Author Interviews

Books

'Young Jane Young' Is A Political Sex Scandal, Told Through Women's Eyes

7:59am August 20, 2017

Young Jane Young is the story of a political sex scandal, told through the women who endure it. Author Gabrielle Zevin tells Lulu Garcia-Navarro she hopes readers will think twice about shaming women.

Ann Powers is NPR Music's critic and correspondent. You can read more of her work on The Record blog.

'Good Booty': Backing Up How Music And Sex Helped Shape American Culture

6:10pm August 19, 2017

by Dwane Brown

In her new book Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music, Ann Powers explores how popular music became America's primary erotic art form.

Books

Motherhood In The Guise Of Terror In 'Fierce Kingdom'

8:12am August 19, 2017

Fierce Kingdom is about every parent's worst nightmare. A mother and her son, in the zoo at closing time, see a shooter and run. And hide. Gin Phillips talks to Scott Simon about her latest novel.

Books
Arts

'Stay With Me' Is A Novel Of Commitment, Culture And The Struggle To Conceive

8:12am August 19, 2017

by Scott Simon

Set in Nigeria in the 1980s, Ayobami Adebayo's debut novel tells the story of a couple who desperately want to have a child, in a society where that's what's expected of them.

'The Once And Future Liberal' Looks At Shortfalls Of American Liberalism

4:40pm August 15, 2017

NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Mark Lilla, author of the book, The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics, which looks at the failure of American liberalism over the past two generations.

Author Max Brooks has done extensive research on preparing for widespread catastrophe. He's now a fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point.

Books
Arts

Novelist Max Brooks On Doomsday, Dyslexia And Growing Up With Hollywood Parents

2:29pm August 15, 2017

by Terry Gross

Brooks' stable childhood with parents Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft stands in contrast to the wild stories he tells in novels like World War Z and Minecraft: The Island.

In her book The Virginia State Colony For Epileptics And Feebleminded, poet Molly McCully Brown explores themes of disability, eugenics and faith.

Poet Imagines Life Inside A 1910 Institution That Eugenics Built

3:27pm August 14, 2017

by Terry Gross

Molly McCully Brown, who has cerebral palsy, says that if she'd been born in a different era, she might have been sent to the "Virginia State Colony," an early landmark of the U.S. eugenics movement.

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Books

YA Books Are Targeted In Intense Social Media Callouts, Rosenfield Says

7:55am August 12, 2017

A young adult novel is fiercely criticized on Twitter and accused of being racist by those who haven't read it. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Kat Rosenfield, who covered the story for Vulture.

Liliane Bettencourt and François-Marie Banier attend a cosmetics industry event in 1992.

Books
Arts

'The Bettencourt Affair': Extravagant Friendship Or Cruel Swindle?

7:44am August 12, 2017

by Scott Simon

Cosmetics heiress Liliane Bettencourt lavished money and gifts on her friend, photographer François-Marie Banier. Then, her daughter sparked a decade of scandal by accusing Banier of abusing her.

A Physician Explores 'A Better Path' To The End Of Life

2:15pm August 09, 2017

by Terry Gross

Dr. Jessica Nutik Zitter, author of Extreme Measures, discusses the ethics of using medical assistance to hasten death. Zitter is the subject of the Netflix documentary Extremis.

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