Books

Books
Arts

'Space Invaders' Maps Pixelated Battles Onto Real-Life Conflict

7:00am November 11, 2019

by Lily Meyer

The characters in Nona Fernández' new book are coming of age during Chile's brutal military dictatorship — and for them, video games are a useful framework for understanding the dangers all around.

Books
Arts

Lindy West: 'The Witches Are Coming' — And They Are Rightfully Angry

5:37am November 11, 2019

by Noel King

"For a long time, a certain set of men have called women like me 'witches' to silence and discredit us," West says. Her book explores misogyny, the #MeToo movement and growing up female in America.

Queue Listen Now

Books

'The Tubman Command' Author On Harriet Tubman As A Patriotic Veteran

5:10pm November 10, 2019

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with historian Elizabeth Cobbs about her book The Tubman Command.

'The Movie Musical!' Is A Symphony In Praise Of The 'Razzmatazz' Of The Genre

11:12am November 10, 2019

by Jason Heller

Jeanine Basinger argues, authoritatively and passionately, that the musical has never really left us, that there's relevance and inspiration to be gleaned from the golden age of Hollywood musicals.

Books

Lauren Michele Jackson On 'White Negroes'

9:25am November 10, 2019

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with author Lauren Michele Jackson about her new book White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue... and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation.

Queue Listen Now

Howard Weistling created his comic book A Western out of cigarette wrappers and flattened soup cans while he was a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II.

'Like Getting My Father Back': WWII POW's Art Returned To His Family

9:25am November 10, 2019

by Laurel Morales

Howard Weistling dreamed of becoming a great comic strip artist, but he felt compelled to enlist in the Army Air Corps during WWII. He eventually created a comic while a prisoner of war in Germany.

Queue Listen Now

Lara Maiklem searches for treasures along the foreshore of the Thames.

Books
Arts

London's 'Mudlark' Pulls Treasure From The Thames

8:09am November 10, 2019

by Petra Mayer

"Mudlarks" were the people who made a living picking objects out of the mud along the River Thames. Writer Lara Maiklem follows in their tracks; she chronicles her journeys in a new book, Mudlark.

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, illustrated by Peter Kuper

Books
Arts

Graphic Adaptation Of 'Heart Of Darkness' Takes On Canonical Racism, Artfully

7:00am November 10, 2019

by Etelka Lehoczky

Artist Peter Kuper has adapted Joseph Conrad's classic Heart of Darkness in a way that undercuts Conrad's depiction of Africa as a place of existential horror, and centers the African characters.

Books
Arts

New 'Paris Review' Poetry Editor Vijay Seshadri Has Hope For The Next Generation

10:00am November 09, 2019

by Jeevika Verma

Vijay Seshadri has been named the twelfth poetry editor ofThe Paris Review. He says he sees a resurgence in American poetry right now, and a new recognition of different lives and experiences.

Flutist Eugenia Zukerman sets her struggle with Alzheimer's to verse in her new memoir.

In 'Like Falling Through A Cloud,' Eugenia Zukerman Explores Her Changing Mind

8:12am November 09, 2019

The classical flutist came back from the hospital after receiving an Alzheimer's diagnosis and felt compelled to write. The result is a stunning memoir that mixes poetry and prose.

Queue Listen Now