Arts

Books
Arts

'Plain Houses' Is A Spellbinding Story Of Witchcraft And Disobedience

7:00am April 27, 2016

by Carmen Maria Machado

Julia Franks' debut novel is set in Depression-era North Carolina, where young farm wife Irenie is sneaking off to the woods for moments away from her husband — who's convinced his wife is a witch.

Books
Arts

'Sleeping Giants' Kicks Off A New Series In Style

4:01pm April 26, 2016

by Jason Heller

Sylvain Neuvel's debut begins with a young girl who falls into a hole in the ground and is found soon after, sitting on a 20-foot-long mechanical hand. And that's just the (finger) tip of the iceberg.

VIDEO: Chocolate Bars With A Political Bite

3:25pm April 26, 2016

by Morgan McCloy

It's often said that Washington, D.C., is a town obsessed with politics. Apparently, that obsession extends to its chocolatiers. We visit a factory making politically inspired chocolate bars.

Tom Hanks plays an American businessman on an assignment in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert in A Hologram for the King, which is based on a novel by Dave Eggers.

Arts

Tom Hanks Says Self-Doubt Is 'A High-Wire Act That We All Walk'

3:13pm April 26, 2016

"No matter what we've done there comes a point where you think, 'How did I get here?' " Hanks says. He plays an American businessman working in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert in his new film.

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Arts

Kelly Ripa Comes Back To 'Live'

1:05pm April 26, 2016

by Linda Holmes

Kelly Ripa returned to Live with Michael and Kelly on Tuesday morning following a tumultuous week in the wake of the announcement of Michael Strahan's departure.

In high school, Meryl Streep was one of the "cheeries."

Books
Arts

Meryl Streep's First Acting Gig: Becoming Pretty And Popular In High School

10:52am April 26, 2016

by Susan Stamberg

In a new biography called Her Again, author Michael Schulman says that at 14, Streep decided to reinvent herself — and before she was an Oscar winner, she was homecoming queen.

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Beyonce performs onstage during "The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour" in Los Angeles.

Before Diving Into The Raging Flood Of New Beyoncé Thinkpieces, Read This

3:46pm April 25, 2016

by Gene Demby

Beyoncé did a thing over the weekend, which means there are a million thinkpieces on the Internet today — on blackness and feminism and celebrity — for you to wade through. But start here.

'Alter Egos' Dissects Hillary Clinton's Tenure As Obama's Secretary Of State

1:51pm April 25, 2016

Mark Landler of The New York Times discusses Clinton and Obama's contrasting views on America's role in the world. Clinton, Landler says, was often the hawk, more willing to intervene with force.

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Viet Cong soldiers going into battle near Hue during the Vietnam War, circa 1968. Years later, the war shaped how Ocean Vuong grew up.

Books
Arts

In The Lines Of Ocean Vuong, Echoes Of His Family's Past In Vietnam

9:01am April 25, 2016

by NPR Staff

Award-winning poet Ocean Vuong speaks about his new book Night Sky with Exit Wounds, which weaves growing up in America with his family's memories of a war-torn Vietnam.

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Warhead Constriction, a group of high-schoolers from Lagos, is one of many rock bands of the 1960s and '70s featured in the new book series Wake Up You! The Rise and Fall of Nigerian Rock, 1972-1977.

'Wake Up You!' Explores The Transitional, Post-War Rock 'N' Roll Of Nigeria

7:07pm April 24, 2016

by NPR Staff

In the 1970s, a crop of young rock bands with "a new sense of fury and fuzz" arose in the aftermath of the country's civil war, says historian Uchenna Ikonne.

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