Books

Emma Donoghue's New Novel Follows "The Wonder" Of Starvation

9:13am September 17, 2016

The main character in Emma Donoghue's new novel "The Wonder" is a little Irish girl who refuses to eat. She says she's been kept alive by "manna from heaven." NPR's Scott Simon speaks to the author.

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Laia Jufresa Weaves Together Richness Through Common Grief In Debut Novel 'Umami'

8:53am September 17, 2016

Laia Jufresa's new novel Umami traces a group of neighbors, each getting over a private grief. Scott Simon asks Jufresa about the book and the woman who translated it from Spanish to English.

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'Commonwealth' Doesn't Need Big Drama To Draw Us In

7:00am September 17, 2016

by Annalisa Quinn

Ordinary family life provides all the tension and attraction in Ann Patchett's new book. The story of two families and a fateful party that upends both, it draws on Patchett's own life experiences.

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Writer Mat Johnson On 'Loving Day' And Life As A 'Black Boy' Who Looks White

2:08pm September 16, 2016

As a biracial child growing up in Philadelphia, Mat Johnson identified as black, but looked white. His latest novel is about a man returning to his childhood home. Originally broadcast June 29, 2015.

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Jose Vazquez holds a book he found during the D.C. Public Library's banned book scavenger hunt.

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In Banned Books Scavenger Hunt, The Prize Is Literary 'Smut'

8:14pm September 15, 2016

by Lynn Neary

The D.C. public library has hidden books throughout the city in stores, libraries and cafes. They're covered in black dust jackets with labels like FILTHY, TRASHY and PROFANE. Can you find all six?

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The 'Racial Cleansing' That Drove 1,100 Black Residents Out Of Forsyth County, Ga.

2:07pm September 15, 2016

In 1912, white mobs set fire to black churches and black-owned businesses. Eventually the entire black population of Forsyth County was driven out, says Blood at the Root author Patrick Phillips.

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Language Is Home In 'When In French'

1:36pm September 15, 2016

by Heller McAlpin

When New Yorker writer and native North Carolinian Lauren Collins married a French man, she set herself to the task of learning French. Her new memoir is a meditation on language and identity.

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'Jerusalem' Is Alan Moore's Really Big Book — In Every Way

11:27am September 15, 2016

by Jason Sheehan

The legendary comics creator spent 10 years on his latest work, a 1,200-page-plus epic about everything, nothing and Northampton, his home town and sacred ground — which serves as the main character.

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Colson Whitehead, John Lewis, Rita Dove Among National Book Award Nominees

10:15am September 15, 2016

by Colin Dwyer

And then there were 40: This week, the National Book Foundation revealed the writers who are still in contention for its literary prize. It capped the rollout Thursday with the fiction nominees.

Abby Wambach celebrates the U.S. team's victory against Japan in the FIFA Women's World Cup on July 5, 2015.

Why Abby Wambach Doesn't Want To Be Known 'Just As A Soccer Player'

7:56am September 15, 2016

Wambach scored 184 goals, more than any other man or woman in the history of international soccer. Still, she knew that someday that identity would end — and "what then?" Her new memoir is Forward.

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