Books

Books
Arts

'My Ears Are Open': Novelist Elizabeth Strout Finds Inspiration In Everyday Life

2:21pm January 13, 2016

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge says she was a "bad lawyer" before turning her energies to writing. Her latest novel, My Name is Lucy Barton, is about an aspiring writer.

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Somalis living in the Dadaab camp in Kenya gather to watch the arrival of the United Nations high commissioner for refugees last May.

The World's Largest Refugee Camp Looks Like A Slum/Star Wars Mashup

2:46pm January 12, 2016

by NPR Staff

But for thousands of Somali refugees, the camp in Dadaab, Kenya, is the only home they've ever known.

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Arts

'Your Heart Is A Muscle' Is A Florid, Ambitious Tale Of Protest

7:00am January 12, 2016

by Michael Schaub

Sunil Yapa's new novel follows a group of characters through the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle. Critic Michael Schaub praises Yapa's ambition, but says his execution is amateurish.

Books
Arts

'Last Stop On Market Street,' 'Finding Winnie,' Win U.S. Children's Book Prizes

7:44pm January 11, 2016

by Lynn Neary

Matt de la Pena's Last Stop on Market Street won the Newbery Medal for the best children's book of 2015. Finding Winnie, the story behind A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, has won the Caldecott Medal for the top illustrated book.

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'Last Stop On Market Street' Wins Newbery Medal, 'Finding Winnie' Takes Caldecott

6:31pm January 11, 2016

by Petra Mayer

Matt de la Peña becomes the first Hispanic author to win the Newbery award for children's literature, while the Caldecott picture-book prize went to a book about the real-life Winnie the Pooh.

The Last Interview series features conversations with Ernest Hemingway, Nora Ephron and Philip K. Dick.

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Arts

Revisiting The 'Last Interview' Of Ernest Hemingway, Philip K. Dick And Nora Ephron

1:32pm January 11, 2016

by Maureen Corrigan

A series of books published by Melville House gathers together the final interviews conducted with prominent deceased writers and thinkers. Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the latest in the series.

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Books

How An 1871 Disaster Helped To End America's Whaling Dynasty

5:36am January 11, 2016

David Greene talks to Peter Nichols, author Oil and Ice, a book about a fleet of 33 whaling ships trapped in Arctic ice. Whalers and their families had to escape in tiny rowboats through miles of ice.

X-Ray Audio: The Strange Story of Soviet Music on the Bone explores a curious bootlegging practice that arose in Cold War Russia.

Bones And Grooves: The Weird Secret History Of Soviet X-Ray Music

9:29am January 10, 2016

by NPR Staff

In Cold War Russia, getting your hands on an American rock record was close to impossible. But a few bootleggers found a way to hide their contraband in the last place anyone would think to look.

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Books

'Game Of Thrones': When The TV Show Outpaces The Books

8:03am January 10, 2016

George R.R. Martin hasn't finished his latest book in time for the sixth TV season. NPR's Rachel Martin talks with Amy Sullivan and Spencer Kornhaber of the Atlantic's 'Game of Thrones' roundtable.

When 'One Breath' Tests Life: Author Explores Extreme Freediving

8:03am January 10, 2016

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Adam Skolnick about his new book about the extreme sport of freediving. It's called One Breath, and it focuses on the death in 2013 of freediver Nick Mevoli.