Arts & Life

Prince Fans Get First Glimpse Inside Paisley Park

4:34pm October 06, 2016

by Jay Gabler

Prince's home, Paisley Park, is opening as a museum just six months since his death. Local government in a Minneapolis has stopped tours until zoning and permit issues are resolved. Meanwhile, a few lucky visitors got tours before the suspension.

Books
Arts

These Are The 2016 National Book Award Finalists

10:31am October 06, 2016

by Colin Dwyer

Colson Whitehead, Jacqueline Woodson and Rita Dove are just three of the authors on the shortlists for the National Book Awards. The 20 books still in contention for the prizes were unveiled Thursday.

Books
Arts

Cuba Is A Dream That Doesn't Let Go In 'The Mortifications'

7:00am October 06, 2016

by Jason Sheehan

Derek Palacio's new novel follows a family who escape Cuba, leaving their political rebel patriarch behind after he refuses to go with them. When he reappears decades later, their lives come apart.

Books
Arts

New Biography Celebrates E.B. White, Who Really Was 'Some Writer!'

6:12pm October 05, 2016

by NPR Staff

Melissa Sweet's colorful, kid-friendly biography includes letters, family photos, illustrations, manuscripts and more from the man behind Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan.

Arts

'The Encounter' Brings The Sound Of The Amazon To Broadway

4:37pm October 05, 2016

by Jeff Lunden

In 1969, an explorer and photographer named Loren McIntyre was dropped into the Amazon rainforest to try and make contact with a tribe called the Mayoruna. Now his story is headed to Broadway. The show uses binaural audio to play sounds of the rainforest in 3-D.

In his new memoir, Born To Run, Bruce Springsteen reflects on how home, roots and family helped shape him and his music.

Bruce Springsteen: On Jersey, Masculinity And Wishing To Be His Stage Persona

2:25pm October 05, 2016

"People see you onstage and, yeah, I'd want to be that guy," Springsteen says. "I want to be that guy myself very often."

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The Wangs of the World by Jade Chang (Raquel Zaldivar/NPR)

Books
Arts

'The Wangs' Is Sparkling Family Travelogue — With Teeth

7:00am October 05, 2016

by Jason Heller

Jade Chang's debut novel follows former cosmetics magnate Charles Wang, whose business empire has collapsed, as he herds his fractious family on a cross-country roadtrip to their new home.

Italian Journalist Sets Out To Unmask True Identity Of Author Elena Ferrante

6:49pm October 04, 2016

Over the weekend, an Italian financial journalist outed the identity of author Elena Ferrante, whose pseudonym lent intrigue to her bestselling novels. NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with Dayna Tortorici of n+1 magazine about the outing.

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The Angel of History by Rabih Alameddine (Raquel Zaldivar/NPR)

Books
Arts

'The Angel Of History' Says 'I Will Not Forget'

4:32pm October 04, 2016

by NPR Staff

Rabih Alameddine has much in common with the hero of his new novel: Both are gay, Arab writers in San Francisco. And both lost friends to the AIDS epidemic, and are angry that it's being forgotten.

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Gloria Naylor, 'The Women Of Brewster Place' Author, Dies At 66

4:32pm October 04, 2016

by Lynn Neary

Gloria Naylor's debut novel, The Women of Brewster Place, won a National Book Award and became a TV mini-series starring Oprah Winfrey. Naylor has died at age 66.