Arts & Life

Gail Godwin, whose latest novel is Flora, has been a finalist for the National Book Award and a Guggenheim fellow.

Books
Arts

Godwin's 'Flora': A Tale Of Remorse That Creeps Under Your Skin

3:20pm May 06, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

The latest novel from three-time National Book Award finalist Gail Godwin takes inspiration from Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. Both stories take place in isolated old houses, and both revolve around mental contests between a governess character and her young charge.

Queue Listen Now

Laura Linney and Alan Alda star in The Big C, now in its fourth season on Showtime. Linney took on the role not long before her own father died of cancer.

Arts

Linney Mines 'The Big C' For Serious Laughs

3:20pm May 06, 2013

On Showtime's dark comedy series, Laura Linney plays a terminally ill cancer patient. The actress's own father died from lung cancer while the series was being made; her mother was a cancer nurse when Linney was young. These experiences, she says, inform her performance.

Queue Listen Now

Barbra Streisand is Joyce Brewster in The Guilt Trip. The multitalented performer has won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony — a feat achieved by fewer than a dozen artists.

Arts

'Guilt Trip': Streisand On Songs, Film And Family

8:04am May 06, 2013

Singer, actor, writer, director and producer Barbra Streisand plays a well-meaning if overbearing Jewish mom in The Guilt Trip. The star says her own mother both encouraged her talents and was jealous of them.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

A Tale From The Delta, Born Of The Blues

7:20pm May 05, 2013

by NPR Staff

Bill Cheng's debut novel, Southern Cross the Dog, is full of mythical characters who feel like they rose right out of the Mississippi Swamp, and narratives that churn and swirl like the river itself. Cheng calls the novel "a love note to those old blues players."

Queue Listen Now

When illustrator Ralph Steadman accepted an assignment with writer Hunter S. Thompson at the Kentucky Derby, he never imagined the weekend that would ensue. Here, Steadman depicts the race's winner, a colt named Dust Commander.

A 'Decadent And Depraved' Derby With Hunter S. Thompson

6:27pm May 04, 2013

by NPR Staff

Illustrator Ralph Steadman had never heard of Hunter S. Thompson before he flew to Churchill Downs on assignment to cover the Kentucky Derby. But after an unforgettable, booze-ridden weekend with the writer, Steadman's life was never the same.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

'The Great Gatsby': Retold Again, With A Distinct Treatment

11:53am May 04, 2013

Host Scott Simon talks to director Baz Luhrmann about his new film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic American novel, The Great Gatsby.

Queue Listen Now

Book cover detail: Papadaddy's Book For New Fathers

Books
Arts

Advice For New Dads From A Veteran Father Of Four

8:28pm May 03, 2013

Novelist Clyde Edgerton has four kids; one is an adult, and the other three are all younger than 10. His new book, Papadaddy's Book for New Fathers, is a guide for dads that's written from his perspective as an older father. Pay heed, expectant fathers: Install that car seat now.

Queue Listen Now

In Iron Man 3, Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), and Gwyneth Paltrow reprises hers as his girlfriend, Pepper Potts.

Arts

'Iron Man 3': Tony Stark As Home-Brew Hero

4:01pm May 03, 2013

by David Edelstein

Director and co-writer Shane Black kicks Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., out of his comfort zone — a choice that has Stark functioning as a lone gumshoe, thinking like a garage mechanic and, when necessary, straight-up MacGyvering a fix.

Queue Listen Now

Caroline Kennedy's other works include of A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children and A Patriot's Handbook.

Books
Arts

'Poems To Learn By Heart': The Merits Of Memorizing Verse

1:17pm May 03, 2013

Caroline Kennedy isn't just an advocate for reading poetry. In her latest book, Poems to Learn by Heart, Kennedy stresses the importance of memorizing poetry and presents a collection of poems that she believes kids and adults alike should internalize.

Queue Listen Now

Bradley Cooper was nominated for an Academy Award for his 2012 role in the film Silver Linings Playbook.

Arts

Bradley Cooper Finds 'Silver Linings' Everywhere

12:37pm May 03, 2013

The actor, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in David O. Russell's film which is out now on DVD, talks about watching movies with his father as a kid in Philadelphia. He currently stars in The Place Beyond The Pines with Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes.

Queue Listen Now