Books

This author's 'Normal Family' includes a sperm donor dad and 35 siblings

12:54pm July 14, 2022

by Terry Gross

Chrysta Bilton's mother was a lesbian who asked a man she'd just met to be her sperm donor. It was only much later that Bilton learned the same man had donated sperm to countless other women.

UC Berkeley Professor Richard Taruskin, whose 4000-page book The Oxford History of Western Music set a benchmark for writing about the history of classical music.

Remembering Richard Taruskin, a writer who made you care about 1,000 years of music

11:36am July 14, 2022

by Tom Huizenga

Hear the towering – and polarizing – author in conversation about his 4,000-page book, The Oxford History of Western Music.

Encore: In 'She Memes Well,' Quinta Brunson describes the path to her comedy career

4:35pm July 13, 2022

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with actor and stand up comedian Quinta Brunson about her first book, an essay collection called She Memes Well.

Books
Arts

Elisa Albert's newest book explores the dark side of the fertility industrial complex

5:00am July 13, 2022

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with Elisa Albert about her new novel, "Human Blues."

Carmen Rita Wong reckons with her identity after learning a secret hidden for decades

4:29pm July 12, 2022

Carmen Rita Wong's mother was Dominican and father was Chinese, or so she thought. In her memoir, Why Didn't You Tell Me, she reckons with the truth that was kept from her for 31 years.

Rafael Agustin was a writer on the CW network show Jane the Virgin, and is now CEO of the Latino Film Institute.

Books
Arts

'Jane the Virgin' writer recounts growing up undocumented in 'Illegally Yours'

1:04pm July 12, 2022

by Dave Davies

Rafael Agustin's parents were physicians in Ecuador, but when they came to the U.S. they worked at a car wash and Kmart to get by. It wasn't until he was a teen that he learned they were undocumented.

Books
Arts

Ada Limón named new U.S. poet laureate

10:45am July 12, 2022

by Meghan Collins Sullivan

Ada Limón was named as the nation's 24th poet laureate by the Library of Congress. She will take over from Joy Harjo, who has held the position since 2019.

Blind loyalty is helping sustain Trump's power in the Republican party, new book says

4:24pm July 11, 2022

NPR's Juana Summers talks with journalist Mark Leibovich about his new book Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission.

'Legacy of Violence' documents the dark side of the British Empire

1:33pm July 11, 2022

by Arun Venugopal

By by 1920, the British Empire covered 24% of the Earth's land mass. Historian Caroline Elkins says British rulers portrayed themselves as benevolent, but used systematic violence to maintain control.

Queue Listen Now

Books

Authors speak out against trend of reading and returning ebooks

7:08am July 11, 2022

Authors are sounding the alarm about a TikTok trend encouraging people to read and return ebooks to Amazon. Self-published writers say Amazon's lenient return policy is risking their livelihoods.