Book News & Features

Muhammad Ali reads one of his poems during a contest at the Bitter End, a Greenwich Village coffeehouse and nightclub, in 1963.

Muhammad Ali: A Poet In And Out Of The Ring

2:00pm June 06, 2016

by Juan Vidal

"The Louisville Lip" was famously as fast with his words as with his fists — years before the birth of hip hop, he was a battle rapper flipping similes and metaphors in a language all his own.

Emma Straub says she didn't want to write yet another book set in Brooklyn — and then she hit on Ditmas Park.

Books
Arts

Exploring The 'Quiet New York' With Emma Straub

7:48am June 05, 2016

by Lynn Neary

Straub's new book, Modern Lovers, is a tale of old friendships, secrets and family entanglements set in a part of Brooklyn writers often ignore: leafy, largely residential Ditmas Park.

Books
Arts

'Too Tough To Die,' Cass Neary Cuts A Jagged Path Through Crime Fiction

7:00am May 26, 2016

by Jason Heller

This week, the NPR Books Time Machine is rewinding Elizabeth Hand's gritty, punk-inflected Cass Neary mystery series. "Scary Neary" is an aging rocker with addiction issues and a talent for trouble.

Dan Vyleta's new book Smoke imagines a world where vice is made visible, in the form of curling black Smoke.

Books
Arts

'Smoke' Author Dan Vyleta Keeps It Messy

10:00am May 22, 2016

by Annalisa Quinn

Dan Vyleta's new novel imagines a world where inner faults and sins are made visible by black smoke curling from bodies. He says his big, sprawling narratives were inspired by the works of Dickens.

The first issue of Black Panther, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates (with art by Brian Stelfreeze) is the top-selling comic of 2016 so far.

Books
Arts

Now At Your Comic Shop: Ta-Nehisi Coates And Michael Chabon

8:54am May 22, 2016

by NPR Staff

Acclaimed authors — including Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Chabon — have begun penning comic books, to great acclaim. Coates' first issue of Black Panther is the year's top-selling comic so far.

Winner of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for fiction Han Kang, right, and her translator who shares the prize, Deborah Smith, following the award ceremony in London. They received the award for the novel, The Vegetarian.

'The Vegetarian' Wins Man Booker International Prize For Fiction

8:25am May 17, 2016

by Doreen McCallister

South Korean author Han Kang was awarded the prize for her dark novel The Vegetarian at a London ceremony on Monday. She shares the honor with translator Deborah Smith.

Books
Arts

'People Want These Stories': Women Win Big At The Nebula Awards

4:58pm May 16, 2016

by K. Tempest Bradford

The Nebula Awards are some of the most prestigious prizes in science fiction and fantasy. This year, women authors swept the awards — and not for the first time.

Kindergarten students read before class starts at Walker-Jones Education Campus in Washington, D.C.

Through The Looking Glass: How Children's Books Have Grown Up

12:53pm May 10, 2016

by Byrd Pinkerton

Literature for kids hasn't always been focused on the magical and whimsical. We take a three-century tour through the history of children's books in the classroom.

Crepes are a cousin of the enchilada, says Mexican chef Pati Jinich. A vestige of French intervention in Mexico, crepes are now considered classics of Mexican gastronomy. (Above) Jinich's crepe enchiladas with corn, poblano chiles and squash in an avocado

Crepes For Cinco De Mayo? Chef Pati Jinich Explains Por Qué

10:19pm May 05, 2016

by Maria Godoy

The holiday commemorates a Mexican victory against French invaders, whose culinary imprint lingers. In her new cookbook, Jinich explores Mexico's evolving cuisine and its many immigrant influences.

Empty storefronts line the streets of Northern Cambria, Pa., Jennifer Haigh's hometown.

'Heat And Light' Digs For The Soul Of Coal Country

6:44pm May 04, 2016

by Lynn Neary

Jennifer Haigh grew up in small town Pennsylvania, where jobs disappeared when coal mines closed. Her new novel explores the changes that mining — and now fracking — has brought to nearby communities.

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