Arts & Life

As with many of his novels, Hiaasen sets his latest — Bad Monkey — in his home state of Florida.

Books
Arts

Florida-Grown Fiction: Hiaasen Satirizes The Sunshine State

4:45pm June 13, 2013

Novelist and Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen writes with passion and purpose about the state he loves. His latest book, Bad Monkey, is an offbeat murder mystery set in Key West.

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Slaid Cleaves' music is influenced by singer-songwriters such as Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.

Slaid Cleaves: 'Still Fighting' With Smart Lyrics And Stories

3:34pm June 13, 2013

by Ken Tucker

The singer-songwriter has said, as he was writing his new album Still Fighting the War, that "a theme of perseverance through hard times revealed itself." Rock critic Ken Tucker says the record is no downer, and that Cleaves finds complex sentiments and wittily phrased ideas in many of his new songs.

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Yoram Kaniuk speaks in 2008 at the AFI Fest premiere of Adam Resurrected, based on a novel he wrote.

Books
Arts

Israeli Writer Yoram Kaniuk, 83, On Pain And Peace

3:34pm June 13, 2013

Author and journalist Yoram Kaniuk died June 8 at age 83. He joined Fresh Air's Terry Gross in August 1988 to talk about fighting in the Israeli underground and his belief that, for Israelis and Palestinians, "the only way is to live somehow together."

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Jerry Seinfeld won a 2013 Webby Award for Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

Arts

From Seinfeld, A Second Season Of 'Coffee' Talk

11:01am June 13, 2013

by NPR Staff

The stand-up is back with another run of his Webby-winning online series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. He tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer the project still feels like a personal outing with friends from the business.

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Fame Studios And The Road To Nashville Songwriting Glory

9:57am June 13, 2013

by Ed Ward

One of America's great songwriters, Dan Penn has written dozens of soul classics, often with keyboardist Spooner Oldham. For a while, the two were on the staff of Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. Ace Records has just released an entire CD of Penn's demos.

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Singer Merry Clayton performs in Hollywood during a celebration of Carole King and her music.

'20 Feet From' The Spotlight, There's Singing Worthy Of One

2:31pm June 12, 2013

A new documentary directed by Morgan Neville profiles backup singers whose voices you know but whose names you probably don't: Lisa Fischer, Darlene Love, Judith Hill and Merry Clayton.

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Colum McCann won the National Book Award in 2009 for Let the Great World Spin.

Books
Arts

McCann's 'TransAtlantic' Crosses Fiction And Fact, Ireland And U.S.

11:25am June 12, 2013

by Lynn Neary

Novelist Colum McCann decided to write about the ties that bind his homeland, Ireland, with the United States, where he now lives. But he wanted to stay far away from cliches about being Irish-American. The result? His new novel, featuring historical figures searching for freedom, adventure and peace.

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Mara Wilson, 25, was a child actor who starred in Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire.

Arts

'Matilda' Star Mara Wilson On Why Some Child Actors Lose It

8:50am June 12, 2013

by NPR Staff

After years in movies and TV shows, some child actors end up making headlines for stints in rehab and legal drama later in life. Others leave Hollywood behind and pursue different careers. Mara Wilson, star of Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire, explains the challenges of transitioning to adulthood.

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Books
Arts

What Kids Are Reading, In School And Out

7:11pm June 11, 2013

by Lynn Neary

Some experts are concerned that both in-school assignments and the books kids read for pleasure may not be challenging them enough.

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James Franco (from left), Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and Danny McBride all play versions of themselves in the post-apocalyptic comedy This Is the End, written by Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg.

Arts

Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg: Friends Till 'The End'

5:16pm June 11, 2013

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg met as adolescents on the Vancouver bar mitzvah circuit — and soon after began writing the script for what would become the movie Superbad. Their new project is This Is the End, a disaster-movie spoof in which the Rapture hits home in Hollywood.

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