Author Interviews

Books
Arts

'The Secrets We Kept' Imagines What CIA Secretaries Knew

7:56am September 08, 2019

by Lynn Neary

Novelist Lara Prescott became curious about the women who worked at CIA headquarters during the real-life mission to smuggle Dr. Zhivago into the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Books
Arts

Why Margaret Atwood Said 'No' To A 'Handmaid's Tale' Sequel — Until Now

8:29am September 07, 2019

by Scott Simon

Atwood wasn't interested in a Handmaid's Tale sequel because she didn't have anything more to say about its protagonist. But in The Testaments, she takes the story in a surprising new direction.

Books

Author Etgar Keret Discusses His New Book Of Short Stories, 'Fly Already'

5:01pm September 04, 2019

NPR's Ari Shaprio speaks with author Etgar Keret about his new book of short stories, Fly Already.

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Families, Not Just Students, Feel The Weight Of The Student Loan Crisis

10:33am September 04, 2019

by Elissa Nadworny

A new book looks at how the struggle to pay for college has transformed the experience of the American middle class.

A Leader's Job Is To Set The Vision, Retired Gen. Mattis Says

12:01pm September 03, 2019

In the second part of his interview with former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to the retired general about leadership. Mattis' new book is: Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead.

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James Mattis spent four decades in the Marines. He served as a commander in Afghanistan shortly after the al-Qaida attacks in 2001.

Jim Mattis: 'Nations With Allies Thrive, Nations Without Allies Wither'

12:11pm September 02, 2019

In an interview with NPR, former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis stresses the importance of allies and he also criticizes shifting U.S. policy aims during the wars of the past 18 years.

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Books
Arts

Voices Of The Past: Questions For Poet Renato Rosaldo

12:00pm September 01, 2019

by Stefanie Fernández

As a kid in Tucson in the 1950s, anthropologist and poet Renato Rosaldo ran with a crew called the Chasers. 50 years later, he interviewed them at a reunion and created prose poems in their voices.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has written a children's book called Just Ask! inspired by her desire to help kids embrace diversity. "If you don't know why someone's doing something, just ask them," she says. "Don't assume the worst in people."

'Just Ask!' Says Sonia Sotomayor. She Knows What It's Like To Feel Different

8:38am September 01, 2019

by Samantha Balaban

We're all different and that's good, says the U.S. Supreme Court justice. Her new children's book about embracing diversity portrays kids of all abilities working together to create a gorgeous garden.

Books

Book: 'The Plateau'

6:12pm August 31, 2019

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with anthropologist Maggie Paxson about her latest book The Plateau.

Books

Art Heists Recounted In 'Stealing The Show'

8:19am August 31, 2019

NPR's Scott Simon talks to John Barelli, who ran security at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, about his new book, Stealing the Show: A History of Art and Crime in Six Thefts.