Books

Czech author Milan Kundera is best known for his book The Unbearable Lightness of Being. After the Soviet occupation, Kundera was blacklisted and banned. He lived in exile in France, where he would later become a citizen. He's pictured above in 1973.

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Arts

Milan Kundera, who wrote 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being,' dies at 94

7:50am July 12, 2023

by Andrew Limbong

The Czech writer tackled big topics — sex, surveillance, death, totalitarianism — but always with a sense of humor. Blacklisted and banned in the Soviet Union, he left for France in 1975.

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Silicon Valley is less promised land, more black hole in new novel, 'Ripe'

4:40pm July 11, 2023

NPR's Juana Summers talks with writer Sarah Rose Etter about her new novel Ripe, which explores the darker sides of Silicon Valley as a woman tries to make sense of her career and growing dread.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor addresses attendees of an event in 2019 promoting her new children's book in Decatur, Ga.

Justice Sotomayor's staff urged schools and libraries to buy her memoir or kid's books

1:01pm July 11, 2023

by The Associated Press

The works have earned Sotomayor $3.7 million since she joined the court in 2009. Her taxpayer-funded staffers have been deeply involved in organizing speaking engagements intended to sell the books.

'When Crack Was King' follows four people who lived through the drug epidemic

8:07am July 11, 2023

by Ilana Masad

An excellent work of people-first journalism, Donovan X. Ramsey's book offers a vivid and frank history and highlights how communities tend to save themselves even as they're being targeted.

'The Skull,' Jon Klassen's latest children's book, is darker than his previous ones

4:06pm July 10, 2023

by Julie Depenbrock

Author and illustrator Jon Klassen is best known for children's books like I Want My Hat Back and This is Not My Hat. His latest, The Skull, is an adaptation of a traditional folktale.

Books

'The Skull,' Jon Klassen's latest children's book, is darker than his previous ones

5:22am July 10, 2023

Author and illustrator Jon Klassen is best known for children's books like I Want My Hat Back and This is Not My Hat. His latest, The Skull, is an adaptation of a traditional folktale.

Books

How audiobooks are made

5:10pm July 09, 2023

From the podcast Nerdette from WBEZ: How can a "book on tape" bring a text to life?

Books

Donovan X. Ramsey's book is a 'people's history' of the cocaine epidemic

8:01am July 09, 2023

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to author Donovan X. Ramsey about his new book, "When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era." It tells the story of the crack cocaine epidemic.

Books

A new short story collection showcases the diversity of the Black Muslim experience

4:59pm July 08, 2023

NPR's Scott Detrow talks with author Aaliyah Bilal about her new book Temple Folk, which tells the stories of dozens of Black Muslims over the course of several decades.

New Bedford Public Library Director Olivia Melo on Friday points to a stamp dating to 1882 when the New Bedford library system acquired the book.

An overdue library book makes a return trip to the shelves — 119 years later

10:05am July 08, 2023

by The Associated Press

There are overdue library books. Then there's An Elementary Treatise on Electricity, which was last checked out in Massachusetts in 1904. It finally made it back after being spotted in West Virginia.