Arts & Life

The first draft of Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn-Dixie.

Books
Arts

In Trove Of Kids' Book Treasures, A Glimpse Of The Work Behind The Magic

3:06pm October 05, 2015

by Alexandra Starr

Once a doctor's hobby, the Kerlan Collection is now one of the world's great collections of children's literature. Over 100,000 books offer visitors a chance to see the writer's process — for free.

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Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, the stranded astronaut at the heart of The Martian.

Arts

After Solitude, Controversies Bring 'Martian' Matt Damon Back To Earth

2:42pm October 05, 2015

by NPR Staff

In The Martian, Damon plays a man marooned on the red planet for years, talking only to his computer. On earth, he discusses portraying isolation and the backlash against some of his recent remarks.

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Books
Arts

A Hidden — But Quietly Influential — Life In 'Rosemary'

2:38pm October 05, 2015

by NPR Staff

Rosemary was the lost Kennedy daughter; disabled from birth, she was left profoundly damaged after a lobotomy at the age of 23. But she had a lasting influence on her family's charitable projects.

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Books
Arts

Where There's A Will: Shakespeare Remixed In 'The Gap Of Time'

2:38pm October 05, 2015

by NPR Staff

You've heard of cover songs — now, a group of authors are writing cover plays, retelling the works of Shakespeare in their own words. Jeanette Winterson leads off, reimagining The Winter's Tale.

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From Solitary To Stardom On The Court: What It Means To Be 'Tuff'

2:31pm October 05, 2015

by NPR Staff

Before his success in the NBA, Caron Butler overcame a rocky youth in the inner city. Drugs and violence nearly derailed him — but, as he writes in a new memoir, he managed a dramatic turnaround.

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Ruben Blades as Daniel Salazar and Patricia Reyes Spíndola as Griselda Salazar in Fear the Walking Dead.

Arts

How A Show About Zombies Looks At Legacies Of Real Violence

1:19pm October 05, 2015

by Jasmine Garsd

Fear the Walking Dead is telling a story not often explored on prime-time television: generational rifts over the violence that immigrant parents have experienced.

Books
Arts

An Intergalactic Adventure Winds To A Close In 'Ancillary Mercy'

12:05pm October 05, 2015

by Genevieve Valentine

Ann Leckie's powerhouse space-opera trilogy followed a soldier out to bring down a galactic empress. Critic Genevieve Valentine says the final volume is rich in detail, and a fitting capstone.

Books
Arts

Too-Insidery 'Razzle' Sadly Doesn't Dazzle

10:03am October 04, 2015

by Trey Graham

Theater critic Michael Riedel dishes some juicy backstage anecdotes in his new book about Broadway's Shubert Organization, but fails to bring its deal-makers and their troubles to convincing life.

Dmitri Vrubel's painting of the Soviet Union's Leonid Brezhnev and East Germany's Erich Honecker kissing — under a Russian phrase that reads, "My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love" — is a popular part of the East Side Gallery.

Historic Art, Luxury Apartments Battle Over Berlin's Famous Wall

8:59pm October 03, 2015

by Irene Noguchi

A stretch of the old Berlin Wall has stood for decades as an open-air gallery, covered in fine art and graffiti. Bids for luxury developments in the area have artists hitting the streets in protest.

John Bacon is the author of Endzone, Fourth And Long, Three And Out, Blue Ice and America's Corner Store.

Arts

Not My Job: We Quiz Sportswriter John Bacon On Bacon

1:01pm October 03, 2015

We're taping the show in Ann Arbor this week, home of Michigan Football and sportswriter John Bacon. Bacon's latest book is called Endzone: The Rise, Fall, and Return of Michigan Football.

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