Author Interviews

Books

Poet Maggie Smith on her new memoir 'You Could Make This Place Beautiful'

7:59am April 15, 2023

by Miles Parks

Maggie Smith's poem "Good Bones" went viral in 2016. She talks with NPR's Miles Parks about her work and her divorce, both subjects of her new memoir "You Could Make This Place Beautiful."

Books
Arts

How a writer found healing in the story of her enslaved ancestors

4:49pm April 14, 2023

NPR's Andrew Limbong talks with Dionne Ford about her new book, Go Back and Get It: A Memoir of Race, Inheritance, and Intergenerational Healing.

Bangles cofounder Susanna Hoffs infused her debut novel with her love of music

4:29pm April 13, 2023

NPR's Andrew Limbong speaks with the Bangles cofounder Susanna Hoffs on her debut novel This Bird Has Flown and how she used her music career to create her main character, singer Jane Start.

Indigenous author explores the power of hair for Native Americans in children's book

5:08pm April 12, 2023

by Elizabeth Blair

My Powerful Hair is Indigenous author Carole Lindstrom's new children's book. It is inspired by her grandmother, who was forced to cut off her hair to try to remove her from Native culture.

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A doctor reflects on the challenges of caring for a parent with Alzheimer's

2:05pm April 12, 2023

by Terry Gross

Dr. Sandeep Jauhar says caring for his dad was the hardest journey he's ever taken. His memoir, My Father's Brain, is also about the latest research into the disease, and why there's not yet a cure.

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Rep. Katie Porter is standing up to corporate America — one whiteboard at a time

5:35pm April 11, 2023

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Rep. Katie Porter about her new memoir, I Swear: Politics is Messier Than My Minivan, about what it's like to work on Capitol Hill as a single mom with three young kids.

Books
Arts

NPR host Mary Louise Kelly reflects on juggling motherhood and chasing the news

1:26pm April 11, 2023

by Terry Gross

Kelly has reported from around the world, including from war zones. Her new memoir, It. Goes. So. Fast, chronicles her ongoing attempts to be a good mother — and be good at her job.

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Books

Celebrating #NPRPoetryMonth with Franny Choi

5:11pm April 09, 2023

We read listener-submitted poems, as NPR's Scott Detrow celebrates National Poetry Month with poet Franny Choi, author of the collection The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On.

'On Grief' book has its roots in the long-lost diaries of a 9/11 victim

5:44pm April 08, 2023

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with Atlantic writer Jennifer Senior about grief.

Books

Mary Louise Kelly on her memoir 'It. Goes. So. Fast. The Year of No Do-Overs'

8:02am April 08, 2023

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon and Mary Louise Kelly talk about her new book, "It. Goes. So. Fast. The Year of No Do-Overs." The memoir takes looks at the balance of work and motherhood, intention and memory.