Author Interviews

The Transformation Of The LAPD — And The Work That Remains

6:56pm August 15, 2015

by NPR Staff

Joe Domanick's Blue traces the history of the Los Angeles police and the shift away from a "disastrous policy" of using military-style tactics. The author shares lessons for departments nationwide.

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Character Finds A Path Out Of Her Personal Prison In 'Eileen'

10:36am August 15, 2015

Eileen tells the dark, suspenseful story of a young woman pulled into a strange crime in the 1960s. Author Ottessa Moshfegh talks to NPR's Scott Simon about her acclaimed debut novel.

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Books
Arts

Dealing With Freedom — And Disaster — In 'Fortune Smiles'

10:36am August 15, 2015

by NPR Staff

Author Adam Johnson won the Pulitzer in 2013 for his novel The Orphan Master's Son. Now, he's branching out to places as diverse as Louisiana and East Germany in a new collection of short stories.

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Books
Arts

David Foster Wallace: The 'Fresh Air' Interview

2:13pm August 14, 2015

In 1996, Wallace's novel Infinite Jest was a critical and popular success. The new movie The End of The Tour recreates the author's tour for that book. Originally broadcast March 5, 1997.

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"I'm Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is Italian ... But I've become increasingly interested in religion." — A.J. Jacobs

How Does A Year Of Following Biblical Rules Change You?

9:48am August 14, 2015

by NPR/TED Staff

Author and journalist A.J. Jacobs has made a career of being an amateur. He talks about the year he spent living biblically — following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible.

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Author Walter Mosley in front of his childhood home in the LA neighborhood of Watts. He's standing with his father.

Walter Mosley: Watts Riots 'Paved The Way For A Lot Of Change'

9:44am August 14, 2015

by NPR Staff

The author, whose "Easy Rawlins" mystery novels are largely set in Watts, looks back 50 years ago to the night when the neighborhood first went up in flames.

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Poet Richard Blanco On U.S., Cuba: 'We All Belong To The Sea Between Us'

6:55pm August 13, 2015

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Blanco, who was born to a Cuban exile family and read at President Obama's second inauguration, about the poem he will read at the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba.

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Books

Author Walter Mosley Grew Up In LA But His Writing Is Soaked In The South

8:20am August 13, 2015

Crime novelist Walter Mosley has family roots in New Orleans. In a conversation with Renee Montagne, he offers his reflections on life in Louisiana, before and after Hurricane Katrina.

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Books

In 'Let Me Explain You,' Food Serves As Language When It Fails

12:04pm August 12, 2015

Annie Liontas talks about her debut novel, in which a Greek immigrant patriarch of a dysfunctional family has a premonition that he has only 10 days to live.

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A tiny jar containing a thumb drive of poetry, given to Alexander by a young man at a reading.

Books
Arts

The Kindness Of Strangers Connects A Poet To Her Own Grief

7:01pm August 11, 2015

by NPR Staff

Poet Elizabeth Alexander's new book is a memoir of her life with her husband, who died three years ago. During her book tour, readers began giving her keepsakes that help her work through her grief.

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