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'Undead Girl Gang': Mister, They ARE The Weirdos

10:14am May 09, 2018

by Caitlyn Paxson

In Lily Anderson's debut novel, a string of suspicious deaths prompts teen witch Mila to try to solve the mystery by raising the dead girls to ask who killed them — but of course, it's not that easy.

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My First Existential Crisis: The Sweet Story Of An Angsty 'Square'

5:07pm May 08, 2018

by Rachel Martin

Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett are writing a children's book trilogy about shapes who are just like us. The second installment follows a straight-laced square who wonders if he's really a genius.

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'Barracoon' Offers A Vivid, First-Hand Account Of Slavery In America

2:59pm May 08, 2018

by Maureen Corrigan

In 1927, author Zora Neale Huston interviewed Cudjo Lewis, the last known living person who could recount the experience of being taken captive in Africa and transported on a slave ship to America.

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Brothers Jay (left) and Mark Duplass have been making films together since they were kids. Their new memoir is Like Brothers.

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Duplass Brothers On Working Together And Growing Apart: 'We Are Ex-Soulmates'

1:11pm May 08, 2018

by Terry Gross

Filmmaker siblings Jay and Mark Duplass have been making movies together since they were kids. More recently, Mark says, "We had to dig out space from that beautiful co-dependence."

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'Barracoon' Brings A Lost Slave Story To Light

10:00am May 08, 2018

by Jean Zimmerman

Both terrifying and wonderful, Barracoon is Zora Neale Hurston's long-unpublished account of her conversations with Cudjo Lewis, who was brought to America on the last trans-Atlantic slave ship.

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In Zora Neale Hurston's 'Barracoon,' Language Is The Key To Understanding

8:51am May 08, 2018

by Lynn Neary

The book is based on conversations Hurston had with Cudjo Lewis, who was brought to this country on the last trans-Atlantic slave ship. It's a unique document of Lewis' life before and after slavery.

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'Warlight' Illumines Family Secrets In Ondaatje's Latest

7:00am May 08, 2018

by Heller McAlpin

Set during and after World War II, Warlight follows a young man trying to find out what really happened when his parents disappeared and left him and a young sister in the care of two mystery men.

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Sharply Written 'Mars Room' Ventures Behind The Bars Of Women's Prison

2:22pm May 07, 2018

by John Powers

Rachel Kushner's new novel centers on a young mother serving two consecutive life sentences for murdering a man who'd been stalking her. Critic John Powers calls The Mars Room "searingly intelligent."

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Lidia Bastianich owns restaurants in New York, as well as in several other cities.

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

1:18pm May 07, 2018

by Terry Gross

Bastianich grew up eating farm-to-table meals with her Italian family. After they fled Europe as refugees and emigrated to America, she drew on those childhood meals in opening her first restaurant.

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Author Finds Resilience, Love And 'Beauty In The Broken Places'

6:54pm May 06, 2018

Allison Pataki was on an airplane with her husband when he suffered an extremely rare, nearly fatal stroke. NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Pataki about her memoir Beauty in the Broken Places.

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