Author Interviews

Books

'Sisters': A Thriller About A Terrifying Co-Dependent Relationship

4:05pm August 20, 2020

NPR's Leila Fadel talks with British novelist Daisy Johnson about her new novel, Sisters. It's the story of two sisters who were born less than a year apart and have an especially strong connection.

Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union, Richard Kreitner

'Break It Up' Examines The History Of Secession Movements In The U.S.

11:28am August 20, 2020

by Steve Inskeep

Author Richard Kreitner tells NPR he didn't write his book as a prescription, but that "if we are talking about the end of democracy in America ... I think we need to have all options on the table."

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Books

'Black Bottom Saints': A Love Letter To Detroit's History

4:04pm August 19, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with author Alice Randall about her new novel, Black Bottom Saints.

Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World by Lesley M.M. Blume

Books
Arts

'Fallout' Tells The Story Of The Journalist Who Exposed The 'Hiroshima Cover-Up'

2:46pm August 19, 2020

by Dave Davies

Lesley M.M. Blume's new book tells the story of John Hersey, the young journalist whose on-the-ground reporting in Hiroshima, Japan, exposed the world to the devastation of nuclear weapons.

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Books
Arts

Author Carl Hiaasen Skewers Palm Beach And Florida Life In 'Squeeze Me'

2:37pm August 18, 2020

by Dave Davies

The Miami Herald columnist's new novel is a mystery featuring wealthy widows, the president and first lady, a scrappy wildlife removal specialist, and some gigantic Burmese pythons.

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Books
Arts

'It's Not Religion': In 'The Runaways,' Bhutto Examines The Lure Of Extremism

5:05am August 17, 2020

"I was really trying to look at why a 19-year-old boy would give up everything ... in order, quite literally, to take up arms against the world," says novelist Fatima Bhutto.

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Books

Author Nina Jankowicz On Disinformation And Her New Book

5:55pm August 16, 2020

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and author of the new book How to Lose the Information War.

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Stephen Miller, White House senior adviser for policy, listens during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 15.

'Hatemonger' Tracks How Right-Wing Media Shaped Trump Policy Architect Stephen Miller

7:59am August 16, 2020

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Jean Guerrero tells NPR she became fascinated, when reporting from the border, with how a descendant of Jewish refugees ended up as the person crafting Donald Trump's "harshest rhetoric and policies."

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Books
Arts

Giving Autism Some Love In 'A Room Called Earth'

7:57am August 15, 2020

by Scott Simon

Author Madeleine Ryan was diagnosed with autism while she was writing her new novel — she says creating her main character helped her embrace the way she process her own thoughts and feelings.

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Sister Helen Prejean On Witnessing Executions: 'I Couldn't Let Them Die Alone'

1:38pm August 14, 2020

by Terry Gross

The Catholic nun became an opponent of the death penalty following the events in her book Dead Man Walking. She details her spiritual journey in River of Fire. Originally broadcast Aug. 12, 2019.

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