Arts & Life

Louise Monaghan was previously a senior travel consultant. She's currently a full-time mother.

Books
Arts

A Mother Rescues Her Daughter From War-Torn Syria

6:51pm June 23, 2013

by NPR Staff

When her abusive ex-husband kidnapped their daughter and returned to Syria, Louise Monaghan went after them. The story of how she escaped with her life and her daughter is the subject of her new book, Stolen.

Queue Listen Now

Emma Watson, who shot to global fame as the level-headed, resourceful Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, admits there's a certain irony in her playing a teenager who burgles the homes of celebrities.

Arts

Coppola And Watson On Teens, Fame And 'Bling'

7:30pm June 22, 2013

by NPR Staff

NPR's Scott Simon talks to writer-director Sofia Coppola and actress Emma Watson about their film The Bling Ring, in which a group of celebrity-mad teens rob the homes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and others. It's based on a true story.

Queue Listen Now

Actor Jeff Cohen in a scene from The Goonies.

Arts

The Movie Matthew Morrison Has 'Seen A Million Times'

6:18pm June 22, 2013

by Lily Percy

Actor and singer Matthew Morrison could watch Richard Donner's cult classic The Goonies a million times. "You know, it was kind of that adventure that every kid wants to have," he says.

Queue Listen Now

The traditional Kendama is making a splash with kids.

Arts

The Kendama: Can A Wooden Toy Be A Viral Sensation?

7:11pm June 21, 2013

by Ben Adler

The kendama is a traditional wooden toy, but its appeal is spreading rapidly.

Queue Listen Now

Ghost Island Looms Large Among Displaced Inupiat Eskimos

7:11pm June 21, 2013

by NPR Staff

About 50 years ago, the native Alaskans were forced to leave their ancestral home on King Island, in the Bering Sea. Now, an Anchorage poet has crowdsourced enough money to bring a group of former King Islanders and their descendants back for a visit.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Calling It 'Metadata' Doesn't Make Surveillance Less Intrusive

2:47pm June 21, 2013

by Geoff Nunberg

Whether it's logs of phone calls or GPS data, commentator Geoff Nunberg says it still says a lot about who you are: "Tell me where you've been and who you've been talking to, and I'll tell you about your politics, your health, your sexual orientation, your finances," he says.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Oliver Sacks, Exploring How Hallucinations Happen

2:28pm June 21, 2013

The famed neurologist talks to Fresh Air about how grief, trauma, brain injury, medications and neurological disorders can trigger hallucinations — and about his personal experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs in the 1960s.

Queue Listen Now

In his new book, The Center Holds, Jonathan Alter looks at President Obama's re-election campaign.

'The Center Holds' Sees Victory For Moderates In Obama's Win

2:50pm June 20, 2013

Journalist Jonathan Alter regards the 2012 presidential contest as the most consequential election of recent times. In his new book, Alter argues that President Obama's re-election prevented the country from veering sharply to the right, and he dissects the campaign and the events that led up to it.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Nikky Finney Ponders Possibilities Of The Poetry Profession

2:25pm June 20, 2013

Nikky Finney won the National Book Award for her poetry collection Head Off & Split in 2011. Two years later, she is on the other side as a judge and the chair of the award panel. As part of TOTN's "Looking Ahead" series, Finney discusses the future of poetry as a profession.

Queue Listen Now

Actor James Gandolfini speaks at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards in January 2013. He died on June 19.

Arts

Gandolfini Through The Eyes Of Those He Worked With

2:19pm June 20, 2013

The actor who brought mob boss Tony Soprano to life on the HBO drama The Sopranos died Wednesday at age 51. Fresh Air listens back to interviews with his co-stars Edie Falco and Jeff Daniels and Sopranos director David Chase, to hear their thoughts on Gandolfini's prodigious talent.

Queue Listen Now