Author Interviews

When it comes to the climate change, "you can see these vast changes in the future, and you can be worried about them, but you can still continue to do good and work in the moment for small things," says Zach St. George. Above, a sequoia in California's G

Believe It Or Not, Forests Migrate — But Not Fast Enough For Climate Change

4:19pm July 28, 2020

by Ari Shapiro

Forests "are restless things," writes Zach St. George in his new book The Journeys of Trees. He explains how, over millennia, forests creep inch by inch to more hospitable places.

Natasha Trethewey served as U.S. poet laureate in 2012 and 2013. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her 2006 collection Native Guard.

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Arts

After Years Of 'Willed Amnesia,' Trethewey Opens Up About Her Murdered Mother

12:23pm July 28, 2020

by Terry Gross

When Natasha Trethewey was 19, her stepfather killed her mother. Tretheway says she aimed to "forge a new life for myself that didn't include that past." Her new memoir is Memorial Drive.

Majority counsel Norm Eisen attends a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Dec. 4, 2019

Norm Eisen Says He Drafted 10 Articles Of Impeachment A Month Before Inquiry

5:56pm July 27, 2020

by Ari Shapiro

In a new book, A Case for the American People, the Judiciary Committee special counsel during impeachment traces the process. Of Trump, he tells NPR: "He understands what he's doing. It is a pattern."

Mike Birbiglia was initially reluctant to become a father, but his wife, Jen Stein, saw things things differently. "I felt like [parenthood] was the kind of challenge that we were ready for," she says.

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Arts

'Reluctant Dad' Mike Birbiglia And Poet Jen Stein Share 'Painful' Parenting Truths

1:40pm July 27, 2020

by Terry Gross

In the memoir, The New One, comic Birbiglia and his wife, Jen Stein, open up about his ambivalence about fatherhood and the strain it had on their marriage.

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Books

Trethewey's 'Memorial Drive' Tells The Story Of Her Mother's Murder

8:16am July 26, 2020

Natasha Trethewey is a two-time U.S. Poet Laureate and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Now she's written a memoir about her mother. She talks to NPR's Sarah McCammon about Memorial Drive.

Books
Arts

'Crooked Hallelujah' Sings Of Beauty And Trouble Between Mothers And Daughters

8:16am July 26, 2020

by Sarah McCammon

Kelli Jo Ford's novel follows three generations of Cherokee women trying to forge a future in the harsh environment of the 1980s oil boom in Texas — and learning just how difficult that can be.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan arrives for a coronavirus briefing in front of the Maryland State House on April 17. Hogan's book Still Standing is out Tuesday.

Larry Hogan On The Parallels Of Fighting Cancer And Maryland's Coronavirus Outbreak

7:02pm July 25, 2020

by Christianna Silva

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan about his new book Still Standing: Surviving Cancer, Riots, a Global Pandemic, and the Toxic Politics That Divide America.

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Books

Barbara Demick's 'Eat The Buddha' Profiles A Little-Known Tibetan Town

7:57am July 25, 2020

The Chinese have been trying to quash Tibetan independence for decades. NPR's Leila Fadel speaks to Barbara Demick about her new book, Eat the Buddha, which examines repression in one small town.

Books

'Pew': Catherine Lacey's Fable About How A Nameless Character Changes A Small Town

4:36pm July 24, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with author Catherine Lacey about her new book. Pew is a novel about an unnamed character with no identifiable characteristics and the character's impact on a small town.

Donald Trump and father Fred Trump attend the opening of Wollman skating rink in New York City's Central Park in 1987.

Trump's Niece Describes A Toxic Family Dynamic Where Kindness Was Weakness

1:08pm July 23, 2020

by Terry Gross

Mary Trump was devastated when her uncle was elected president. Her book, Too Much and Never Enough, describes Donald Trump as a "belligerent" youth who hasn't changed since he was a teen.