Arts & Life

Books
Arts

It's A Chump's Life In 'Amnesia'

5:52am January 18, 2015

by Jason Sheehan

Peter Carey's new novel starts with a sad-sack disgraced reporter tasked with writing the biography of a notorious hacker, but reviewer Jason Sheehan says there's a jarring change of gears halfway.

A year after his cancer diagnosis, Henning Mankell is working on a new novel, and he just directed Shakespeare's Hamlet in his adopted country of Mozambique.

'Wallander' Author Henning Mankell On The Catastrophe Of Cancer

9:11pm January 17, 2015

by Martin Scholz

The famed Swedish author of the Kurt Wallander mystery novels was diagnosed a year ago — "a catastrophe for me," he says; since then, he's talked more about the disease than the drama of forensics.

Arts

London Project Aims To Increase Diversity Of Filmmakers

6:59pm January 17, 2015

Deborah Sathe, head of talent development and production for Film London's Microwave project, talks with NPR's Arun Rath about the project's efforts to recruit and mentor diverse filmmakers.

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Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom cover detail

Books
Arts

Illustrated Memoir Recalls Marching In Selma At Just 15

6:59pm January 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

Lynda Blackmon Lowery was still a child when she joined the legendary 1965 march. Now she's written a book for young readers about the experience, called Turning 15 On The Road To Freedom.

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Desiree Akhavan plays Shirin in Appropriate Behavior. Akhavan says she chose the name Shirin because it means sweet in Farsi. "Even though she's insane, she has a sweetness," says Akhavan.

Arts

Iranian-American Filmmaker Breaks Out Of Boxes, Into The Box Office

4:25pm January 17, 2015

by Shereen Marisol Meraji

Desiree Akhavan wrote, directed and stars in the new comedy Appropriate Behavior. It's informed by her life as a bisexual Brooklynite, but the film, like its maker, defies easy categorization.

Deborah Voigt regularly hosts and performs in the Metropolitan Opera's The Met: Live in HD series.

A 'Down-To-Earth Diva' Confronts Her Flaws And Good Fortune

11:57am January 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

In a frank new memoir, soprano Deborah Voigt reveals her troubles with obesity, alcohol and bad relationships, along with her many triumphs in opera houses the world over.

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Australian comedian Barry Humphries as legendary housewife Dame Edna Everage appears at a press conference in Sydney on July 5, 2012.

Arts

Not My Job: Dame Edna Everage Gets Quizzed On Farewell Tours

11:14am January 17, 2015

Housewife and superstar Dame Edna Everage is the creation of Australian comedian Barry Humphries. Edna has just launched her U.S. farewell tour so she'll be playing a game called "I won't be back!"

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Yaya DaCosta as Whitney Houston in Lifetime's Whitney.

Can A 'Whitney' Biopic Beat Watching Whitney Houston?

5:26am January 17, 2015

by Linda Holmes

Angela Bassett directs the Lifetime movie about Whitney Houston airing Saturday, but the project lacks structure and especially subtlety.

Arts

'Still Alice' Is A Triumph For Julianne Moore, But The Rest Of Film Is Thin

1:59pm January 16, 2015

by David Edelstein

The movie is based on neuroscientist Lisa Genova's novel about a linguistics professor with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. While Moore is fascinating, the rest of the characters are half-formed.

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Books
Arts

Skeptic Takes A Tour Of Self-Help's 'Promise Land'

1:59pm January 16, 2015

Despite being the daughter of a child psychologist and self-help author, Jessica Lamb-Shapiro has spent her life recoiling from the self-help industry. She talks about how the industry helped her.

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