Books

In his new book, ProPublica reporter J. David McSwane says a shocking number of companies that received funds at the beginning of the pandemic to distribute protective gear had no experience doing so.

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Michael Meyer, whose latest book, Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet, follows a bequest Franklin left in his will to two cities.

"To engage children's interest in anything you have to be keenly interested in that thing yourself," Margery Williams Bianco wrote in 1925. Her story endures because it connects to so many people.

Shannon's new memoir, Hello, Molly! opens with the car crash that killed her mother and sister when Shannon was 4. She says, for a long time, she was motivated by a desire to make her mom proud.

Ayesha Rascoe talks to Dolen Perkins-Valdez about her new novel "Take My Hand," which fictionalizes a 1973 involuntary sterilization case, and about why she's drawn to history as a novelist.

Scott Simon speaks with writer Delia Ephron about her memoir, "Left On Tenth." It recounts a short but harrowing period in which she experienced loss, romance and a potentially fatal illness.

Colm Toibin reads from his new collection of poetry, "Vinegar Hill," and answers questions from Scott Simon.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Artem Chapeye, author of the book The Ukraine, who is currently serving as a private in the army fighting for Ukraine.

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Jennifer Egan about her latest novel, The Candy House.

Mandel's latest work is an ingeniously constructed, deeply absorbing novel that summons up three fully realized worlds in three distinct time periods — including the 25th century.

The author of Godshot brings readers a new set of stories; Heartbroke unfolds in a chorus of yearning and sorrow, told in 11 different voices that Chelsea Bieker inhabits with perfect pitch.

The 10 winners of this year's Whiting Awards have been announced; the $50,000 prize honors emerging writers, with the hope of allowing them to concentrate full-time on their work.