Books

'Age of Danger' explores potential risks because AI doesn't understand rules of war

7:53am May 17, 2023

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Thom Shanker, co-author of the book Age of Danger, about the threats artificial intelligence poses to national security.

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Books

Kwame Alexander's memoir began as a book of love poems but morphed into so much more

7:18am May 17, 2023

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with author Kwame Alexander about his new book: Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Recipes, Letters, and Remembrances.

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Arts

Author R.F. Kuang on unlikable narrators and cultural appropriation in 'Yellowface'

5:24pm May 16, 2023

R.F. Kuang talks about her new novel Yellowface and why she wanted to write a book about cultural appropriation in the publishing world.

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R.F. Kuang says fiction should be about imagining outside our own perspective.

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Arts

She wants fiction writers to step outside their experiences. Even if it's messy

5:09pm May 16, 2023

by Manuela López Restrepo

R.F. Kuang's novel Yellowface offers a literary exploration of cultural appropriation taken to a new degree.

Samantha Irby's new memoir is Quietly Hostile. Her previous books include Meaty; New Year, Same Trash; We Are Never Meeting in Real Life; and Wow, No Thank You.

Books
Arts

'Quietly Hostile' is Samantha Irby's survival guide (of sorts)

12:43pm May 16, 2023

by Tonya Mosley

Irby shares almost everything in her new book of essays, Quietly Hostile but, she says, "If I can't have a conversation with a stranger about the thing that I wrote, I won't put it in a book."

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'The Three of Us' tracks a married couple and the wife's manipulative best friend

10:46am May 16, 2023

by Heller McAlpin

We've seen jealous, possessive friends and housewreckers with no boundaries before, though perhaps not quite so thoroughly, unapologetically unlikeable as in Ore Agbaje-Williams's debut novel.

Books

Jonathan Eig's new biography examines the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

5:10am May 16, 2023

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to biographer Jonathan Eig about King a Life. "One of the interesting things about King is that he's a protest leader who really does not like conflict," Eig says.

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Arts

In 'Quietly Hostile,' Samantha Irby trains a cynical eye inward

1:43pm May 15, 2023

by Jason Heller

In her fourth collection of essays, the bestselling author and TV writer renews her love/hate vows with the human race — as well as her relationship with her own flaws and failings.

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Arts

'Yellowface' takes white privilege to a sinister level

6:51am May 15, 2023

by Keishel Williams

R.F. Kuang's first foray outside fantasy is a well-executed, gripping, fast-paced novel about the nuances of the publishing world when an author is desperate enough to do anything for success.

Books

'New China Playbook' has a different view than many Western policymakers do on China

5:10am May 15, 2023

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with economist Keyu Jin about her book: The New China Playbook. She teaches now at the London School of Economics.