Author Interviews

Cleese says that compared to the production challenges he faced when working on Fawlty Towers, doing American sit-coms felt like "the Rolls Royce way of making comedy."

Books
Arts

Early On, Comedian John Cleese Says, He Had Good Timing But Little Else

12:23pm October 15, 2015

The co-founder of the Monty Python troupe admits he wasn't "naturally gifted" at physical comedy, and learned a lot by imitation. His new memoir, So, Anyway..., covers his boyhood and early career.

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Marlon James Becomes First Jamaican To Win Man Booker Prize

6:42pm October 14, 2015

NPR's Audie Cornish talks to James, whose novel, A Brief History Of Seven Killings, won the Man Booker Prize Tuesday. The novel is an epic reimagining of the assassination attempt on Bob Marley.

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Books

New Take On Old Tale: Novelist Retells King David's Story

3:05pm October 14, 2015

Geraldine Brooks is a Pulitzer Prize winning historical novelist. Her latest book "The Secret Chord," tells the story of King David. NPR's Rachel Martin spoke to her about her conception of the flawed king.

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Grace Jones: 'I'm A Bit Split Personality'

3:04pm October 14, 2015

by NPR Staff

The gender-bending musician and supermodel discusses how her past and her personality inform her new book, I'll Never Write My Memoirs.

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Arts

After 10 Years Of Bella And Edward, 'Twilight Reimagined' Brings A Twist

3:04pm October 14, 2015

by NPR Staff

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with author Stephenie Meyer about the appeal of her Twilight books and her new novel, which reassigns the genders of the original characters.

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Books
Arts

Persons Real And Fictional Puzzle Over Ronald Reagan In 'Finale'

3:03pm October 14, 2015

NPR's Linda Wertheimer interviews Thomas Mallon about his new work of historical fiction. No crowns or bodices here: The book is called Finale: A Novel of the Reagan Years.

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Books
Arts

'Thirteen Ways' Lifts Darkness Through Storytelling

3:02pm October 14, 2015

by NPR Staff

Colum McCann's latest book, Thirteen Ways of Looking, takes on parenthood, loss and just how arbitrary life can be. McCann says talking about traumatic experiences can be "a fantastic catharsis."

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Elvis Costello: 'There Is No Absolute Right And Wrong About Music'

2:22pm October 14, 2015

by NPR Staff

Throughout his memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Costello grapples with parallels to his father's life. "In the end, music was playing in the room when my father left this earth," he says.

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Revisiting Rabin's Assassination, And The Peace That Might Have Been

1:34pm October 13, 2015

Twenty years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was killed by a Jewish religious zealot. Dan Ephron, author of Killing a King, discusses the assassination and its effect on the peace process.

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The Lessons Learned From A Scholar's Incendiary Tweets

4:32pm October 12, 2015

A debate over academic freedom of speech sparked in summer 2014 when the University of Illinois rescinded a job offer to a professor over a controversial set of tweets about the Israel-Gaza conflict.