Author Interviews

Books

Sarah M. Broom On 'The Yellow House'

8:34am August 10, 2019

Sarah M. Broom's debut memoir The Yellow House tells the sprawling tale of a family in New Orleans East and the home that was wiped away by Hurricane Katrina. She talks with NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer.

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Arts

'Fresh Air' Remembers Toni Morrison With 3 Conversations Over 4 Decades

2:03pm August 09, 2019

by Terry Gross

The Nobel laureate died Monday at 88. Terry Gross talked with Morrison in 1987 after she wrote Beloved, in 1992 after she authored Jazz and in 2015 when she published God Help the Child.

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Stories From Arab Female Reporters In 'Our Women On The Ground'

5:13am August 08, 2019

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with Zahra Hankir, editor of Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World.

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A view of a McDonald's fast-food restaurant in Des Plaines, Ill., circa 1955. A new book explores the complicated bond between Americans and fast food.

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Arts

'Drive-Thru Dreams' Explores America's Love-Hate Relationship With Fast Food

5:22pm August 07, 2019

by Luisa Torres

Americans have a torturous relationship with fast food. We vilify it but also view it through a nostalgic lens. A new book explores this complicated yet seemingly unshakable bond.

When she was growing up, New Yorker culture writer Jia Tolentino attended a Houston megachurch with her family. "The population was extremely white and wealthy, which my family was not," Tolentino says. "It was the kind of place where you had a daily Bibl

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'New Yorker' Writer Fears We're Fooling Ourselves In The Internet's 'Trick Mirror'

4:11pm August 06, 2019

by Terry Gross

In her new book of essays, culture writer Jia Tolentino explores how social media shapes identity, public discourse and political engagement — particularly for millennials such as herself.

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Books

A History Of The Mosquito, 'Our Deadliest Predator'

9:34am August 04, 2019

It's been called one of humans' deadliest predators. NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks to author Timothy C. Winegard about his new book about the mosquito.

Books

The Try Guys Try Interviewing Laura Hillenbrand

7:58am August 03, 2019

The Try Guys are four YouTube stars who'll try almost anything, including Scott Simon's job. Keith Habersberger, Ned Fulmer, Zach Kornfeld and Eugene Lee Yang interview author Laura Hillenbrand.

cover to Marilou Is Everywhere by Sarah Elaine Smith

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Arts

Growing Up In Appalachia Is 'The Great Riddle Of My Life,' Says 'Marilou' Author

7:58am August 03, 2019

by Scott Simon

A 14-year-old loner named Cindy finds her own maternal figure in Sarah Elaine Smith's first novel, set in the part of rural Pennsylvania where the author grew up.

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Our Language Is Evolving, 'Because Internet'

7:52pm July 31, 2019

by Audie Cornish

Whether you're extremely online or still confused by how a simple period can be interpreted as passive-aggressive, linguist Gretchen McCulloch has a guide to how our on-screen speech is morphing.

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Novelist Laura Lippman isn't interested in writing that sensationalizes crime. She says she aims to center her work in "a respect for victims."

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'Cities Are Resilient,' Says Baltimore Crime Novelist Laura Lippman

3:40pm July 30, 2019

by Terry Gross

Lippman's latest novel, Lady in the Lake, was inspired by two real-life Baltimore disappearances in the 1960s. She says Trump's recent tweets show a "basic disrespect" for the residents of her city.

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