Arts

The renowned Bangkok Market, located in Los Angeles, is a longtime supermarket for retail and wholesale Thai produce, spices, chili pastes and household products.

The Family-Run Thai Market That Feeds LA's Eclectic Food Scene

10:34am April 13, 2016

by Mandalit del Barco

The Tilakamonkul family opened Bangkok Market in 1972. It became a magnet for Asian immigrants and chefs looking for rare ingredients. Their own son, Jet Tila, is now a celebrity chef.

Queue Listen Now

In 1997, Pablo Picasso's Women of Algiers (Version O) — shown here at Christie's in Hong Kong — was part of a groundbreaking art auction that sent prices soaring.

Arts

Panama Papers Provide Rare Glimpse Inside Famously Opaque Art Market

6:34pm April 12, 2016

by Elizabeth Blair

The leaked documents tell the backstory of a groundbreaking Christie's auction, and the purchase of a painting one man claims was seized from his grandfather during World War II.

Queue Listen Now

Nadia Manzoor and Radhika Vaz star in the Web sketch-comedy show Shugs & Fats. Season 3 of the show will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 14 and will be available online on April 15.

Arts

A Web Comedy Series Is 'Walking The Line Between Hipsters And Hijabis'

5:17pm April 12, 2016

Comics Nadia Manzoor and Radhika Vaz play Muslim immigrants dealing with speed dating, catcalls and other aspects of life in secular New York in their sketch-comedy series Shugs & Fats.

Queue Listen Now

Robert McCloskey was still a young artist when he brought a crate of ducks back to his studio apartment to do some sketches. Since then, the plucky Mallard family (Jack, Lack, Mack, et al.) has charmed its way into our hearts.

Books
Arts

Make Way For Celebration: These Ducklings Are Turning 75

4:00pm April 12, 2016

by Lynn Neary

Robert McCloskey was a young artist when he brought a crate of ducks back to his studio apartment. Since then, the plucky Mallard family (Jack, Lack, Mack, et al.) has charmed its way into our hearts.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

#NationalPoetryMonth: Verses That Celebrate Life On The Farm

3:02pm April 12, 2016

by Maria Godoy

Poet Tess Taylor's new book, Work & Days, is a lyrical meditation on food and farming and our "fragile and ultimately, necessary relationship we have with the earth." Download her illustrated poems.

Edna O'Brien's first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1961.

Books
Arts

A Clash Of Manners And Monsters In Edna O'Brien's 'Little Red Chairs'

2:25pm April 12, 2016

by Maureen Corrigan

A charismatic stranger in a remote Irish village turns out to be a war criminal in O'Brien's new novel. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls the book "one of [O'Brien's] best and most ambitious novels yet."

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

The 'Regional Office' Doesn't Quite Deliver

1:26pm April 12, 2016

by Jason Heller

Manuel Gonzales' ambitious debut novel has a great hook — a top secret organization battling aliens, zombies and evil masterminds — but dry humor and spirited dialogue get lost in a convoluted plot.

Arts

MacArthur 'Genius Grant' Winner Ben Lerner To Speak At WFU

7:04am April 12, 2016

by Bethany Chafin

A reading Tuesday night in Winston-Salem will likely examine and blur the lines between nonfiction and fiction, reality and art, the present and the future.

Queue Listen Now

Beverly Cleary, shown during a story hour in the park, was a children's librarian before she became an author. "Boys particularly asked: Where were the books about kids like us? And there weren't any at that time," she recalls.

Books
Arts

Beverly Cleary Is Turning 100, But She Has Always Thought Like A Kid

6:36pm April 11, 2016

by Melissa Jaeger-Miller

Before she became an author, Beverly Cleary was a children's librarian. She says young readers often asked for books "about kids like us." There weren't any, so she decided to write them herself.

Queue Listen Now

Many books are challenged because of "sexually explicit" content or content "unsuited for age group."

'The Holy Bible' Makes Library Association's List Of Most 'Challenged' Books

4:30pm April 11, 2016

by Laura Wagner

The challenges show religion is "on the minds of many people," says Deborah Caldwell Stone of the American Library Association. Another reason people objected to books was explicit sexual content.