lens of Amazon.

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Books
Arts

May's YA Brings Unlikely Connections Between Very Different Stories

5:00am May 23, 2021

by Caitlyn Paxson

At first glance, The Ones We're Meant to Find and Luck of the Titanic don't have much in common — one's historical, one's dystopia. But as you read, you'll see surprising thematic connections.

Books
Arts

In David Yoon's New Novel, Resetting The Internet To 'Version Zero'

10:03am May 22, 2021

by Scott Simon

David Yoon draws on his own experience working in tech for his new novel, about a disillusioned data whiz who decides to, literally, reboot the internet — with some catastrophic consequences.