Author Interviews

Marie Mutsuki Mockett says the Japanese tradition of Tōrō nagashi — lighting floating paper lanterns in honor of loved ones — reminded her that she was not alone in her grief.

Books
Arts

After Father's Death, A Writer Learns How 'The Japanese Say Goodbye'

6:30pm January 27, 2015

by NPR Staff

Lost in a deep depression, Marie Mutsuki Mockett visited a temple owned by her mother's family near Fukushima. There, she found traditions and ways of thought that helped her work through her grief.

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Frank Sinatra captured by photographer William "PoPsie" Randolph during a 1943 concert. Author Ben Yagoda points to Sinatra as one of the interpreters who helped revive the Great American Songbook.

When Pop Broke Up With Jazz

9:00am January 27, 2015

by NPR Staff

For the first half of the 20th century, Tin Pan Alley songwriters like Irving Berlin and the Gershwins dominated pop music. By the the 1950s, tastes had changed, and the music changed with them.

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Books
Arts

'Ghettoside' Explores Why Murders Are Invisible In Los Angeles

1:17pm January 26, 2015

In her new book, journalist Jill Leovy studies the epidemic of unsolved murders in African-American neighborhoods and the relationships between police and victims' relatives, witnesses and suspects.

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Arts

In 'Fatherland,' A Daughter Outlines Her Dad's Radicalization

12:12pm January 26, 2015

by NPR Staff

Falling in love with your handsome pen pal, moving overseas to marry him, then finding out he's part of a terrorist organization: That's the Bunjevac family story, told in a new graphic memoir.

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Esther Freud is the author of Hideous Kinky, The Sea House, and other novels.

Books
Arts

Two Outcasts Form An Artistic Bond In 'Mr. Mac And Me'

11:49am January 26, 2015

by NPR Staff

Painter's daughter Esther Freud weaves her own experiences into the story of a lonely little boy in a British seacoast town, who befriends the great Art Nouveau designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

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Books
Arts

In 'Dear Father,' A Poet Disrupts The 'Cycle Of Pain'

9:56am January 26, 2015

by NPR Staff

J. Ivy says his father grew up in pain and passed that pain on to the next generation. In his new book, he says that forgiveness is an ongoing act — and you must constantly remember to forgive again.

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was a Republican presidential hopeful in the 2008 election. He writes that he wants his book God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy to introduce Americans to life in "flyover country."

Huckabee Serves Up 'God, Guns' And A Dose Of Controversy

10:41pm January 24, 2015

by NPR Staff

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee sees America as divided into "Bubble-ville" and "Bubba-ville," a cultural split he describes in his new book, Gods, Guns, Grits, and Gravy.

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Books

'Driving The King' A Story Long In The Works

7:15pm January 24, 2015

Driving The King is a fictionalized account of the adventures of Nat King Cole and his bodyguard driver. Author Ravi Howard says the idea was planted long ago.

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Books

In The World's 'Sixth Extinction,' Are Humans The Asteroid?

1:25pm January 23, 2015

Scientists think an asteroid killed the dinosaurs. In today's extinction, humans are the culprit. Originally broadcast Feb. 12, 2014.

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Books
Arts

In 'The Evil Hours,' A Journalist Shares His Struggle With PTSD

5:35pm January 21, 2015

While embedded with troops in Iraq, David Morris almost died when a Humvee he was riding in ran over a roadside bomb. His book explores the history and science of post-traumatic stress disorder.

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