Books

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'Little Labors' Is No Small Feat

1:00pm May 19, 2016

by Annalisa Quinn

Rivka Galchen's meditation on motherhood is wry, low-key and non-linear, inspired by the 11th-century Japanese classic The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon — and the sleep-deprived brains of new parents.

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'Devil And The Bluebird' Is A Magical, Musical Road Trip

8:23pm May 18, 2016

by Caitlyn Paxson

Jennifer Mason-Black's new novel has echoes of The Odyssey. It follows a young musician who makes a deal with a devil at the crossroads: her voice, in exchange for a way to find her missing sister.

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The Nightmarish Reality Of Ceausescu's Romania In 'The Fox'

7:34pm May 17, 2016

by Jean Zimmerman

Herta Müller's remarkable novel tells the story of a young schoolteacher who becomes convinced, through gruesome clues, that the Romanian dictator's secret police are closing in on her.

Author Viet Thanh Nguyen Discusses 'The Sympathizer' And His Escape From Vietnam

2:02pm May 17, 2016

Nguyen and his family fled their village in South Vietnam in 1975. He won the Pulitzer Prize this year for The Sympathizer, a spy novel set during and just after the war in Vietnam.

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'Joe Gould's Teeth' Is The Tale Of A Long, Lost Book

1:04pm May 17, 2016

by Heller McAlpin

Jill Lepore digs into the story of Joe Gould, a legendary Greenwich Village writer and eccentric — and discovers that his missing magnum opus, long thought imaginary, may actually have existed.

The Power Of Genes, And The Line Between Biology And Destiny

9:09am May 17, 2016

Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee says genetics play a significant role in identity, temperament, sexual orientation and disease risk — but that environment also matters. His new book is The Gene.

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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.

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Arts

Who Was Joe Gould, And Did He Really Write The World's Longest Book?

6:50pm May 16, 2016

by NPR Staff

Years ago, two New Yorker articles told the story of a Harvard dropout who claimed to be writing the longest book ever. Did he succeed? In Joe Gould's Teeth, Jill Lepore tries to answer that question.

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'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.

'Geek Love' Author Katherine Dunn Dies At 70

4:24pm May 16, 2016

Author Katherine Dunn, who wrote the cult comic novel, Geek Love, has died at age 70. NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with Dunn's son, Eli Dapolonia, about his mother's life and work.