Arts

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker, by Damon Young

Books
Arts

'What Doesn't Kill You' Navigates The Challenges Of Existing While Black

8:59am March 23, 2019

by Scott Simon

Damon Young's new memoir is full of pointed, thoughtful, barbed and funny essays about the ways race has affected his life, and the lives of his family — and about his hopes for the next generation.

Arts

What It Means For Art When A Museum Rejects Money From The Sackler Family

8:59am March 23, 2019

NPR's Scott Simon asks New York Times art critic Roberta Smith about the moral questions surrounding art, funding and artists.

Arts

Ahead Of His 100th Birthday, A Reading Of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's 'I Am Waiting'

8:59am March 23, 2019

Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti turns 100 Sunday. NPR's Scott Simon reads his poem, "I Am Waiting."

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Books
Arts

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Wit Is Afire In 'Little Boy'

7:00am March 23, 2019

by Craig Morgan Teicher

As he approaches his 100th birthday, the legendary Beat poet and publisher has a new book. Billed as his "literary last will and testament," Little Boy is part memoir, part rambling free-association.

In Us, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex and Lupita Nyong'o (L-R) play the members of a family — and their doppelgangers.

Arts

Jordan Peele Looked Into The Mirror And Saw The Evil Inside 'Us'

7:32pm March 22, 2019

by Ailsa Chang

For his much-anticipated follow-up to his Oscar-winning movie Get Out, the writer-director sets a family up against its own doppelgangers. That is, he made a full-on horror film.

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Paul Giamatti as Chuck Rhoades and Maggie Siff as Wendy Rhoades in Billions.

Arts

All The Chess Pieces Are On The Move In Season 4 Of 'Billions'

2:26pm March 22, 2019

by David Bianculli

Showtime's drama about wealthy New York power players features writing, acting and directing that have gotten better with each season. Critic David Bianculli calls the show "astoundingly relevant."

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Books
Arts

Remembering Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet W. S. Merwin

1:36pm March 22, 2019

by Terry Gross

The former U.S. poet laureate, who died March 15, was a prolific writer as well as a conservationist and a conscientious objector during World War II. He spoke to Fresh Air in 2008.

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Chief Justice John Roberts attends the 37th Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center on Dec. 7, 2014, in Washington, DC.

In 'The Chief,' An Enigmatic, Conservative John Roberts Walks A Political Tightrope

11:54am March 22, 2019

by Nina Totenberg

Reporter Joan Biskupic portrays the chief justice as a dedicated conservative who now "has the court he's always wanted" — and she says the law "will likely be what he says it is."

Books
Arts

'High Heel' Muses On Beauty, Power — And Stilettos

8:33pm March 21, 2019

by Mary Louise Kelly

When she worked at the U.N., Summer Brennan wore high heels almost every day — even when they made her fall. Her new book High Heel is an exploration of modern womanhood through the history of heels.

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Measure Twice ...: Lupita Nyong'o stars in Us, the latest horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele.

Arts

When You Meet The Enemy, And It Is 'Us'

5:00pm March 21, 2019

by Scott Tobias

Though less thematically precise than Get Out, Jordan Peele's latest film doubles down on horror — and excels at capturing the mundane, funny moments between the big scares.