Author Interviews

Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong'o, a professor at the University of California, Irvine who is often tipped for the Nobel Prize in Literature, has issued a new collection of short stories.

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Arts

'Nobel Of The Heart' Is The Real Prize For Author Ngugi Wa Thiong'o

6:04am March 12, 2019

by Lynn Neary

The U.S.-based Kenyan writer is often tipped for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Now he's released Minutes of Glory, a short story collection which he calls his "literary autobiography."

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Barbara Brown Taylor is an ordained Episcopal priest who left her job as rector of a church to become a professor of religion.

For Priest Turned Professor, 'Holy Envy' Is Key To Appreciating World Religions

4:12pm March 11, 2019

by Terry Gross

Ordained Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor says that teaching the different religions of the world changed her students' understanding of faith — as well as her own.

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Books

Why Many Americans Are Drawn To The Gig Economy

7:27am March 11, 2019

David Greene talks to sociologist Alexandrea Ravenelle about her book Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy, which examines how companies treat their front-line workers.

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Will The U.S.-China Trade War Matter In The Coming Decades?

7:00am March 11, 2019

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Parag Khanna about his new book The Future Is Asian and the U.S.-China trade war.

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Arts

Menstruate? Celebrate! New Novel Urges Girls To Embrace 'The Moon Within'

9:10am March 10, 2019

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Author Aida Salazar didn't want her daughter to feel ashamed about getting her period. "I wanted to reframe the conversation," Salazar says. "I wanted to tell a different story."

Books

Valeria Luiselli On The 'Lost Children Archive'

8:21am March 09, 2019

NPR's Scott Simon talks with author Valeria Luiselli about her new book, Lost Children Archive, which traces a family road trip to the borderland.

Books
Arts

A Look Back At 'The Godfather,' With Mario Puzo And Francis Ford Coppola

1:20pm March 08, 2019

by Terry Gross

Fresh Air marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Puzo's novel by listening back to our '96 interview with Puzo, and our '16 interview with Coppola, who adapted the novel into the film.

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Books

'Survival Math' Is A Memoir About Growing Up Black In Oregon

11:53am March 07, 2019

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with author Mitchell Jackson about his second book, Survival Math, which details the calculations he made to survive as a young black man growing up in Portland, Ore.

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detail from cover of Instructions for a Funeral by David Means

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Arts

David Means, Defender Of The Short Story, On His 'Instructions For A Funeral'

5:40pm March 06, 2019

by Audie Cornish

The author has a new collection of short fiction, his fifth. In an interview, he says that his father's death got him thinking about parenthood — and what he might want at his own memorial.

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'An American Summer' Looks At How Gun Violence 'Gets In People's Bones'

1:21pm March 05, 2019

by Terry Gross

Alex Kotlowitz discusses the people whose lives were changed or lost due to gun violence in Chicago one summer. He likens the trauma of living with gun violence to the PTSD some veterans experience.

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