Books

Books
Arts

'Hollywood Hoofbeats' Chronicles The Horses That Captured Moviegoers' Hearts

2:50pm March 21, 2016

Author Petrine Day Mitchum tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies that show business horses have been known to develop an actor's affection for the camera, often coming to life when the director says "action."

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Author Helen Oyeyemi's new book reflects her fascination with keys.

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Keys Are The Key To 'What Is Not Yours'

10:05am March 21, 2016

by NPR Staff

Writer Helen Oyeyemi's new collection features nine stories all linked through the idea of keys that open rooms, doors, even hearts. She says she felt haunted by keys while working on the book.

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Margarita Engle is a Cuban-American poet and novelist.

'A Song Of Gratitude': Cuban-American Poet Hopeful Of Improved Relations

9:04pm March 20, 2016

by Tracy Wahl

Cuban-American poet and author Margarita Engle praises President Obama's "courage to make peace" with Cuba. Her book Enchanted Air tells of being separated from her Cuban family members.

In the new film Alone In Berlin, based on Hans Fallada's beloved but once-banned novel, Emma Thompson plays Anna Quangel. Real-life Anna Quangel and Otto Quangel were executed in 1943 for their acts of resistance against the Nazi regime.

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'Alone In Berlin' Features The Story That Continues To Revise And Resonate

10:40am March 20, 2016

by Susan Stone

An act of defiance in Nazi-era Germany is the subject of a film based on a novel that, when it finally came out in English, connected with readers. The director says its message still holds relevance.

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A Love Story Rudely Interrupted By History

7:00am March 20, 2016

by Jason Sheehan

Peter Behrens' novel, Carry Me, follows the fortunes of two interconnected families through the World Wars in Europe, as well as the turmoil leading up to Ireland's War of Independence.

Jon Kushner was 11 years old when he died.

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'I Grew Up In The Shadow Of This': Writer Reflects On His Brother's Murder

10:53am March 19, 2016

by NPR Staff

David Kushner was 4 years old when his older brother Jon was killed. "I think with the loss of anybody, that person — they don't disappear," he says. Alligator Candy is his memoir of the experience.

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With Fear, Determination And Poetry: How Great Writers Face Death

8:18am March 19, 2016

by NPR Staff

Katie Roiphe's The Violet Hour is a meditation on mortality in which she describes the last days of Maurice Sendak, Sigmund Freud, Susan Sontag, John Updike, James Salter and Dylan Thomas.

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Amidst Shadows On Screen, 'Innocents' Wonders What's Real

7:00am March 19, 2016

by Jane Ciabattari

Dana Spiotta's ambitious new novel follows two women, friends and filmmakers, through decades of conversations about art, film and life — and a dangerous final documentary project.

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Arts

Sink Or Swim: Poems On The Existential Terror Of Everyday Life

6:09pm March 18, 2016

by Craig Morgan Teicher

John Koethe explores the minutia of daily life and the disillusionment that comes with age in his tenth volume of poetry, The Swimmer.

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In 'The Nest,' Adult Siblings Eagerly Await Their Inheritance

4:24pm March 18, 2016

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney about her first novel, The Nest, a hilarious family drama.