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Here Are The Longlist Nominees For This Year's National Book Awards

3:15pm September 15, 2021

by Petra Mayer

The longlist nominees for this year's National Book Awards are being announced over the course of the next few days — we'll have them all right here in a continuously updated post.

Colson Whitehead was awarded Pulitzer Prizes for his last two novels, The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys.

Books
Arts

Colson Whitehead Returns To His Home Turf With 'Harlem Shuffle'

1:31pm September 15, 2021

by Terry Gross

Whitehead says his latest novel was inspired by his love of heist movies. The story centers on a furniture store owner who has a side hustle trafficking in stolen goods.

Cover of In the Country of Others and author Leila Slimani.

Walking Through "The Country Of Others"

1:07pm September 15, 2021

by Leah Donnella

In her new novel, In the Country of Others, Leila Slimani explores what it means to be an outsider. Her characters fight to establish their own identities while their country, Morocco, does the same.

Conquistadores: A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest, by Fernando Cervantes

Atrocities Of 'Conquistadores' Take Shape In New History By Mexican-Born Author

6:58am September 15, 2021

by Jim Zarroli

Historian Fernando Cervantes marshals an enormous array of primary and secondary sources to tell the story of the decades that followed Christopher Columbus' arrival to the New World.

'Peril' Details Secret Actions Carried Out During The Last Days Of Trump's Presidency

6:25am September 15, 2021

NPR's A Martínez speaks with Washington Post reporter Isaac Stanley-Becker about the details of a new book on former President Trump by Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

News Brief: Newsom Survives Recall, New Book About Trump, Pandemic Burnout

6:11am September 15, 2021

California's governor survives a recall election. A new book details concerns during the final days of the Trump administration. And, health care workers' burnout could be affecting patient care.

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Arts

Colson Whitehead's Latest Gives Readers A Half-Crook You'll Wholly Love

5:00am September 15, 2021

by Denny S. Bryce

The versatile novelist moves away from the heavier themes that won him a brace of Pulitzer Prizes in Harlem Shuffle, a heist caper starring a mostly-upright furniture salesman with a criminal streak.

Books

Author Maggie Nelson's New Book Examines The Meaning And Rhetoric Of Freedom

5:12pm September 14, 2021

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Maggie Nelson, author of the new book On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint, about exploring what it means to be free in our interconnected world.

Macaques check out a camera in Galtaji Temple in Jaipur, India. Monkeys have been known to sneak into swimming pools, courts and even the halls of India's Parliament. One attorney told author Mary Roach about a macaque that infiltrated a medical institute

Monkey Thieves, Drunk Elephants — Mary Roach Reveals A Weird World Of Animal 'Crime'

2:35pm September 14, 2021

by Dave Davies

Roach researched animal misbehaviors for her new book, Fuzz. Though animals are all but charged with crimes when they run afoul of human values, she learns, they often have the last laugh.

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Graceland, At Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South, by Margaret Renkl

'Graceland, At Last' Juxtaposes The Good And The Bad In The American South

8:35am September 14, 2021

by Barbara J. King

Writer Margaret Renkl's sense of joyful belonging to the South co-exists with her intense desire for Southerners who face prejudice or poverty finally to be embraced and supported.