'Sing To It' Is Worth The Wait
Amy Hempel's first book of new material in 14 years showcases her immense talents as a fiction writer. It's a powerful collection of stories about uneasy, unmoored, even desperate people.
Books
'Miranda In Milan:' No Woman Is An Island
Katharine Duckett's new novel picks up where Shakespeare's Tempest left off, following sorceror's daughter Miranda to her new life as a court lady — a life which proves darker than she'd hoped.
9 First-Person Perspectives Give Voice To 'The Other Americans'
The narrators in Laila Lalami's new novel have one thing in common: They've all "had the experience of dislocation," Lalami says. Together, they form a mosaic of race and class in America.
'Giraffes On Horseback Salad' Tells The Lost Story Of Harpo Marx And Salvador Dalí
When Salvador Dalí met Harpo Marx, he was so infatuated that he wrote a treatment for a surreal Marx Brothers film, Giraffes on Horseback Salad. The film didn't fly, but this graphic novel does.
'What Doesn't Kill You' Navigates The Challenges Of Existing While Black
Damon Young's new memoir is full of pointed, thoughtful, barbed and funny essays about the ways race has affected his life, and the lives of his family — and about his hopes for the next generation.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Wit Is Afire In 'Little Boy'
As he approaches his 100th birthday, the legendary Beat poet and publisher has a new book. Billed as his "literary last will and testament," Little Boy is part memoir, part rambling free-association.
Remembering Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet W. S. Merwin
The former U.S. poet laureate, who died March 15, was a prolific writer as well as a conservationist and a conscientious objector during World War II. He spoke to Fresh Air in 2008.
In 'The Chief,' An Enigmatic, Conservative John Roberts Walks A Political Tightrope
Reporter Joan Biskupic portrays the chief justice as a dedicated conservative who now "has the court he's always wanted" — and she says the law "will likely be what he says it is."
'High Heel' Muses On Beauty, Power — And Stilettos
When she worked at the U.N., Summer Brennan wore high heels almost every day — even when they made her fall. Her new book High Heel is an exploration of modern womanhood through the history of heels.
'The True Queen' Casts A Pleasant Spell
Zen Cho's followup to her Regency fantasy of manners Sorceror to the Crown builds solidly on the world she's invented, mixing historical froth with real substance.