Arts & Life

Alexander SkarsgÃ¥rd stars as Amleth and Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga in director Robert Eggers' Viking epic The Northman.

Books
Arts

What's making us happy: What to watch, read and listen to this weekend

3:01pm December 31, 2021

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: the trailer for The Northman, the novel The School for Good Mothers and more.

Arts

'Schmigadoon!' star Cecily Strong and co-creator Cinco Paul embrace musical satire

1:12pm December 31, 2021

by Terry Gross

The Apple TV+ satire series Schmigadoon! centers on a couple who gets trapped in a town where people burst into song. Originally broadcast Aug. 9 and Aug. 23.

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Arts

How a LGBTQ bookstore in Philadelphia reinvented itself and thrived

5:05am December 31, 2021

by Michaela Winberg

The oldest LGBTQ bookstore in the country is a shop called Giovanni's Room in Philadelphia. But when the bookstore almost closed forever in 2014, it took big changes to help it survive.

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Arts

Hundreds of poets will ring in the new year for the Poetry Project

5:05am December 31, 2021

Since 1966, the Poetry Project in New York City has hosted an annual New Year's Day poetry marathon. Last year, it featured 250 performances, seen by viewers from every continent except Antarctica.

Arts

Winnie-the-Pooh and more works will enter the public domain tomorrow

5:05am December 31, 2021

On January 1, 2022, thousands of creative works will go into the public domain in the U.S., including famous creations like Winnie-the-Pooh, Bambi, and a trove of early sound recordings.

A portrait of Reuters journalist Danish Siddiqui at the press club in Mumbai, July 2021.

Remembering some of those we lost in 2021, from literary legends to everyday heroes

4:03pm December 30, 2021

by Tien Le

2021 was filled with tremendous loss, from staggering COVID deaths to those of leading writers such as Joan Didion and bell hooks to a longtime abortion activist and politicians who shaped our world.

The top Fresh Air web stories of 2021 reflect the show's status as a place where artists, authors and journalists speak to the moment.

You won't want to miss the 10 most popular 'Fresh Air' stories of 2021

11:40am December 30, 2021

From Dr. Anthony Fauci to Sacha Baron Cohen, the year's most popular Fresh Air web pages reflect the show's strength as a place where artists, authors and journalists speak to the moment.

Stills from (L-R): CODA, The Morning Show, Summer of Soul, Starstruck, Plan B, the Olympics, Ted Lasso, and Spencer.

Arts

50 wonderful things from 2021: The performances, moments, and laughs we'll remember

9:37am December 30, 2021

by Linda Holmes

NPR pop culture critic Linda Holmes lists highlights from the year, including Ted Lasso, a TikTok dog, a twisty mystery, some great performances, and a moment in a mall.

'Life Kit': How to say sorry

6:34pm December 29, 2021

We know you want to be the best you in 2022, so we're offering a curated selection of excerpts from 2021 Life Kit episodes to help you do just that. Here's how to say "sorry" — like you mean it.

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Author and cultural critic bell hooks poses for a portrait on December 16, 1996.

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Arts

Here's what bell hooks' friends and colleagues want you to remember about her

2:19pm December 29, 2021

by Jireh Deng

Since hooks' passing on December 15, social media has flooded with reflections on her public impact as an author and scholar. Here, her friends remember what she was like in private.