Books

Books

The Smithsonian cancelled an Asian American Literature Festival. The organizers kept it going

8:07am August 06, 2023

by Eyder Peralta

NPR's Eyder Peralta talks with Regie Cabico, co-organizer of this year's Asian American Literature Festival that's holding events in Washington, D.C., after the Smithsonian cancelled a larger event.

Books

Jimin Han on her novel 'The Apology'

8:07am August 06, 2023

by Eyder Peralta

A South Korean woman keeps family secrets for her whole life, but she can't keep them in the afterlife. NPR's Eyder Peralta talks with Jimin Han about her novel, "The Apology."

Books

'Waiting To Be Arrested At Night' is the story of a Uyghur poet's escape

6:14pm August 05, 2023

by Emily Feng

Poet Tahir Hamut Izgil left the Chinese region of Xinjiang amid a government crackdown on the Uyghur people. He writes about that in his book, Waiting to be Arrested at Night.

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Summer Is For Cousins, written by Rajani LaRocca and illustrated by Abhi Alwar

Books
Arts

Hop in the minivan: 'Summer Is for Cousins' invites you on a family vacation

11:44am August 05, 2023

by Samantha Balaban

Summer is for swimming, playing cards and talking all night. Summer is for ice cream and doing nothing. And, in this new picture book from Rajani LaRocca and Abhi Alwar, summer is also for cousins.

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Yu & Me Books was a fairly new business when a fire — which broke out above the store on July 4 — caused substantial damage to the shop. Now, owner Lucy Yu is working to rebuild not just the physical bookstore, but the community around it as well.

Fire devastated this NYC Chinatown bookshop — community has rushed to its aid

11:22am August 05, 2023

by Kat Chow

Yu & Me Books was a fairly new business when a fire caused substantial damage to the shop. Now, owner Lucy Yu is working to repair not just the physical bookstore but the community around it as well.

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C.K. Chau says the themes and conflicts in Pride and Prejudice are universal.

Books

A new take on 'Pride and Prejudice' brings readers to 2000s New York Chinatown

2:03pm August 03, 2023

by Kai McNamee

By recasting the Bennets as a Cantonese, working-class immigrant family, C.K. Chau hopes to fill a gap in the Pride and Prejudice canon.

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Books
Arts

For 'Such Kindness' novelist Andre Dubus III, chronic pain is a fact of life

1:47pm August 03, 2023

by Terry Gross

Dubus III talks about the injuries he faced when he was a carpenter, and how his relationship changed with his father after the senior Dubus was struck by a car and never walked again.

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Author Steven Millhauser doesn't mind if his new stories leave you uneasy

4:43pm August 02, 2023

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer talks with author Steven Millhauser about new collection of short stories, Disruptions, that describe fantastical situations that deal with obsessions, fixations and extremes.

'Waiting To Be Arrested At Night' is the story of a Uyghur poet's escape

5:28pm August 01, 2023

by Emily Feng

Tahir Hamut Izgil is one of the best-known living Uyghur poets. He left Xinjiang amid a Chinese crackdown on the Uyghur people — an escape at the heart of his book, Waiting To Be Arrested At Night.

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Author Ann Patchett on writing about family secrets in new novel 'Tom Lake'

4:57pm August 01, 2023

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with author Ann Patchett on her latest novel Tom Lake, which tackles family, maternal love and the secrets a mother may choose not to share with her children.