Author Interviews

Author Steven Millhauser doesn't mind if his new stories leave you uneasy

4:43pm August 02, 2023

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer talks with author Steven Millhauser about new collection of short stories, Disruptions, that describe fantastical situations that deal with obsessions, fixations and extremes.

'Waiting To Be Arrested At Night' is the story of a Uyghur poet's escape

5:28pm August 01, 2023

by Emily Feng

Tahir Hamut Izgil is one of the best-known living Uyghur poets. He left Xinjiang amid a Chinese crackdown on the Uyghur people — an escape at the heart of his book, Waiting To Be Arrested At Night.

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

4:57pm August 01, 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.

Richard E. Grant says he continues to have an "ongoing silent conversation" with his wife Joan Washington, who died in 2021. They are shown above attending an awards show in London in 2016.

Books
Arts

After the death of his wife, actor Richard E. Grant vowed to find joy every day

1:59pm August 01, 2023

by Tonya Mosley

Grant was married to Joan Washington, an acclaimed dialect coach, for 35 years. He writes about their relationship and her death from cancer in the new memoir A Pocketful of Happiness.

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Books

Author Susan Casey takes readers along with her to profound depths of the ocean

5:01am August 01, 2023

NPR's A Martinez speaks with scuba diver and writer Susan Casey about her new book, The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean.

After losing his wife, Richard E. Grant has found a daily 'Pocketful of Happiness'

4:56pm July 31, 2023

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with actor Richard E. Grant about his memoir Pocketful of Happiness and how he has dealt with the grief of losing his wife to cancer after 38 years together.

C.K. Chau's take on 'Pride and Prejudice' takes readers to 2000s New York Chinatown

4:56pm July 31, 2023

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with author C.K. Chau about her new book, Good Fortune — a Pride and Prejudice retelling with some delicious twists set in Chinatown in New York City during the early 2000s.

Books

The inspiration behind Leslie Rasmussen's 'The Stories We Cannot Tell'

5:09am July 31, 2023

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Leslie Rasmussen about her new novel, The Stories We Cannot Tell, in which two women navigate pregnancy, infertility, relationships and family.

Books

Lydia Kiesling on her new novel 'Mobility'

8:05am July 29, 2023

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon talks with Lydia Kiesling about her new novel, "Mobility." It's part of a growing genre of literature addressing climate change.

A pediatric neurosurgeon reflects on his intense job, and the post-Roe landscape

1:30pm July 28, 2023

by Dave Davies

Jay Wellons has operated on kids' brains and spinal cords. He writes about the anguish of losing a patient and the exhilaration of saving a life in All That Moves Us. Originally broadcast July 2022.

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