Arts & Life

Books
Arts

In This Poetic New Novel, An Ancient Form Of Dance Frees A Modern Storyteller

7:00am September 08, 2021

by Marcela Davison Avilés

Shruti Swamy has won awards for her short fiction; The Archer, her debut novel, is a coming-of-age tale inspired by the graceful, precise storytelling of India's ancient Kathak dance form.

The state of Alabama has a new poet laureate: Ashley M. Jones is the first Black poet to claim the title, and at 31, also the youngest.

Books
Arts

Alabama's First Black Poet Laureate Takes A Personal Approach To 'Reparations'

6:56am September 08, 2021

by Jeevika Verma

Ashley M. Jones is Alabama's youngest and first Black poet laureate. Her new book Reparations Now! discusses America's history of Black oppression, and asks for more than monetary repairs.

Books
Arts

'Poet Warrior' Centers On The Role Of Poetry, Art And Music In Joy Harjo's Life

5:00am September 08, 2021

by Gabino Iglesias

More than an autobiography following a strict chronological path and detailing all major events, this book focuses on the role of art in the U.S. poet laureate's life and her development as an artist.

This combination photo shows Jamie Spears, left, father of Britney Spears, as he leaves the Stanley Mosk Courthouse on Oct. 24, 2012, in Los Angeles and Britney Spears at the Clive Davis and The Recording Academy Pre-Grammy Gala on Feb. 11, 2017, in Bever

Britney Spears' Father Has Filed A Petition To End Her Conservatorship

8:13pm September 07, 2021

by The Associated Press

James Spears filed his petition to terminate the conservatorship that has controlled his daughter's life and money for 13 years in Los Angeles Superior Court. A judge will need to approve the move.

Books
Arts

How A Cotton Sack, Passed Down Over Generations, Tells A Larger Story About Slavery

1:42pm September 07, 2021

by Arun Venugopal

In her new book, All That She Carried, historian Tiya Miles tells the story of an enslaved woman who, upon hearing her child was to be sold off, hastily packed her a bag with a few personal items.

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Arts

This Kid Just Put Everyone Else's Pandemic Hobby Game To Shame

12:50pm September 07, 2021

by Emily Alfin Johnson

Over the course of the pandemic many of us have taken up (and often dropped...) new hobbies to past the time. But Brigitte Xie has taken it to a whole new level.

Joy Harjo's memoir is Poet Warrior. She plays saxophone and recites poetry on her new album, I Pray for My Enemies.

'Poet Warrior' Joy Harjo Wants Native Peoples To Be Seen As Human

12:46pm September 07, 2021

by Terry Gross

The nation's first Native American poet laureate has a new memoir in which she tells her own story — as well as the story of her sixth-generation grandfather, who was forced from his ancestral land.

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Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Thankful Poor, 1894, oil on canvas, Art Bridges

Arts

X-Rays And Infrared Reveal The Story Of The 1st Internationally Known Black Painter

11:44am September 07, 2021

by Susan Stamberg

Born in Pittsburgh in 1859, Henry Ossawa Tanner moved to Paris, where he found "nobody knows or cares what was the complexion of my forebears." Recent conservation work explores his artistic process.

Into the Forest: A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love, by Rebecca Frankel

'Into The Forest' Tells Story Of One Family's Escape From Nazi-Created Zhetel Ghetto

7:46am September 07, 2021

by J.P. O'Malley

While the story of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising is well-documented, pockets of Jewish resistance surfaced in smaller ghettos across Nazi-occupied central-eastern Europe too. Zhetel is one such place.

Books
Arts

Nothing Is Going To Be OK In This Wrenching, Beautiful Story Collection

7:00am September 07, 2021

by Michael Schaub

Ye Chun's new story collection Hao takes its name from a Chinese word meaning "good," or "everything's OK" — but the characters in these stories are sick, afraid, out of time, and anything but OK.