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Novelist Sigrid Nunez On Climate Change, Mortality And Life In A Pandemic

1:39pm October 21, 2020

by Terry Gross

Nunez's latest novel, What Are You Going Through, is about facing the possible death of our planet from climate change — while also dealing with our mortality as individuals.

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History And Hatred Drive The Horror In 'Ring Shout'

10:00am October 21, 2020

by Danny Lore

P. Djèlí Clark's new novella is set in an alternate Jim Crow America where the Ku Klux Klan contains actual pointy-headed white demons, and The Birth Of a Nation is not just a film but an incantation.

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Real-World Experience Gives 'The Nightworkers' Its Punch

8:57am October 21, 2020

by Gabino Iglesias

Brian Selfon spent years working in the criminal justice field, and he brings that knowledge to bear in his debut, about a family of money launderers whose lives are upended when a bag goes missing.

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'Where The Wild Ladies Are' Is Perfect Halloween Reading

7:00am October 20, 2020

by Michael Schaub

Aoko Matsuda's gently supernatural story collection — all about women who are something more than they seem — gets its unearthly feel not from jump scares, but from the quality of the writing.

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John Brown And Abraham Lincoln: Divergent Paths In The Fight To End Slavery

1:43pm October 19, 2020

by Dave Davies

In The Zealot and the Emancipator, historian H.W. Brands reflects on two 19th century leaders who fought the institution of slavery in different ways: one radical and the other reformist.

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The Voice of Sheila Chandra, by Kazim Ali

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'The Voice Of Sheila Chandra' Echoes Through Time And Space

10:00am October 18, 2020

by Jeevika Verma

Kazim Ali's new poetry collection was inspired by the story of Sheila Chandra, a well-known singer rendered voiceless by an incurable neurological condition.

Books

Author Sarah Smarsh Discusses Her New Book On 'The Great Unifier:' Dolly Parton

7:54am October 18, 2020

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with Sarah Smarsh about her new book on an enduring country star, Dolly Parton, titled She Come By it Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs.

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I Survived the California Wildfires, by Lauren Tarshis

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The 'I Survived' Books Are Perfect Reads For An Anxious Age

7:54am October 18, 2020

by Barrie Hardymon

Lauren Tarshis's I Survived series takes kids through famous historical disasters — and more recent ones like the California wildfires. So they're perfect pandemic books for anxious little readers.

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Arts

'I Longed To See Something Different, So I Wrote It': Questions For Rebecca Roanhorse

1:22pm October 17, 2020

by Petra Mayer

Roanhorse's new novel Black Sun is set in a world influenced by the Pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica — plus, there's crow magic, jewel-eyed sea women, and an epic road trip.

Books

Ann Patchet, Robin Preiss Glasser Collaborate In Children's Book About A Wiley Goat

7:48am October 17, 2020

NPR's Scott Simon talks with novelist Ann Patchett and illustrator Robin Preiss > Glasser about their new children's book, Escape Goat