Author Interviews

Books

'Rough Sleepers': How one person can make a difference caring for the unhoused

5:11am March 15, 2023

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer talks to author Tracy Kidder about his new book, Rough Sleepers, which profiles Dr. Jim O'Connell, who runs an organization called Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.

Books

Paris Hilton was at the center of it all. Now she's delving into her pre-fame life

4:12pm March 14, 2023

NPR's Juana Summers talks to early 2000s socialite and "it girl" Paris Hilton about her new book, Paris: The Memoir.

Books

This law and philosophy professor warns neurotechnology is also a danger to privacy

4:12pm March 14, 2023

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Nita Farahany about her new book The Battle For Your Brain, which looks at the promise and perils of neurotechnology — tech that connects the human brain and computers.

Books

'What Looks Like Bravery' explains how achievement can't protect us from grief

5:11am March 14, 2023

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with Laurel Braitman about her memoir, What Looks Like Bravery: An Epic Journey Through Loss to Love.

Beautiful white cat, breed Siberian Neva Masquerade in a plastic collar

A veterinarian says pets have a lot to teach us about love and grief

4:53pm March 13, 2023

by Dave Davies

Karen Fine says "I feel like I learn from my patients all the time. ... They really have skills and senses that we don't." Her new memoir is The Other Family Doctor.

Queue Listen Now

Books

Nguyen Phan Que Mai on her novel 'Dust Child'

8:08am March 11, 2023

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon asks Nguyen Phan Que Mai about her novel, "Dust Child," and the intertwined lives of Vietnamese women and U.S. servicemen, and their Amerasian children.

Dina Nayeri has spent years studying the stories of vulnerable people.

Who gets believed? Dina Nayeri examines society's personal relationship with truth

6:09pm March 10, 2023

by Manuela López Restrepo

In a new book, the author and former refugee explores her own relationship with being believed — and believing others.

Queue Listen Now

Books

Dina Nayeri's relationship with belief changed while writing 'Who Gets Believed?'

4:40pm March 10, 2023

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with author Dina Nayeri about her new book Who Gets Believed? and how expanding the stories we are familiar with can help us to believe strangers and vulnerable populations.

Books
Arts

'Camera Man' unspools the colorful life of silent film star Buster Keaton

1:37pm March 10, 2023

by Dave Davies

Slate film critic Dana Stevens traces Keaton's trajectory, from performing in his family's vaudeville act as a child, to starring in and directing silent films. Originally broadcast Jan. 24, 2022.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Novelist Thomas Mallon looks back on the early years of the AIDS epidemic

2:25pm March 09, 2023

by Terry Gross

The New Yorker recently published Mallon's diary excepts detailing life in Manhattan in the '80s. His new novel, Up With the Sun, is based on the life of a little-known actor who was gay and closeted.

Queue Listen Now