Author Interviews

Gear Heads, Lisa McManus and Hannah Crowley are on the lookout for the best kitchen tools.

Books
Arts

Nothing to fear with kitchen gear: 'America's Test Kitchen' guide to tools, gadgets

5:00am December 25, 2023

by Barry Gordemer

One way to keep the chef in your home happy is to make sure their kitchen is stocked with the right kitchen gear. A guide to kitchen tools and gadgets for the favorite chef in your life.

South African naturalist Adam Welz traveled the world to understand how climate change is "weirding" ecosystems. One of his questions: How to stay hopeful in a warming world?

A naturalist finds hope despite climate change in an era he calls 'The End of Eden'

10:04am December 23, 2023

by Brian Mann

South African naturalist Adam Welz has traveled the world, documenting the profound impact of climate change on wild species. He says his research has convinced him despair isn't the answer.

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Books

'The Old Gays' of TikTok publish their first book, a guide to life and living for all

8:19am December 23, 2023

by Ryan Benk

We hear from a group of friends known as "The Old Gays" on TikTok, who have just published a book called "The Old Gays Guide to the Good Life" — part self-help, part memoir, and intended for all ages.

Author Alice McDermott on linking the dramas of women's lives and wartime Saigon

4:52pm December 21, 2023

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with author Alice McDermott about her new novel Absolution and its central question: what do you sacrifice in order to do something good for someone else?

Cover of Far from the Rooftop of the World.

Q&A: Author Amy Yee on Tibetan refugees in 'Far From the Rooftop of the World'

4:39pm December 20, 2023

by Danielle Preiss

Yee moved to Dharamsala in 2009 and for a year followed the lives of exiled Tibetans there. But when they started to move elsewhere, she continued to stay in touch, learning about their lives abroad.

Books

Paul Lynch discusses his Booker Prize-winning dystopian novel 'Prophet Song'

8:40am December 16, 2023

by Scott Simon

This year's Booker Prize winner is a dystopian novel about an Irish biologist and mother of four whose husband is taken by the government. NPR's Scott Simon talks with Paul Lynch about "Prophet Song."

Books

Ariel Lawhon's novel 'The Frozen River' follows a 1789 midwife in pursuit of justice

8:08am December 16, 2023

by Scott Simon

The year is 1789, and a New England midwife is called to investigate a dead man pulled from the ice. NPR's Scott Simon talks with Ariel Lawhon about her novel, "The Frozen River."

Christian Wiman is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry and prose. He's been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and served as editor of POETRY magazine.

After 18 years living with cancer, a poet offers 'Fifty Entries Against Despair'

1:34pm December 13, 2023

by Terry Gross

Christian Wiman says he's no longer afraid of dying. "When death hangs over you for a while, you start to forget about it," he says. Wiman's new book is Zero at the Bone.

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Books

Peter Breslow's memoir follows his 40 years around the world as an NPR producer

8:13am December 10, 2023

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to former NPR producer Peter Breslow about his new memoir, "Outtakes: Stumbling Around the World for NPR."

Books

A new book asks if AI can cause the kinds of nuclear disasters seen in movies

8:27am December 09, 2023

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon speaks to Edward Geist, a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, about his new book, "Deterrence under Uncertainty: Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear Warfare."