Arts

New York artist Jo Lampert just landed her first major role: Joan in David Byrne's new rock opera based on Joan of Arc. With her androgynous appearance and bluesy voice, Lampert seems like a good fit.

The wearing of the red honors the patron saint of Sicily. But the real celebrating centers around extravagant altars filled with traditional food, religious symbols and tributes to loved ones.

Elif Batuman has sung the praises of "long novels, pointless novels," and she puts her money where her mouth is with The Idiot, a tale of youthful confusion that can be both boring and beautiful.

There are 63 artists in this year's Biennial, including An-My Lê, whose photography touches on immigration, and Raúl de Nieves, who made a stained glass window with tape, paper, beads and more.

The Nobel Prize winner celebrated his Caribbean homeland and described its brutal colonial history. "You didn't make yourself a poet," he said. "You entered a situation in which there was poetry."

20 years ago, a low-budget film with a great soundtrack became a huge hit. Now, director Danny Boyle is getting the old (much older, in fact) Trainspotting gang back together for a sequel.

Netflix releases another Marvel superhero series, Iron Fist. This one features a white martial arts expert who fights bad guys, most of whom are Asian. After successful shows like Jessica Jones, this one misses the mark.

NPR movie critic Bob Mondello reviews Disney's live-action version of Beauty and The Beast. Is it still a tale as old as time, a song as old as rhyme?

More than 20 years after the release of the original film about a band of thieving Scottish junkies, Boyle returns to the same characters. Critic David Edelstein calls the new film "tremendous fun."

Kander and his partner, Fred Ebb, wrote the songs for a number of musicals, including Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Cabaret. Kander spoke to Terry Gross in 1991 and 2015.

Algae was long a part of Irish cuisine. Nutrient-rich, it helped some survive the Great Famine. Irish cooks reviving the practice say it's not just good for you – it's a zap of flavor from the sea.

The authors — who won awards in the fiction and nonfiction categories, respectively — were just two of the writers who emerged Thursday with one of the literary world's most renowned prizes.