Books

The new book 'The Stolen Year' details how the pandemic disrupted children's lives

7:58am August 22, 2022

Extended school closings during the pandemic were a calamity for education. NPR's Anya Kamenetz writes about how COVID changed children's lives in her new book: The Stolen Year.

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"No, I like it. It's a statement piece. Really completes the space." Viserys (Paddy Considine) and Rheanyra (Milly Alcock) in House of the Dragon.

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Arts

In the 'House of the Dragon' series premiere, the blood of the dragon runs thick

10:00pm August 21, 2022

by Glen Weldon

We recap the debut episode of the Game of Thrones prequel, in which tragedy strikes the Seven Kingdoms, and a new heir is named for the Iron Throne ... for now, anyway.

Mitch Albom and Morrie Schwartz hold hands on Oct. 3, 1995.

Books

On the 25th anniversary of 'Tuesdays with Morrie,' the teaching goes on

4:59pm August 21, 2022

by Richard Harris

Publisher after publisher rejected the memoir before Doubleday took a chance in 1997. At its core, the book is about the power of relationship and focusing on others.

Books

Dr. Anna DeForest draws from her profession to write on sickness, healing and loss

10:23am August 21, 2022

by Ayesha Rascoe

Ayesha Rascoe talks with Anna DeForest about her debut novel, "A History of Present Illness," and how she drew from her experience as a physician to write about sickness, healing, and loss.

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Books

Books We Love: Recommended reading for romance

8:06am August 21, 2022

NPR's Books We Love has reading recommendations from our staff and contributors. Today, we hear about three new romance novels: "An Arrow to the Moon," "Young Mungo" and "Ramon and Julieta."

Books

Nobel Prize-winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah releases new novel 'Afterlives'

9:29am August 20, 2022

by Scott Simon

Scott Simon talks with Nobel Prize winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah about his latest novel, "Afterlives," which follows several generations of East Africans in the wake of colonization.

Author Jamil Jan Kochai reunites with his 2nd-grade teacher who taught him English

8:21am August 20, 2022

by Scott Simon

Scott Simon speaks to author Jamil Jan Kochai and his 2nd-grade teacher, Susannah Lung, who taught him how to read and write English after his family moved to the U.S. from Pakistan.

The latest version of HBO's George R.R. Martin adaptations features a dragon-drop interface.

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Arts

A handy 'House of the Dragon' glossary: places, powers and people you need to know

3:17pm August 19, 2022

by Glen Weldon

HBO's 'Game of Thrones' prequel throws a lot of proper nouns at you. Here's a guide to the important whos, whats and wheres of 'House of the Dragon.'

At a rally outside the New York Public Library, writers including Paul Auster and Gay Talese read passages from Salman Rushdie's work. His assailant has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges after being accused of stabbing Rushdie during a litera

Books
Arts

Paul Auster, Aasif Mandvi and others support Salman Rushdie with public readings

2:10pm August 19, 2022

by Elizabeth Blair

Writers Jeffrey Eugenides, Roya Hakakian, Kiran Desai, Tina Brown, Gay Talese and others gave live readings from the author's work as he recovered from a brutal attack.

In 1989, after Iran's religious leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie, readings of his works were organized around the United States. At this one in San Francisco, novelist Alice Walker reads al

Since 1989, threats to Salman Rushdie have sparked support and debate on free speech

5:30am August 19, 2022

by Becky Sullivan

Last week's attack has reignited debates over free speech, censorship and offensiveness that were already heated back in 1989, when an op-ed by a former president called Rushdie's book an "insult."