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A Parable Of International Development From Dave Eggers

5:08am March 18, 2019

by Rachel Martin

In a slim novel called The Parade, two mismatched men are sent to a war-torn country to pave a highway in 12 days. "But ultimately," the author says, "it's not really about either one of these guys."

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Building A Home Of Stories In 'The Bird King'

9:09pm March 17, 2019

by Amal El-Mohtar

G. Willow Wilson's luminous new novel is set during the last days of Muslim Granada, and follows a royal concubine and her mapmaker friend as they flee the Inquisition for a place that may not exist.

Books

Caroline Criado-Perez On Data Bias And 'Invisible Women'

8:50am March 17, 2019

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Caroline Criado-Perez about her new book Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men.

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Remembering W.S. Merwin

11:48am March 16, 2019

W.S. Merwin died Friday at the age of 91. He was one of the United States' most prolific poets — he won the Pulitzer Prize twice.

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The Night Witches, by Garth Ennis and Russ Braun

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'Night Witches' Sheds Some Light On Daring Female Flyers

9:12am March 16, 2019

by Etelka Lehoczky

Garth Ennis' new graphic novel creates a fictional character to flesh out the stories of the real Night Witches, Soviet female pilots who dropped bombs on the Nazis from rickety old biplanes.

In college, Laurie Halse Anderson thought she might become a translator — and in a way, she did. "I translate imagination onto the page," she says.

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20 Years After 'Speak,' Laurie Halse Anderson Tells Her Own Story In 'Shout'

9:11am March 16, 2019

by Melissa Block

The groundbreaking novel Speak told the story of Melinda, a teen who stopped speaking after a sexual assault. In her poetry memoir, Shout, Anderson opens up about being raped when she was 13.

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Author Bryan Washington Tells Some Of The Many Stories Of Houston In 'The Lot'

5:56pm March 15, 2019

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with author Bryan Washington about Lot, his new collection of short stories set in Houston.

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W.S. Merwin found inspiration in his conservation work and in his home on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

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Poet W.S. Merwin, Who Was Inspired By Conservation, Dies At 91

5:21pm March 15, 2019

by Noah Adams

In the 1980s, the two-time U.S. poet laureate moved to Hawaii and began working to restore the rainforest. According to one contemporary, that's when he "morphed into a poet of praise."

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How 'Peasant Food' Helped Chef Lidia Bastianich Achieve Her 'American Dream'

1:37pm March 15, 2019

by Terry Gross

Bastianich grew up eating farm-to-table meals with her Italian family. After they fled Europe as refugees, she drew on those meals in opening her first restaurant. Originally broadcast May 7, 2018.

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Shrill executive producer Lindy West enjoyed making a fictionalized version of her life: "You can work out all your grudges and your resentments against everyone you've ever met, except with this plausible deniability because it's fictional," she says.

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In 'Shrill,' Lindy West Made The Body Positive Show That She Never Had

9:11pm March 14, 2019

by Ari Shapiro

"You don't see fat people being happy on TV. If there's a fat character on TV they are sad," West says. That's definitely not the case in Shrill, a Hulu comedy series adapted from West's 2016 memoir.

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