Author Interviews

Heavy smoke rises following an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition aircraft in Kobani, Syria, during fighting between Syrian Kurds and the militants of the self-declared Islamic State in October 2014.

'State Of Terror': Where ISIS Came From And How To Fight It

12:34pm March 16, 2015

by NPR Staff

In their new book, terrorism experts Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger say that the "projection of strength" has led to the rapid expansion of the self-declared Islamic State.

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A Mystery 'Bullet' Reveals Long-Kept Family Secrets

11:03am March 15, 2015

The hero of Mary Louise Kelly's novel, The Bullet, discovers she has a bullet in her neck but doesn't know how it got there. Kelly tells NPR's Rachel Martin she was inspired by a true story.

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'Windows' That Transform The World: Jane Hirshfield On Poetry

9:23pm March 14, 2015

by NPR Staff

In a "window moment," the poet says, a work shifts and expands: "By glancing for a moment at something else, the field of the poem becomes larger. What's in the room with the poem is bigger."

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Murder City Earns Its Name In 'Blood Runs Green'

5:20pm March 14, 2015

by NPR Staff

Before Beulah Annan or Leopold and Loeb, another murder became a Chicago sensation. Scott Simon speaks with Gillian O'Brien, author of Blood Runs Green: The Murder that Transfixed Gilded Age Chicago.

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Horses drive traffic on London's Oxford Street in 1890. According to author Lee Jackson, by the 1890s, the city's horses produced approximately 1,000 tons of dung a day.

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'Dirty Old London': A History Of The Victorians' Infamous Filth

5:20pm March 12, 2015

In the 1800s, the Thames River was thick with human sewage and the streets were covered with horse dung, the removal of which, according to Lee Jackson, presented an "impossible challenge."

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Arts

Inspired By Monks, A Writer Embraces His Life Of Solitude

3:39pm March 12, 2015

Fenton Johnson says that while alone, people can "find the richest possible ways of being in the world." He's lived alone for more than 20 years. His Harper's article describes his pursuit.

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Bio Credits Manson's Terrible Rise To Right Place And Time

3:31pm March 12, 2015

California parolee Charles Manson arrived in San Francisco in 1967, when the city was full of young seeking a guru. In Manson, Jeff Guinn says it was the perfect spot for him to enact his cult vision.

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A Writer Moves To 'Bettyville' To Care For His Elderly Mom

1:27pm March 11, 2015

In 2011, George Hodgman visited his mother Betty for her 91st birthday in Paris, Missouri. When he saw she needed care, he left Manhattan to live with her. But she still hasn't accepted that he's gay.

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Forget Big Sky And Cowboys: 'Crow Fair' Is Set In An Unidealized Montana

8:07pm March 09, 2015

by NPR Staff

"I think there's only one interesting story ... and that's struggle," says writer Thomas McGuane. Loners, outcasts and malcontents fill the pages of his new short story collection Crow Fair.

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Author Explores The Ripple Effects Of A Kidnapping In Mexico

9:52am March 09, 2015

by NPR Staff

In his collection Barefoot Dogs, Antonio Ruiz-Camacho offers varying perspectives on the kidnapping of a Mexican patriarch. He asks: "How do you reach closure when someone you love has disappeared?"

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