Books

Books

A children's book author recommends books to keep your kids busy this summer

8:02am July 30, 2023

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with children's book author Matt de la Peña about summer reading recommendations for kids of all ages when they complain, "I'm bored!"

Author Elizabeth Acevedo's new novel, Family Lore, centers four sisters — Matilde, Flor, Pastora, and Camila — and their daughters.

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Arts

In 'Family Lore,' award-winning YA author Elizabeth Acevedo turns to adult readers

1:50pm July 29, 2023

by Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

A winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature is out with a debut novel for adults. Elizabeth Acevedo's Family Lore is about sisterhood and memory in a Dominican-American family.

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Lydia Kiesling on her new novel 'Mobility'

8:05am July 29, 2023

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon talks with Lydia Kiesling about her new novel, "Mobility." It's part of a growing genre of literature addressing climate change.

A pediatric neurosurgeon reflects on his intense job, and the post-Roe landscape

1:30pm July 28, 2023

by Dave Davies

Jay Wellons has operated on kids' brains and spinal cords. He writes about the anguish of losing a patient and the exhilaration of saving a life in All That Moves Us. Originally broadcast July 2022.

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'Into the Bright Sunshine' spotlights the achievements of LBJ VP Hubert Humphrey

2:01pm July 27, 2023

by Dave Davies

Humphrey is remembered for his defense of an unpopular war in Vietnam, but author Sam Freedman says the former mayor of Minneapolis played a critical role in getting Democrats to embrace civil rights.

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Poet Terrance Hayes holds a mirror to history, headlines and himself in 'So To Speak'

8:36pm July 26, 2023

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with poet Terrance Hayes about his new collection "So To Speak," which touches on topics from history, to himself and to headlines in the news.

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How to love your daughter, according to this author

5:12pm July 25, 2023

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks to author Hila Blum about her novel How to Love Your Daughter, which seems to pose a question: is there such a thing as loving too much?

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S.A. Cosby's previous books include Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland.

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Arts

Crime writer S.A. Cosby loves the South — and is haunted by it

1:26pm July 25, 2023

by Sam Briger

Cosby's novel All the Sinners Bleed centers on a Black sheriff in a small Southeast Virginia county. The novel was inspired by his own experiences growing up in the shadow of the Confederacy.

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In 'Someone Who Isn't Me,' Geoff Rickly recounts the struggles of some other singer

1:02pm July 25, 2023

by Jason Heller

Rickly's first book is a solid and promising literary debut. He's a natural, albeit a germinal one. He is best known as a singer and songwriter of the rock band Thursday.

Books
Arts

Colson Whitehead channels the paranoia and fear of 1970s NYC in 'Crook Manifesto'

1:43pm July 24, 2023

by Terry Gross

"My early '70s New York is dingy and grimy," the Pulitzer Prize-winning author says. Whitehead's sequel to Harlem Shuffle centers on crime at every level, from small-time crooks to Harlem's elite.

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