Books

Marie Lu says it's fitting — given her tendency to write dark, dystopian novels — that she was born in the year 1984.

Books
Arts

'Young People Who Do Extraordinary Things' Are The Norm In Marie Lu's YA World

5:15am September 08, 2017

by Mandalit del Barco

The bestselling young adult author specializes in dystopian fiction. Her latest, Warcross, is set in the not-too-distant future, and draws on Lu's time working in the video game industry.

Queue Listen Now

Four heads are better than one; in an annual tradition, Monticchiello's villagers turn their lives into a play to resolve conflicts.

Books
Arts

'Spettacolo' Lovingly Chronicles A Tuscan Theatrical Tradition In Decline

5:00pm September 07, 2017

by Mark Jenkins

Once a year, for 51 years, residents of the Tuscan hamlet Monticchielo have staged a play about their lives. A new documentary finds the town's younger generation is losing interest in the practice.

Adèle Haenel as Jenny, a doctor who discovers that an unidentified woman has been found near her practice.

Books
Arts

A Knock Unanswered, A Body Unmourned: 'The Unknown Girl'

5:00pm September 07, 2017

by Andrew Lapin

Sorry, Wrong Nombre: Directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, known for stripped-down social realist dramas, bring their spare aesthetic to a surprisingly pulpy murder mystery.

Biologist Jonathan Losos Explores 'Convergent Evolution' In 'Improbable Destinies'

4:28pm September 07, 2017

NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with Jonathan Losos, author of the new book, Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution, which explores the growing understanding of "convergent evolution."

Books
Arts

Addiction Is A Family Affair In 'Mayhem'

10:00am September 07, 2017

by Martha Anne Toll

Sigrid Rausing is heir to a packaging fortune and a global philanthropist, but her new memoir describes a painfully ordinary family tragedy: her sister-in-law's drug addiction, struggle and death.

Tales of Falling and Flying By Ben Loory

Books
Arts

People And Animals, 'Falling And Flying,' Make For A Hypnotic Read

7:00am September 07, 2017

by Michael Schaub

Ben Loory's new story collection is dreamlike in the best way: both cheerfully surreal and cosmically unsettling, full of lovelorn cephalopods, discontented sloths and the occasional darker touch.

Books

Conservative Publisher Quits 'NYT' Best-Seller List

5:52am September 07, 2017

by Lynn Neary

Conservative book publisher Regnery has announced that it will no longer use the New York Times best-seller list in its promotional materials. Regnery says it is biased.

Tales of Two Americas Edited By John Freeman

Books
Arts

Fiery And Nuanced, 'Tales Of Two Americas' Sheds Light On Economic Inequality

2:00pm September 06, 2017

by Jason Heller

This collection of essays, poems, and short stories — edited by John Freeman — makes for a gripping and intensely personal examination of inequality, transience and displacement in America.

Loudon Wainwright III Opens Up About The 'Exes & Excess' That Inform His Music

10:36am September 06, 2017

Wainwright has written remarkable songs about family, and how we hurt and heal each other. Now he details his life as a husband, father, son, philanderer and musician in the memoir Liner Notes.

The World of Tomorrow, by Brendan Mathews

Books
Arts

'The World Of Tomorrow' Is A Huge Story, Told Intimately

7:00am September 06, 2017

by Jason Sheehan

Brendan Mathew's The World of Tomorrow follows three Irish brothers having the best (or the worst) week of their lives, in 1939 New York. It's a serious literary novel, but full of madcap flourishes.