Author Interviews

Author Ann Patchett on writing about family secrets in her novel 'Tom Lake'

4:42pm August 09, 2023

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with author Ann Patchett on her latest novel Tom Lake, which tackles family, maternal love and the secrets a mother may choose not to share with her children.

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Pulling the Chariot of the Sun, by Shane McCrae

Books
Arts

A poet pieces together an uncertain past in 'Memoir of a Kidnapping'

3:29pm August 09, 2023

by Tonya Mosley

When Shane McCrae was almost 4 years old, his maternal grandparents, who were white supremacists, took him from his father, who is Black. His new memoir is Pulling the Chariot of the Sun.

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James McBride's new novel explores Black and Jewish affection, tensions in the 1930s

8:49pm August 08, 2023

NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with author James McBride about his new book The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.

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Leland has been an editor at the literary magazine The Believer since its inception in 2003.

As a writer slowly loses his sight, he embraces other kinds of perception

2:15pm August 08, 2023

by Terry Gross

Andrew Leland started losing his sight 20 years ago. He's now legally blind, although he still has a narrow field of vision, which allows him to see about 6% of what a fully-sighted person sees.

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Books

Author of 'The Perfection Trap,' believes perfectionism is today's hidden epidemic

5:08am August 08, 2023

NPR's Sarah McCammon speaks to Thomas Curran, author of The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough, about what makes perfectionism unhealthy.

Books

Jimin Han on her novel 'The Apology'

8:07am August 06, 2023

by Eyder Peralta

A South Korean woman keeps family secrets for her whole life, but she can't keep them in the afterlife. NPR's Eyder Peralta talks with Jimin Han about her novel, "The Apology."

Summer Is For Cousins, written by Rajani LaRocca and illustrated by Abhi Alwar

Books
Arts

Hop in the minivan: 'Summer Is for Cousins' invites you on a family vacation

11:44am August 05, 2023

by Samantha Balaban

Summer is for swimming, playing cards and talking all night. Summer is for ice cream and doing nothing. And, in this new picture book from Rajani LaRocca and Abhi Alwar, summer is also for cousins.

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Ben Purkert tackles masculinity and ego within the advertising industry in new novel

4:49pm August 04, 2023

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with author Ben Purkert about his new novel The Men Can't Be Saved.

C.K. Chau says the themes and conflicts in Pride and Prejudice are universal.

Books

A new take on 'Pride and Prejudice' brings readers to 2000s New York Chinatown

2:03pm August 03, 2023

by Kai McNamee

By recasting the Bennets as a Cantonese, working-class immigrant family, C.K. Chau hopes to fill a gap in the Pride and Prejudice canon.

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Books
Arts

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

1:47pm August 03, 2023

by Terry Gross

Dubus III talks about the injuries he faced when he was a carpenter, and how his relationship changed with his father after the senior Dubus was struck by a car and never walked again.

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