Author Interviews

Books
Arts

William Gibson Says Today's Internet Is Nothing Like What He Envisioned

4:51pm March 19, 2020

by Tom Vitale

Gibson's latest is Agency — set in a future where climate change has mostly wiped out humanity. The cyberpunk godfather says today's online world is "utterly banal" compared to his original vision.

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Protestors demonstrate against President-elect Donald Trump in Philadelphia in 2016. Trump won the presidential election despite losing the popular election by more than two million votes.

Electoral College 'Not Carved In Stone:' Author Advocates Rethinking How We Vote

12:53pm March 18, 2020

by Terry Gross

Jesse Wegman, author of Let the People Pick the President, says the Electoral College's winner-take-all rule is not mandated by the Constitution: "There's nothing keeping us from changing it."

Books

Author Of 'Men Explain Things To Me' Has A New Memoir

6:26am March 16, 2020

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with essayist Rebecca Solnit about her latest book: Recollections of My Nonexistence.

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Authors Jason Reynolds, left, and Ibram X. Kendi spoke to students at a high school in Washington D.C. about their new book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You.

A History Book That Isn't: Finding A Way To Teach Racism To A New Generation

9:00am March 14, 2020

by Elissa Nadworny

Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi team up to investigate the history of racist ideas through a narrative that's aimed at young adult readers. It's called: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.

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"The Paper Kingdom," Papa said. "Didn't we tell you before? This is the land of the Paper King!"

Books
Arts

Behold: The Magic Of Take Your Child To Work Night

8:14am March 14, 2020

by Samantha Balaban

As a kid, Helena Ku Rhee used to tag along with her parents as they cleaned law offices overnight. She's now a lawyer herself, and has written The Paper Kingdom, about a boy and his janitor parents.

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Books
Arts

'The Plot Against America' Asks: What If The U.S. Had Sided With The Nazis?

1:49pm March 13, 2020

David Bianculli reviews HBO's new miniseries, which imagines that Charles Lindbergh became president in 1940. And we listen back to a 2004 with Philip Roth, who wrote the novel the series is based on.

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Too Busy? Make Time To 'Do Nothing'

5:00am March 12, 2020

by David Greene

As many Americans start thinking about what a self-quarantine might look like, author Celeste Headlee has some advice: Put down your phone. Her book explains how we're "overdoing and underliving."

Books

A Native American Woman's Search For Truth In 'Yellow Bird'

5:18pm March 11, 2020

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with journalist Sierra Crane Murdoch about her new book Yellow Bird. It follows the story of a Native American woman and her quest to find a missing oil worker.

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'MBS' Traces The Rise Of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman

1:21pm March 11, 2020

by Dave Davies

New York Times reporter Ben Hubbard says Saudi Arabia's leader is full of contradictions: He ended a ban on women driving, but his agents also carried out the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

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Books
Arts

'New Waves' Asks: How Can We Form True Friendships In An Online World?

10:36am March 11, 2020

by Ari Shapiro

In journalist Kevin Nguyen's first novel, characters build relationships with each other online that translate to the real world — with mixed results.

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