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Francine Prose's 'Mister Monkey' Novel Inspired By Her Granddaughter's Cheeky Comment

9:00am November 05, 2016

Mister Monkey is the latest novel by award-winning writer Francine Prose. NPR's Scott Simon chats with Prose about the novel which was inspired after a seeing a play with her granddaughter.

Sheri S. Tepper wrote dozens of novels, including Grass and The Gate to Women's Country.

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Remembering Sheri S. Tepper, Eco-Feminist Sci-Fi Firebrand

7:00am November 05, 2016

by Genevieve Valentine

Tepper wrote several classics of '80s sci-fi, but she's curiously unknown today. Her work is didactic and often uncomfortable, mixing eco-feminist politics with gripping characters and world-building.

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Author Viet Thanh Nguyen Discusses 'The Sympathizer' And His Escape From Vietnam

2:47pm November 04, 2016

Nguyen and his family fled their village in South Vietnam in 1975. He won the Pulitzer Prize this year for his spy novel The Sympathizer. Originally broadcast May 17, 2016.

The Sport of Kings, by C.E. Morgan; In the Darkroom, by Susan Faludi; As Brave As You, by Jason Reynolds.

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Jason Reynolds, C.E. Morgan And Susan Faludi Win 2016 Kirkus Prize

7:46pm November 03, 2016

by Colin Dwyer

Reynolds' As Brave as You won in the literary award's category for young readers' literature; Morgan's The Sport of Kings won for fiction; and Faludi's In the Darkroom won for nonfiction.

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Sex, Death And Revolution (A Little Long-Winded) In 'Thus Bad Begins'

9:53am November 03, 2016

by Jason Sheehan

Javier Marias' new novel is, on the surface, a low-stakes spy story about a young man, his older mentor and a dysfunctional marriage. But really, it's about the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath.

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Coming To Terms With A Bloody Past In 'Pull Me Under'

7:00am November 02, 2016

by Bethanne Patrick

In Kelly Luce's new novel, a woman who calls her heart "the black organ" must return to the home she left long ago and the father she no longer speaks to, in order to confront her troubled past.

"Basically, my life's the same as everybody else's," Phil Collins says. "You're making it up every day and you're just hoping you're making the right decisions."

In Phil Collins' New Memoir, Candid Reflections On Family And Fame

6:23pm November 01, 2016

by NPR Staff

Collins, whose sound has become musical shorthand for the '80s, has a new book, Not Dead Yet. "Music has given me everything, but it's also taken everything from me," he says.

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Children's Book Author Natalie Babbitt Dies At 84

6:23pm November 01, 2016

Natalie Babbitt died Monday at her home in Connecticut at age 84. She was a writer who never talked down to the children she wrote for. That included covering big concepts like death.

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Eleanor Roosevelt, shown here in London in 1959, continued to work on behalf of progressive causes after her tenure as First Lady ended.

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Volume 3 Of Eleanor Roosevelt Biography Chronicles The Rise Of An Activist

1:51pm November 01, 2016

by Maureen Corrigan

Feminist historian Blanche Wiesen Cook published the first volume of her biography of Roosevelt in 1992. Critic Maureen Corrigan says the newly released final volume is exhausting and exhilarating.

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Faith, Sex And The South Intersect In 'Virgin'

7:00am November 01, 2016

by Heller McAlpin

April Ayers Lawson's debut story collection features young, often sheltered characters struggling with intimacy in a world where ordinary uncertainties are amplified by a fundamentalist upbringing.