Arts & Life

The Zozobra, a 50-foot-tall, scowling, ghostly white marionette with flailing arms and a flowing muslin robe. Here it is, under construction.

Long Before Burning Man, Zozobra Brought Fire And Redemption To The Desert

7:19pm September 25, 2016

by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi

For decades, residents in Santa Fe, N.M., have gathered to burn a massive puppet — but only after stuffing it with symbols of their woes. It's a way to release the past year's sadness and start anew.

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Studs Terkel talks on his Chicago radio show in the late 1970s.

Books
Arts

'Working' Then And Now: Studs Terkel's Book Interviews Resurface As Audio

10:39am September 25, 2016

by NPR Staff

All this week on NPR, you'll hear the voices of people Studs Terkel interviewed in his book, Working. Among the interviews you'll hear this week are a telephone operator and hotel piano player.

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Books
Arts

Depicting Sexual Predators As Villains In Fiction Is Tricky

8:37am September 25, 2016

Humbert Humbert, the main character in Lolita, is one of the most famous "sympathetic" villains in history. Today, a story from the point of view of a sexual predator might not get told in literature.

Books
Arts

Lose Yourself In The Twisting, Turning Alleys Of 'Crooked Kingdom'

7:00am September 25, 2016

by Jason Sheehan

Leigh Bardugo's followup to her steampunky heist tale Six of Crows follows teenage criminal mastermind Kaz and his ragged crew as they take revenge for a betrayal and deal with a dangerous drug.

National Museum of African American History Opens Its Doors

2:00pm September 24, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

More than 100 years after it was originally proposed, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is opening its doors in Washington, D.C.

Arts

Not My Job: Jamie Lee Curtis Gets Quizzed On Unlikely Inventions

11:36am September 24, 2016

In the late 1980s, Curtis filed a patent for a diaper/baby wipe combo, so we've invited her to play a game called "Eureka!" Three questions about inventors and their inventions.

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Books
Arts

'Let There Be Laughter': Modern Jewish Jokes Poke At Assimilation

8:59am September 24, 2016

Michael Krasny's new book is called Let There Be Laughter. He tells NPR's Scott Simon about this treasury of great Jewish jokes, and why they matter.

Schrafft's was a chain of restaurants, with a candy store attached, that catered to ladies who lunch. To NPR's Lynn Neary, who used to waitress there, Schrafft's "always felt like the epicenter of the comfort zone."

While Everyone Was Partying At Woodstock, I Was Stuck At Schrafft's

8:51am September 24, 2016

by Lynn Neary

The chain restaurant that catered to women helped redefine how Americans eat, according to a new book. For NPR's Lynn Neary, it also defined how she did and didn't fit with the counterculture.

Reputations by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Raquel Zaldivar/NPR)

Books
Arts

A Cartoonist Confronts The Power Of His Pen In 'Reputations'

7:00am September 24, 2016

by Juan Vidal

Juan Gabriel Vásquez's new novel centers on a respected and feared political cartoonist whose past comes back to haunt him after he receives a threatening letter. It's a powerful, concentrated work.

Queen of Katwe was filmed in English, but that isn't Madina Nalwanga's first language. "She worked extremely hard," co-star Lupita Nyong'o says, "and I think her discipline as a dancer came in very handy."

Arts

Ugandan Actress's Journey Mirrors That Of Her 'Queen Of Katwe' Character

7:33pm September 23, 2016

by NPR Staff

Like her chess champion character, first-time film actress Madina Nalwanga grew up in a poor neighborhood in Uganda. She says co-star Lupita Nyong'o has been her guide to the world of moviemaking.

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