Books

Lucy Sante, shown here in January 2024, says, "I am lucky to have survived my own repression. I think a lot of people in my position have not."

Books
Arts

A gender-swapping photo app helped Lucy Sante come out as trans at age 67

1:47pm February 21, 2024

by Tonya Mosley

In 2021, Sante, who was assigned male at birth, was playing around with a face-altering app and she had a breakthrough. Her new memoir is I Heard Her Call My Name.

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Books

Omotara James releases her debut poetry collection: 'Song of My Softening'

11:00am February 21, 2024

by Devan Schwartz

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to poet and author Omotara James about her collection which explores self-love in a Black, fat body. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a Lambda literary fellow.

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Books

A secret shelf of banned books thrives in a Texas school, under the nose of censors

7:23am February 21, 2024

by Neda Ulaby

A high school teacher in Houston has a library in her classroom of books she's not supposed to have, per state legislation. Students say she's helping them survive. (Story aired on ATC on 1/29/24.)

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Writer Phillip B. Williams brought the power of conjuring into his debut novel 'Ours'

6:00pm February 20, 2024

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with writer Phillip B. Williams about his debut novel, Ours, a sprawling American epic that centers on a woman who frees enslaved people and builds a hidden town for them.

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Books
Arts

'Splinters' is a tribute to the love of a mother for a daughter

10:45am February 20, 2024

by Ilana Masad

In different variations of her signature, beautifully frank language, Leslie Jamison writes about her fantasy of stability and her uncertainty as to whether it's a dream she actually wants fulfilled.

Books

Award-winning Arab American journalist writes about her search for belonging

7:08am February 20, 2024

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Emmy Award winning journalist Hala Gorani about her memoir, But You Don't Look Arab, and what it's like to cover the world as a Syrian-American journalist.

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Books
Arts

'Oscar Wars' spotlights bias, blind spots and backstage battles in the Academy

2:01pm February 19, 2024

by Terry Gross

From relentless campaigning to snubs and speeches, the Academy Awards have often reflected a cultural conflict zone. Michael Schulman discusses the controversies. Originally broadcast Feb. 22, 2023.

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The Kamogawa Food Detectives, by Hisashi Kashiwai

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Arts

You'll savor the off-beat mysteries served up by 'The Kamogawa Food Detectives'

11:49am February 19, 2024

by Maureen Corrigan

Hisashi Kashiwai's charming novel centers on a diner where carefully reconstructed meals help unlock mysteries of memory and regret.

Books

A new book looks at how movies have critiqued the institution of marriage

8:28am February 18, 2024

by Andrew Limbong

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" is an unsparing look at a dysfunctional marriage. A new book argues that the film still has a lot to say about the institution of marriage.

Books

Lucy Sante on her memoir 'I Heard Her Call My Name'

8:04am February 18, 2024

by Don Gonyea

NPR's Don Gonyea talks with writer Lucy Sante about her memoir, "I Heard Her Call My Name," which recounts her gender transition at age 66.