Author Interviews

John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon, seen here with his band Public Image Ltd at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival, is the former frontman of the Sex Pistols.

John Lydon: The Foul-Mouthed Yob Sets The Record Straight

6:27pm May 02, 2015

by NPR Staff

"After reading so much rubbish written about me over the years, it became obvious that I had to just tell it like it is," Lydon tells NPR's Arun Rath. Lydon just wrote his memoir, Anger Is An Energy.

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Books
Arts

Author Hopes Holocaust-Themed Picture Book Will Prompt Conversations

6:27pm May 02, 2015

by NPR Staff

Jane Yolen's latest is a children's book about a family trying to survive the Holocaust in France. "I consider Stone Angel a kind of starting place for parents to talk to their kids," she says.

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A Veteran Scientist Dreams Boldly Of 'Earth And Sky'

10:26am May 02, 2015

by NPR Staff

Famous — and occasionally controversial — physicist Freeman Dyson's new essay collection ranges from scientific history to today's hot-button issues like climate change and genetic engineering.

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'Outsider Baseball': Tells Tales Of Obscure Baseball Characters

10:26am May 02, 2015

Gary Cieradkowski's new book is an illustrated compendium of baseball's forgotten characters. He talks to NPR's Scott Simon about The League of Outsider Baseball.

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Books
Arts

Understanding The Dark Side Of Enlightenment On 'Diamond Mountain'

4:08pm May 01, 2015

by NPR Staff

Author Scott Carney's new A Death on Diamond Mountain unravels the complicated paths that led an American Buddhist seeker not to nirvana, but to his death in a cave in the Arizona desert.

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Arts

Searching For Buried Treasure In China, A Writer Discovers Himself

4:06pm May 01, 2015

by NPR Staff

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Huan Hsu's great-great-grandfather buried his vast porcelain collection to protect it. Hsu went to find it 70 years later, on a trip about more than missing china.

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Arts

Scott Simon: 'We Don't Fully Grow Up' Until We Lose Our Parents

4:05pm May 01, 2015

by NPR Staff

"There are some lessons that only grief and responsibility can teach us," says Weekend Edition host Scott Simon. His new memoir, Unforgettable, is about the life and death of his mother.

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Arts

Thanks To Chance (And Craigslist), A Writer Becomes A Carpenter

4:02pm May 01, 2015

by NPR Staff

Writer Nina MacLaughlin hit her low point producing a listicle of the world's 100 Unsexiest Men. Six years and a lucky Craigslist ad later, she's a carpenter and author of the new memoir Hammer Head.

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A spread from Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest and Coloring Book by Johanna Basford.

Books
Arts

Artist Goes Outside The Lines With Coloring Books For Grown-Ups

3:56pm May 01, 2015

by NPR Staff

When Johanna Basford first told her publisher she wanted to draw books for adults — well, she says, "You can imagine how quiet they were." Today, both of her books have become sellout successes.

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Books
Arts

A Berkeley Student Comes Home In 'Braggsville,' With Consequences

3:51pm May 01, 2015

by NPR Staff

T. Geronimo Johnson's new novel follows a young man from a small Georgia town who comes home from college with a multicultural crew of friends, and plans for a disruptive (if well-intentioned) prank.

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