Book News & Features

Children's book author Roald Dahl and his daughter Lucy. "Food was a huge part of our upbringing," Lucy Dahl says. Her father delighted his children with fanciful "midnight feasts" in the woods and often used mealtime to test out new characters from stori

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What If Willy Wonka Was Your Dad? Roald Dahl's Magical Parenting With Food

2:28pm June 16, 2017

by Dan Pashman

Food played a big role in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Dahl's other books. His daughter remembers fanciful "midnight feasts" and says her father used mealtime to test out new characters.

A new book examines how federal government policies made it easier for minorities to open fast-food franchises than grocery stores. Today the landscape of urban America reflects this history.

'Supersizing Urban America': How U.S. Policies Encouraged Fast Food To Spread

8:00am June 15, 2017

by Tove Danovich

A new book examines how federal government policies made it easier for minorities to open fast-food franchises than grocery stores. Today the landscape of urban America reflects this history.

The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South by John T. Edge.

Race, Class And Paying Down Southern Food's Great 'Debt Of Pleasure'

12:48pm June 11, 2017

In his book, The Potlikker Papers, John T. Edge tells the story of modern Southern history through food — which means "explicitly digging into issues of race, class, gender, ethnicity," he says.

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Beach Reads You Need: Four Sandy Summer Romances

10:00am June 10, 2017

by Maya Rodale

Our monthly romance roundup rolls on with four beach-appropriate reads for June, from the supernatural to the astronomical to an old-fashioned tale of family lost and found when you least expect it.

Maria Callas photographed at her home in Milan, Italy, in 1958.

Fame Is A Boomerang

3:54pm June 07, 2017

by Tom Huizenga

The legendary diva, who died 40 years ago this year, muses on stardom and fate — both on stage and off — in a luxurious new book of pictures and words.

Grant Cornett, Jello Disco Floor, 2016, for Gather Journal, food styling by Janine Iversen.

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The Big Picture: How Food Photos Have Told Our Story Over The Decades

12:31pm June 06, 2017

by Tove Danovich

The new book Feast for the Eyes is a collection of images that portray the many ways we relate to food: as advertisements, art and even political statements.

Gwendolyn Brooks poses with her first book of poems, A Street in Bronzeville.

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Remembering The Great Poet Gwendolyn Brooks At 100

10:04am May 29, 2017

by Karen Grigsby Bates

A new biography celebrates the life and legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who wrote about ordinary black life using extraordinary language.

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Denis Johnson, who won the 2007 National Book Award for Tree of Smoke, died Thursday.

Denis Johnson, Author Who Wrote Of The 'Painfully Beautiful,' Dies At 67

3:32pm May 26, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

The National Book Award-winning novelist was perhaps best known for Jesus' Son, a book of interwoven stories focused on the lives of addicts. A spokesman for his publisher tells NPR he died Wednesday.

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Remembering 'Jesus' Son,' From Denis Johnson

12:02pm May 26, 2017

On the occasion of the death of writer Denis Johnson, we share a 2007 reflection on Johnson's book Jesus' Son, from novelist Nathan Englander.

Our famous summer reader poll is back, and this year we're all about comics and graphic novels! Whether it's your childhood favorite or the webcomic you binged last week, we want to know about it.

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It's A Bird, It's A Plane ... It's Our Comics And Graphic Novels Reader Poll!

7:00am May 24, 2017

Our famous summer reader poll is back, and this year we're all about comics and graphic novels! Whether it's your childhood favorite or the webcomic you binged last week, we want to know about it.