Arts & Life

Books
Arts

A 'Home Baked' Childhood: When The Family Business Is Marijuana Brownies

1:29pm April 28, 2020

by Dave Davies

Growing up in San Francisco in the '70s, Alia Volz's family ran a booming weed-laced brownie business. "I had this understanding of my family as an outlaw family from the very beginning," she says.

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Homeland has come to an end after eight seasons. Claire Danes starred as CIA officer Carrie Mathison and Mandy Patinkin played her boss, Saul Berenson.

Arts

Who'd Have Thought We'd Be Watching The 'Homeland' Finale To 'De-Stress'?

8:32pm April 27, 2020

by Mary Louise Kelly

For eight seasons, Homeland has closely tracked real-life events and anxieties. Now, the show drops its finale in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic — a terrifying real world plot twist.

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Faced with financial issues, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater closed its Chelsea location in 2017.

Arts

Comedy Community Mourns The 'End Of An Era' As UCB Closes New York Locations

3:16pm April 27, 2020

by Emma Bowman

Upright Citizens Brigade, the improv mainstay and launchpad for many comics, will no longer have a physical space in New York City. Despite UCB's flaws, "people are grieving," a former UCBer says.

Mindy Kaling drew on her own high school experiences to co-create the Netflix series Never Have I Ever.

Arts

Mindy Kaling Brings A New Nerd To TV, And Finds She 'Was Not Alone' As A Teen

1:38pm April 27, 2020

by Terry Gross

"It ended up being very cathartic," Kaling says of creating the Netflix show, Never Have I Ever. The series centers on an outgoing, opinionated, Indian American teen who's on the hunt for a boyfriend.

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Jane Hirshfield, author of the new book of poems Ledger, reads a few listener-submitted poems to close National Poetry Month.

Books
Arts

'A Poet Is Quite Prepared For A Pandemic,' Says 'Ledger' Author Jane Hirshfield

4:11am April 27, 2020

by Michel Martin

National Book Award finalist Jane Hirshfield helps us close the book on National Poetry Month by reading her favorite listener-submitted Twitter poems.

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Arts

In Azerbaijan, You May Find Yourself Behind The Wheel Of A Lada Automobile

1:54pm April 26, 2020

In Lada Landscapes, photographer Thomas Marsden takes the viewer on a road trip between the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea — all with the iconic Soviet-era cars.

Books
Arts

A Little Girl Didn't Like Her 'Bedtime Bonnet,' So Mom Wrote A Book To Help

7:55am April 26, 2020

by Samantha Balaban

When Nancy Redd was a kid, she was embarrassed by the bonnet she wore over her hair every night. "I didn't want my daughter growing up with that same shame," she says.

How to Feed a Dictator, by Witold Szablowski

Books
Arts

'How To Feed A Dictator' Spills The Beans On Five Strongmen

7:55am April 26, 2020

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

For his new book, Witold Szablowski tracked down the chefs who fed autocrats like Pol Pot, Enver Hoxha and Idi Amin. He says the book isn't just about food, but about how dictatorships rise and grow.

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Grady Hendrix's new novel is The Southern Book Club's Guide to Vampire Slaying.

Books
Arts

Getting Some Blood On The Page: Questions For Grady Hendrix

7:00am April 26, 2020

by Petra Mayer

Hendrix's new novel, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, stars a group of determined women who band together to take on a suave supernatural threat in their community.

Ocean Beach in San Francisco, Calif., as seen on March 25.

'Why We Swim' Looks For Answers In People And Places Across The Globe

8:04am April 25, 2020

by Scott Simon

Author Bonnie Tsui reminds us that humankind once sprang from — and still seeks — water. "Even if we can't get in the water right now," she says, "the ocean will be waiting for us."