Author Interviews

Books
Arts

'Cartoon County' Looks Back At The Golden Age Of Sunday Comics

1:41pm December 05, 2017

Vanity Fair editor-at-large Cullen Murphy grew up the son of a cartoonist. His father, John Cullen Murphy, drew the popular Prince Valiant strip, which Murphy eventually wrote for 14 years.

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'Nuclear War Planner' Reflects On The Cold War And Assesses The Current Threat

1:46pm December 04, 2017

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press in hopes they would help end the Vietnam War. He looks back on his early days as a national security analyst in The Doomsday Machine.

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Books
Arts

In 'Hiddensee,' Gregory Maguire Gets Under The Shell Of 'The Nutcracker'

4:53pm December 03, 2017

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Author Gregory Maguire made his name rewriting fairy tales. Now, he's taken on The Nutcracker — a beloved holiday classic, yes, but one that Maguire says makes no sense as it's usually performed.

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Chris Matthews speaks onstage as Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights hosts The 2015 Ripple Of Hope Awards honoring Congressman John Lewis, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Evercore Co-founder Roger Altman, and UNESCO Ambassador Marianna Vardinoyannis at New York Hilton on

Chris Matthews On The 'Raging Spirit' Of Bobby Kennedy

3:32pm December 02, 2017

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon talks with veteran political commentator and MSNBC host Chris Matthews about his new book, Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit.

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Author Fiona Mozley poses with her book Elmet.

Books
Arts

Debut Author Channeled Her 'Darker Bits' Into A Man Booker Shortlist Novel

7:44am December 02, 2017

by Scott Simon

Fiona Mozley's book Elmet explores masculinity in both male and female characters. "When we sort of see a woman possessing unexpected or fantastical physical strength it's questioned more," she says.

Books
Arts

LGBTQ Activist Cleve Jones: 'I'm Well Aware How Fragile Life Is'

4:23pm December 01, 2017

Jones lost countless friends to the AIDS epidemic. He became an activist after Harvey Milk's assassination: "Meeting Harvey, seeing his death, it fixed my course." Originally broadcast Nov. 29, 2016.

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The Argentine cartoonist Liniers is becoming known in the U.S. for children's books and cover art published by The New Yorker.

The Argentine Cartoonist Who Moonlights As A Nerd Rockstar

8:00am November 30, 2017

by Camilo Garzón

The illustrator known as Liniers is becoming known in the U.S. for his New Yorker covers and children's books. But in Argentina, he's been a multimedia presence for over a decade.

Books
Arts

For Jesmyn Ward, Writing Means Telling The 'Truth About The Place That I Live In'

1:36pm November 28, 2017

by Sam Briger

Ward's National Book Award-winning novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, is set in a small town modeled after her own rural hometown. It centers on a biracial young boy confronting the South's racial legacy.

Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert's Renegade Life by Emily Kaiser Thelin, a biography of famed chef and cookbook author Paula Wolfert, includes some of Wolfert's famously detailed recipes.

Books
Arts

New Biography Features Recipes Of Famed Chef And Cookbook Author Paula Wolfert

7:57am November 26, 2017

by Linda Wertheimer

When Paula Wolfert was diagnosed with dementia, author Emily Kaiser Thelin set out to capture the chef's legacy, as well as her elaborate Mediterranean specialties, now featured in Unforgettable.

Books

George Orwell's Life In 'The Last Man In Europe'

8:00am November 25, 2017

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Dennis Glover about his new book, The Last Man in Europe. Glover's novel is a fictionalized account of George Orwell's life as he wrote 1984.