Author Interviews

Books
Arts

Nicola Yoon on her novel 'One of Our Kind' and trauma in Black American life

3:45pm June 09, 2024

Jasmyn Williams moves to an all-Black community, where everyone is suspiciously happy. Is it the spa treatments? NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Nicola Yoon about her new novel, "One of Our Kind."

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Books
Arts

A young girl grapples with life post World War I in 'Gretel and the Great War'

3:25pm June 08, 2024

NPR's Scott Simon talks with author Adam Ehrlich Sachs about his new novel "Gretel and the Great War." The book follows a young girl in Vienna at the end of World War I.

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Kyne wearing her hyperbolic plane dress. Author photo by Fabian Di Corcia.

Drag queen Kyne Santos explores how math is 'beautiful' in new book 'Math in Drag'

3:01am June 07, 2024

Kyne Santos was a student at the University of Waterloo when she began her math and her drag careers. She compares her double life to Hannah Montana, doing math equations at school by day and drag at night. You may already know Kyne from TikTok, where she makes educational videos about math, science, history and drag. And now, in her new book Math in Drag, Kyne explores the connections between math and drag: How both can be creative, beautiful and most of all, fun.

Want to hear us cover more math? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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Arts
Books

MSNBC host Ali Velshi chronicles his ancestors’ migrations across three continents

4:35pm June 04, 2024

by Dave Davies

In his memoir, Small Acts of Courage, Velshi traces his family’s journey, from India to South Africa — where his grandfather crossed paths with Mahatma Gandhi — to Kenya, Canada and the U.S.

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How James Patterson and the late Michael Crichton collaborated on 'Eruption'

10:25pm June 03, 2024

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with James Patterson and Sherri Crichton. The new novel “Eruption” is written by Patterson and Crichton's late husband, Michael.

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Books
Arts

For 'Such Kindness' novelist Andre Dubus III, chronic pain is a fact of life

5:05pm May 31, 2024

by Terry Gross

Dubus talks about the injuries he faced as a carpenter and his relationship with his dad. His a new collection of personal essays is Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin. Originally broadcast in 2023.

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Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie are unsung heroes of the civil rights

1:55pm May 29, 2024

by Michel Martin

A new book by Larry Tye -- The Jazzmen -- traces how the popularity of musicians Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie affected the civil rights movement.

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Triptych of Taylor Swift, Mona Lisa and Beyoncé

Arts
Books

What's the recipe for fame? For one, you need more than talent

7:17am May 29, 2024

Why is the Mona Lisa the most famous painting in the world? Why are The Beatles, well, The Beatles? Behavioral economist Cass Sunstein explores the alchemy of fame.

Health & Safety

After a traumatic C-section, journalist takes on the medicalization of birth

3:50pm May 28, 2024

by Tonya Mosley

When Rachel Somerstein had an emergency C-section with her first child, the anesthesia didn't work. She recounts her own experience and the history of C-sections in her book, Invisible Labor.

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'All the World Beside' by Garrard Conley blends faith and love in puritan America

11:40pm May 27, 2024

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with author Garrard Conley about his new novel "All the World Beside." The book is set in puritan America, with gay men in love as the primary characters.

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