Book News & Features

Terry Pratchett wrote more than 70 books.

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Author Terry Pratchett Was No Stranger To Death

4:05pm March 13, 2015

by Petra Mayer

The prolific author, who died Thursday at 66, was known for his novels about the fantasy planet Discworld, populated by humans, witches, trolls and dwarves — and a very human, sympathetic Death.

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Terry Pratchett at the 2012 South Bank Sky Arts Awards in London.

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Terry Pratchett, Prolific Fantasy Author, Dies At 66

7:56am March 13, 2015

by Colin Dwyer

The Discworld series author had for years struggled with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Pratchett amassed a devoted following over four decades of writing — and dozens of novels.

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Straight To Audiobook: Authors Write Original Works Meant To Be Heard

12:37pm March 10, 2015

by Lynn Neary

Writer Philip Pullman says it's all part of the oral tradition: "Long before writing, people were telling each other stories," he says. Audiobook technology has come a long way since the early days.

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Don't try this at home: Critic Juan Vidal experiments with reading on the roof.

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Reading On The Roof? Now That's Punk Rock

10:46pm March 08, 2015

by Juan Vidal

In The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolaño invented the "visceral realists," a group of wild writers who read anywhere and everywhere — causing critic Juan Vidal to ponder the weird places we read.

It took just 18 minutes for the Lusitania to sink after it was hit by a German torpedo.

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Exclusive First Read: Erik Larson's 'Dead Wake'

2:30pm March 06, 2015

by NPR Staff

The Devil in the White City author Erik Larson turns his attention to the sinking of the liner Lusitania almost 100 years ago — a turning point that helped bring the United States into World War I.

Fans are celebrating World Book Day on Thursday. Here, a man browses through books at the Albertine, a French bookstore and library at the French Embassy in New York.

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It's World Book Day: Time For Reading Lists And Dress-Up

5:17pm March 05, 2015

by Bill Chappell

Put down that screen: Today's the day to celebrate holding a bound book in your hands. For World Book Day, we bring you a roundup of stories and reading lists.

Claudia Rankine was nominated for a National Book Award for Citizen.

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Black Bodies In White Words, Or: Why We Need Claudia Rankine

12:55pm March 04, 2015

by Syreeta McFadden

Writer and photographer Syreeta McFadden says that when she's challenged to prove the existence of everyday racism, she directs friends, allies and enemies to Claudia Rankine's powerful Citizen.

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A Vivid Portrait Of Tudor Turmoil In 'Lamentation'

10:03am March 04, 2015

by Nishant Dahiya

The sixth volume of C.J. Sansom's Shardlake mysteries is set during the last days of England's King Henry VIII, as a potentially explosive religious manuscript written by his queen has gone missing.

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This Weekend, Experience The Enduring Power Of 'The Millstone'

3:07pm March 03, 2015

by NPR Staff

Margaret Drabble's The Millstone, set in the 1960s, tells the story of a young, unmarried woman who finds herself pregnant. Author Tessa Hadley says this 50-year-old novel is a weekend must-read.

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Viewers have criticized the lack of characters of color in Marvel's Agent Carter -- K. Tempest Bradford says it's just one of a long line of properties that overlook the presence of African-Americans outside of slavery, Reconstruction and the civil rights

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Uncovering Hidden Black History, On Screen And On The Page

2:02pm March 02, 2015

On TV and in the movies, it can sometimes seem like black people only existed during slavery or the civil rights era. K. Tempest Bradford recommends some books that bring hidden history to light.