Author Interviews

Books
Arts

In new novel '2054', technology is advancing, but is humanity able to catch up?

5:37pm March 13, 2024

In the new book 2054, Admiral James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman imagine how the singularity might threaten America and the world 30 years from now.

Queue Listen Now

In 'Unshrinking,' a writer discusses coming out as fat and pushing back against bias

3:00pm March 13, 2024

by Mara Gordon

Kate Manne tried to shrink her body for years before embracing her size as part of a "natural, normal human variation." She says the fight against fat phobia must start in the doctor's office.

Jim Sciutto on if the next world war is preventable

4:55pm March 12, 2024

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with CNN chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto about his new book The Return of Great Powers and how close we are to the precipice of a new global order.

Queue Listen Now

In her book Coming Out As Dalit, Yashica Dutt writes about growing up as a member of one of India's lowest castes, hiding her identity — then finally deciding to go public with the struggles she has faced.

Q&A: Yashica Dutt on her life as part of an oppressed caste in 'Coming Out As Dalit'

8:43am March 10, 2024

by Kamala Thiagarajan

When Dutt was a kid, her family pretended to be rich so no one would suspect their caste identity. In her memoir, she talks of her struggles — and her decision to publicly declare she is a Dalit.

Books

Rita Bullwinkel talks about her novel 'Headshot' and writing about women's boxing

8:06am March 09, 2024

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon talks with Rita Bullwinkel about her new novel, "Headshot." It tells the past, present, and future of eight girls who compete in a boxing championship in Nevada.

Books

A new book traces the lives of 4 people among thousands of 'unclaimed' deaths in L.A.

8:06am March 09, 2024

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with sociologists Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans about their book, "The Unclaimed," about unclaimed bodies in Los Angeles and the stories behind them.

Books
Arts

A Hollywood filmmaker talks about making movies (and sometimes throwing chairs)

1:36pm March 07, 2024

by Dave Davies

Writer, director and producer Ed Zwick has made dozens of films and TV shows. In Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions, he writes about studios, actors and the frustrations and joys of the business.

Queue Listen Now

Rod Nordland looks at the Istanbul old city from Galata Tower on Nov. 20, 2016. Nordland was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a terminal brain cancer, in 2019.

After years in conflict zones, a war reporter reckons with a deadly cancer diagnosis

2:28pm March 05, 2024

by Terry Gross

Rod Nordland was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most lethal form of brain cancer, in 2019. He writes about facing mortality from war and cancer in his new memoir, Waiting for the Monsoon.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

RuPaul reflects on growing up Black and queer — and forging his own path

11:42am March 05, 2024

by Tonya Mosley

The Emmy-winning host of RuPaul's Drag Race describes himself as "an introvert masquerading as an extrovert." He reflects on the first 40 years of his life in the memoir The House of Hidden Meanings.

Queue Listen Now

Books

Author Charles Duhigg is trying to help us have better conversations

5:55pm March 03, 2024

NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Charles Duhigg about his new book Supercommunicators.

Queue Listen Now