Author Interviews

Books
Arts

For Novelist John Green, OCD Is Like An 'Invasive Weed' Inside His Mind

1:27pm June 28, 2019

The Turtles All The Way Down author says OCD "starts out with one little thought, and then slowly that becomes the only thought that you're able to have." Originally broadcast Oct. 19, 2017.

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From BTTM FDRS, by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore

Books
Arts

Of Tenants And Tentacles: 'BTTM FDRS' Confronts Gentrification In Comic Horror Form

7:00am June 27, 2019

by Etelka Lehoczky

Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore's new graphic novel is a comic-horror take on the very real problem of gentrification that follows two young artists moving to a struggling Chicago neighborhood.

Marchers at a candlelight vigil in San Francisco, Calif., carry a banner to call attention to the continuing battle against AIDS on May 29, 1989. The city was home to the nation's first AIDS special care unit. The unit, which opened in 1983, is the subjec

1st AIDS Ward '5B' Fought To Give Patients Compassionate Care, Dignified Deaths

2:48pm June 26, 2019

by Terry Gross

A new documentary tells the story of America's first inpatient unit dedicated to the care of people with AIDS. Nurse Cliff Morrison helped create 5B in 1983, and worked on it with Dr. Paul Volberding.

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Emily Nussbaum is the TV critic for The New Yorker.

Books
Arts

From 'Buffy' Superfan To Pulitzer Prize, A Critic Celebrates TV On Her Own Terms

5:12pm June 25, 2019

by Audie Cornish

Emily Nussbaum's new book, I Like To Watch, is a collection of essays that span her career and the age of prestige TV. She wants to "explode and expand" the types of shows we take seriously, she says.

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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer holds up the U.S. Constitution at a talk in 2016.

Books
Arts

'A Lot Of Gray Area': A Legal Expert Explains 'How To Read The Constitution'

8:42am June 25, 2019

by Rachel Martin

Inspired by the challenges to the current presidential administration, law professor Kim Wehle has written a guide to the founding document — and its susceptibility to interpretation.

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William McRaven's Memior: 'Sea Stories: My Life In Special Operations'

6:22am June 25, 2019

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to retired Admiral William McRaven, who may be best known as the Navy SEAL commander who oversaw the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, about his new memoir.

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Amber Scorah writes about exiting the Jehovah's Witnesses in Leaving the Witness.

'I Couldn't Continue On': A Former Jehovah's Witness On Leaving The Faith

7:17pm June 24, 2019

by Terry Gross

"I felt like everything that had mattered to me was gone," Amber Scorah says of her decision to leave the Jehovah's Witness community she grew up in. Her new memoir is Leaving the Witness.

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Books
Arts

Bad Things Happen Out Of The Blue In Sadie Jones' 'The Snakes'

8:17am June 23, 2019

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

The author says writing this novel was like writing an "anti-murder mystery." Murder mysteries are nice and tidy, she says, but this disturbing morality tale is about unforeseeable tragedy.

Bill Cosby is taken away in handcuffs after he was sentenced for felony sexual assault on Sept. 25, 2018, in Norristown, Penn.

Books

'Chasing Cosby' Author Says Covering The Cosby Case Was A Journey Of Disillusionment

8:11pm June 22, 2019

by Michel Martin

Nicole Weisensee Egan has followed the sexual assault accusations against Bill Cosby since 2005. At first a skeptic herself, Egan discusses how "America's Dad" managed to escape justice for decades.

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Books

Chanelle Benz On 'The Gone Dead'

8:22am June 22, 2019

Chanelle Benz's new novel is a story that swells with Mississippi swelter, blood oaths, old grudges, conspiracy theories and everlasting mysteries. Scott Simon talks with her about the book.