Arts

Books
Arts

In 'Amatka,' A Warped And Chilling Portrait Of Post-Truth Reality

7:00am June 27, 2017

by Jason Heller

Karin Tidbeck's new novel is set in the mysterious city of Amatka, an agricultural colony ruled by a totalitarian government — but this is no standard dystopia. In Amatka, language has strange power.

In the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess) gets through heartbreak by making his own version of Beyonce's Lemonade.

Arts

Tituss Burgess Says He Plays The Most 'Everyman' Character On 'Kimmy Schmidt'

5:55pm June 26, 2017

by Ari Shapiro

Titus Andromedon "doesn't have money to pay the rent; he can't keep a job; he gets racially profiled," Burgess says. "I mean, so what that he ... wears women's clothes?"

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Copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, on sale in an Arlington, Virginia bookstore in 2000.

Books
Arts

On Harry Potter's 20th Anniversary, Listen To His NPR Debut

5:55pm June 26, 2017

by Glen Weldon

The first Harry Potter book came out 20 years ago today. One year later, in 1998, was the first time we mentioned the book, on All Things Considered. Here's Margot Adler's piece in its entirety.

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Elise Tries dancing to K-pop. It's harder than it looks.

Video: K-Pop Dance Routines Are A Workout For Body And Brain

11:33am June 26, 2017

by Elise Hu

In NPR's Elise Tries series, correspondent Elise Hu tries out new experiences in East Asia. In this episode from Seoul, K-pop dance steps prove too complicated for completion.

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Sasha Velour competed against 13 other drag queens in season nine of RuPaul's Drag Race to snatch the crown and a prize of $100,000.

Arts

'RuPaul's Drag Race' Winner Sasha Velour Cut From A Different Fabric

4:44pm June 25, 2017

by Danny Nett

"I try to tune out all the drag that's out there and tap into the drag I was doing when I was a little kid — when I didn't even know the word 'queer' or that gay people were out there," Velour said.

John McEnroe reacts during a Men's Legends match against Jim Courier at the Connecticut Open in August 2015.

'But Seriously,' Tennis Great John McEnroe Says He's Seeking 'Inner Peace'

11:12am June 25, 2017

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Known for his on-court outbursts, McEnroe famously yelled, "You cannot be serious!" at one official. Now, decades later, he says it's a "miracle" if he goes a full day without hearing that line.

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Books
Arts

A New Delhi Family Learns To Navigate Wealth After A 'Windfall'

8:06am June 25, 2017

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Diksha Basu's new novel was inspired by the explosion of wealth she saw in 1990s India. She says money is a complex thing, and it takes a while for her characters to see that.

Books
Arts

The Call-In: Your Questions About Making Relationships Last

8:06am June 25, 2017

It's wedding season! For this week's Call-In, Mandy Len Catron, author of the new book How to Fall in Love with Anyone, answers your questions about love and relationships.

Books
Arts

An Ancient Curse Awakens In 'The Suffering Tree'

7:00am June 25, 2017

by Caitlyn Paxson

A family curse, a resurrection and a vengeful witch are at the center of Elle Cosimano's Southern Gothic chiller The Suffering Tree. But the book elides its setting's history of racial violence.

Dr. Vanessa Grubbs and Robert Phillips at their wedding in August 2005. Just a few months earlier, when his kidneys were failing, she gave him one of hers.

'Interlaced Fingers' Traces Roots Of Racial Disparity In Kidney Transplants

6:03pm June 24, 2017

by Michel Martin

When Dr. Vanessa Grubbs fell in love with a man whose kidneys were failing, he'd been waiting for a transplant for years. Her book explores the ways racial inequity is embedded in the system.

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