Arts

Misaki (Tôko Miura) is the personal driver to a grieving actor (Hidetoshi Nishijima) in Drive My Car.

Arts

'Drive My Car' may be the most absorbing ride you take all year

2:27pm December 07, 2021

by Justin Chang

After his wife's death, a middle-aged stage actor forms an unlikely bond with the 20-something woman sent to be his chauffeur. Drive My Car is an intricately structured drama about love and loss.

Queue Listen Now

Three fall 2021 YA graphic novels that are worth s look.

Books
Arts

3 YA graphic novels that highlight the timelessness of teenage themes this autumn

5:07am December 07, 2021

by Etelka Lehoczky

Among the flood of titles aimed at the high-school set this fall, a few stand apart for their unorthodox stories, deft artwork and potent themes.

Abdulrazak Gurnah, a Tanzanian-born novelist and academic who lives in the U.K., poses with his 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature medal after being presented it at the Swedish ambassador's residence in London.

Books
Arts

No black-tie dinner with the Swedish king for this year's Nobel Prize winners

6:23pm December 06, 2021

by Mia Estrada

Instead, most of the laureates are receiving their awards in their home countries because the pandemic has disrupted the ceremonies yet again.

Encore: Bette Midler discusses her children's book, 'The Tale Of The Mandarin Duck'

5:06pm December 06, 2021

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Bette Midler about her children's book, The Tale of the Mandarin Duck.

A small lineage of artisans is reviving the ancient art of pigeon whistles in Beijing

4:52pm December 06, 2021

by Emily Feng

For centuries, owners tied lightweight whistles to their pet pigeons in China. The art of making pigeon whistles almost faded away in Beijing, but a small group of artisans is bringing it back.

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The 2021 Kennedy Center honorees: (left to right) opera star Justino Díaz, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, entertainer Bette Midler and Motown founder Berry Gordy.

Kennedy Center honors creative excellence in the arts at annual gala

3:46pm December 06, 2021

by Elizabeth Blair

Motown founder Berry Gordy, opera star Justino Díaz, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, entertainer Bette Midler and television impresario Lorne Michaels were among those celebrated this weekend.

Queue Listen Now

Kieran Culkin says the cursing on Succession has affected his speech: "The F-word just slides out of me."

Arts

Kieran Culkin is having fun with 'Succession' — and he hopes you are too

1:42pm December 06, 2021

by Terry Gross

Culkin plays one of three siblings vying for control of a media empire: "This guy grew up never having to suffer consequences, and so he doesn't really know what that means to suffer consequences."

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Call Us What We Carry: Poems, by Amanda Gorman

Books
Arts

In debut poetry collection, Amanda Gorman looks at America today through its past

11:06am December 06, 2021

by Jeevika Verma

The youngest presidential inaugural poet writes about how looking at our history tells us what our bodies are made of – and of how collective memory of strength re-energizes us in our darkest moments.

Olga Neuwirth's bold gender-bending opera has won the Grawemeyer Award

10:20am December 06, 2021

by Steve Smith

Neuwirth, an Austrian composer and multimedia artist known for works of elemental power, was honored for her opera 'Orlando,' produced by the Vienna State Opera in 2019.

Arts

President Biden and the first lady attend the Kennedy Center Honors

6:53am December 06, 2021

by Elizabeth Blair

Bette Midler, Berry Gordy, Joni Mitchell, Lorne Michaels and Justino Diaz were awarded the Kennedy Center Honors at a gala in Washington, D.C. Sunday night. The show will be televised Dec. 22. on CBS.