Author Interviews

Jackie and friends with Versace handbags at a private opening at the Versace store, Beverly Hills, California, 2007.

Don't Be Fooled: 'Generation Wealth' Is More About Wanting Than Having

10:34am May 11, 2017

by Kelly McEvers

Lauren Greenfield's 500-page photo collection shows toddlers in designer clothes and magnums of champagne. But it's also about how ostentatious displays of wealth have replaced real social mobility.

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In 'Music Of The Ghosts,' A Khmer Rouge Survivor Faces 'The Reality Of Cambodia'

5:00am May 11, 2017

by Rachel Martin

Novelist Vaddey Ratner, herself a Khmer Rouge survivor, tells the story of a Cambodian-American woman looking for answers about her father's disappearance under the regime.

Books
Arts

'As We Get Older, We Become More Ourselves,' Says Author Mary Gaitskill

1:27pm May 09, 2017

Before she turned to writing, the National Book Award nominee ran away from home and worked as a stripper. Her new collection of personal essays is Somebody with a Little Hammer.

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Books
Arts

'Small Victories' Aims To Make Home Cooking Accessible To All

1:27pm May 09, 2017

Cookbook author Julia Turshen says cooking should be flexible: "[Recipes] are kind of sold to people as prescriptions, these really precise things, ... but I think there's very rarely a wrong answer.

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Condoleezza Rice Reflects On The State Of Democracy

3:25pm May 08, 2017

In an interview with NPR about her book Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assesses the Trump administration's outreach to dictators.

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Before landing her first film role, Gabourey Sidibe struggled to find work. "This is my path, and I'm really grateful that I'm on it," she says of acting.

Books
Arts

Actress Gabourey Sidibe On Anxiety, Phone Sex And Life After 'Precious'

3:21pm May 08, 2017

by Terry Gross

As a young woman, Sidibe struggled to find work before landing the film role that would change her life. "This is my path, and I'm really grateful that I'm on it," Sidibe says of her acting career.

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"What the American Founding Fathers understood was that institutions were built for human imperfection, not human perfection," Condoleezza Rice says.

Condoleezza Rice: Institutions Aren't Perfect, But They're The Bedrock Of Democracy

1:30pm May 08, 2017

by Rachel Martin

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tells NPR that America is still a "bright, shining city on the hill, not because we're perfect but because we struggle in our imperfections every day."

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Min Kym is shown at her debut recital at the Serenates D'Estiu Festival in Majorca in July 1992.

Her Violin Stolen, A Prodigy's World Became 'Unstrung'

9:25am May 08, 2017

Min Kym had found her perfect partner in a 1696 Stradivarius — until it was snatched in a London cafe. She comes to terms with the loss in her new memoir, Gone: A Girl, A Violin, A Life Unstrung.

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Tommy Caldwell poses for a portrait after just climbing to the top of Tadrarate via a 500m, 7c climbing route. He's climbing with Alex Honnold in Taghia, Morocco. September 20th, 2016.

World-Renowned Rock Climber On Constantly Pushing The Limits

11:55pm May 07, 2017

by NPR Staff

NPR's Lakshmi Singh talks to Tommy Caldwell, the first to free climb a 3,000 foot "Dawn Wall" granite cliff, about his book The Push: A Climber's Journey of Endurance, Risk and Going Beyond Limits.

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Books

'House Of Names' Reimagines A Classic Greek Tragedy

8:16am May 07, 2017

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with author Colm Toibin about his new book, House of Names, set in ancient Greece and the House of Agamemnon.