Arts & Life

The "Confusion" mini-wardrobe, designed to express the conflicting feelings sparked by social media.

Arts

Confused? Anxious? Prickly? Couturiers At Viktor & Rolf Have You Covered

1:01pm July 09, 2020

by Petra Mayer

These are troubled times and the high-concept fashion house is reflecting that in its fall 2020 collection — three mini-wardrobes embodying anger, confusion and, finally, love and hope.

Base for a water pipe (hookah), 1650-1700. India; Bidar, Karnataka state. Zinc alloy with inlaid silver and brass.

Arts

Need 2 Minutes Of Calm? Inhale, Exhale ... And Click Here

9:56am July 09, 2020

by Susan Stamberg

San Francisco's Asian Art Museum has been asking staffers to highlight favorite objects in the collection. Curator Forrest McGill chose the base of a hookah, made in 17th century India.

Books
Arts

Gently Weird 'Collective Gravities' Grounds The Extraordinary In The Ordinary

7:00am July 09, 2020

by Jason Heller

Love isn't the main subject in Chloe N. Clark's debut collection, but it's an important one — these stories dig into the ways we evolve towards each other, form bonds, and feel the earth spin.

A Scrabble players group finds some words are too offensive for its approved list.

Scrabble Association Bans Racial, Ethnic Slurs From Its Official Word List

9:32pm July 08, 2020

by Scott Neuman

On Wednesday, the North American Scrabble Players Association, which governs tournaments in the U.S. and Canada, said it was removing 236 potentially offensive words from its approved list.

Welcome to Chechnya chronicles the persecution of LGBTQ youth in this ultra-conservative society.

Arts

'Welcome To Chechnya' Chronicles Abuses Against Its LGBTQ Citizens

1:50pm July 08, 2020

by Justin Chang

Homosexuality and gender nonconformity have long been frowned upon in Chechen society. Welcome to Chechnya is a grimly ironic title for a documentary that plays like a chilling undercover thriller.

Queue Listen Now

'Unholy' Examines The Alliance Between White Evangelicals And Trump

1:27pm July 08, 2020

by Terry Gross

The president isn't known for his faith. Instead, author Sarah Posner says he connects with Evangelicals by voicing the legal, social, religious and cultural grievances of the Christian right.

Queue Listen Now

Dana Canedy announces 2019 Pulitzer winners at a ceremony in New York.

Books
Arts

Dana Canedy Is First Black Person To Head Major Publishing Imprint

12:29pm July 08, 2020

by Rachel Martin

Simon & Schuster has named Dana Canedy executive vice president and publisher of its namesake imprint. She is the first Black person and the third woman to hold that position.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

If Surprise Makes A Great Novel, 'Antkind' Is A Great Novel

7:00am July 08, 2020

by Gabino Iglesias

Charlie Kaufman's doorstopper new novel could only have been written by Charlie Kaufman — which may seem vague, but we promise it fits the unapologetic, overstuffed Antkind perfectly.

Walter Mercado, celebrity astrologer and great dresser, is featured in a new documentary called Mucho Mucho Amor.

Arts

Walter Mercado, Remembered, With 'Mucho Mucho Amor'

7:00am July 08, 2020

by Linda Holmes

Walter Mercado found his way into many tens of millions of homes as a television astrologer. A new Netflix documentary looks at his life and what he meant to the people who watched him.

President Trump, seen last week at the White House, is the subject of another scathing book that also faced a court battle. The release date for the new book by his niece, Mary Trump, has been moved up to July 14.

'The Stakes Are Far Higher Than They've Ever Been': Trump's Niece Pens Tell-All

9:01pm July 07, 2020

by Colin Dwyer

Mary Trump offers a scathing portrait of the president in a book that very nearly was blocked from publication. Now its publisher is bumping up the release date.