Book News & Features

HarperCollins employees on a one-day strike earlier this summer. Workers have been in negotiations with the company since December 2021.

Workers at HarperCollins Publishers begin strike

3:47pm November 10, 2022

by Andrew Limbong

Unionized workers at one of the largest publishing companies in the country started an indefinite strike today. They are asking for better pay and a stronger commitment to diversity from the company.

Cover art for Dirt Femme by the artist Tove Lo.

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening and viewing

1:39pm November 05, 2022

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: Bono's memoir, the Philly Orchestra playing Dancing On My Own, and Tove Lo's Dirt Femme.

Books on Iran and the struggles of Iranian women.

10 books to read to learn about women's plight in Iran

10:50am November 03, 2022

by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

The latest uprising in Iran is about much more than mandatory hijab. We've complied a list of books that offer insight into the lives of Iranian women and what is happening in their country.

Creature: Paintings, Drawings, and Reflections is a new collection of images from artist and writer Shaun Tan's best-known works as well as more than 100 illustrations that have never been seen before. The book also includes essays by the artist.

Books
Arts

Shaun Tan's curious creatures are just looking for companionship

5:01am November 03, 2022

by Elizabeth Blair

Shaun Tan's illustrations run the emotional gamut, from oddly whimsical to deeply introspective. Tan is best known for his graphic novel The Arrival and his Oscar-winning short film The Lost Thing.

Books

13 books full of thrills and chills for Halloween

5:40pm October 28, 2022

by Pilar Galvan

Halloween is a time of mystery and mischief. Here are some hair-raising novels that will keep you on your toes, ranging from thrillers and murder mysteries to horror stories both supernatural and not.

Author Colleen Hoover signs her novel, "It Starts with Us."

Books
Arts

Author Colleen Hoover went from tending cows to writing bestsellers

7:22pm October 24, 2022

by Chloe Veltman

The top-selling author in the country right now is a 42-year-old mom and former social worker who lives in the same small Texas town where she's spent practically her entire life.

Queue Listen Now

Woodward's taped time with Trump reveals much about both the author and his subject

2:01pm October 23, 2022

by Ron Elving

We hear the former president striving to court Woodward's favor, praising him as "a great historian" and "the great Bob Woodward." Yet these interviews veer often into disagreements and even debates.

Author Cormac McCarthy attends the premiere of "The Road" in New York on Nov. 16, 2009. McCarthy has two novels coming out this fall.

Books
Arts

After 16 years, author Cormac McCarthy gifts two new novels to readers

7:55am October 22, 2022

by John Burnett

Neither of the reclusive author's interconnected books The Passenger and Stella Maris contains the savagery and bloodletting his readers have come to expect — there's less action and more dialogue.

Books
Arts

First Reads: Exclusive excerpt from Cormac McCarthy's forthcoming 'Stella Maris'

5:00am October 22, 2022

by NPR Staff

Cormac McCarthy's first book in 16 years, The Passenger, hits shelves Tuesday. It's prequel, Stella Maris is set to follow the first week in December. We have an exclusive first look.

Two books offer perspective on the future of China.

Two new books challenge the sense of inevitable permanence of the Chinese party state

1:56pm October 20, 2022

by Emily Feng

China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower and Never Turn Back: China and the Forbidden History of the 1980s offer a look at the future of China's Communist Party.