Books

The classic Italian children's book The Adventures of Cipollino was translated into English for the first time last year. The book has a surprising backstory in the former Soviet Union.

Historian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor spent years researching the racial slur, but never revealed that her father was the legendary comic who used it profusely. Her new book is Something We Said.

San Diego-based chef Claudette Zepeda's new cookbook takes inspiration from her childhood living on the border between Mexico and the United States.

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Theo Baker, whose college newspaper investigation brought down Stanford University's president in 2023. Baker's new book on education and power is "How to Rule the World."

Ayesha talks to authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray about the prosecutor and the madam who join forces against the mob in their new historical novel "A Pair of Aces".

When she fled Cuba, Ada Ferrer's mother took only one of her two children. In her new memoir, Keeper of My Kin, Ferrer grapples with that decision's reverberations across generations of her family.

NPR's Scott Simon talks with "Hamnet" author Maggie O'Farrell, whose new novel, "Land," draws on her own family's history with Ireland's Great Famine.

The judge wrote in his 94-page ruling that it was "crystal clear" that the arts complex was named for the late president John F. Kennedy. He also ruled that the center could not wind down its programming and close for two years of renovations – at least for now

"The End of Romance" follows a woman who finally leaves a restrictive and emotionally abusive marriage and crafts a new philosophy about life.

Though the 2026 festival featured less Hollywood razzle-dazzle than in years past, there were still plenty of great films. Most notable: All of a Sudden, from the Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi.