Author Interviews

Books
Arts

In 'A Legacy Of Spies,' John Le Carré Goes Back Out In 'The Cold'

12:10pm September 05, 2017

by Lynn Neary

Former CIA operative Valerie Plame says pop culture doesn't usually get espionage right — but le Carré comes close. His new novel is a kind of prequel to 1963's The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

In 'World Of Tomorrow,' A Novelist Found Echoes Of 1939, Today

10:34am September 03, 2017

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Brendan Mathews' debut novel is a sprawling story of three Irish brothers and their adventures in America on the cusp of World War II.

Queue Listen Now

Books

A Feminist Adaptation Of 'Snow White'

8:07am September 03, 2017

Melissa Bashardoust's new novel is a feminist adaptation of Snow White called Girls Made of Snow and Glass. She talks to Lulu Garcia-Navarro about the story of two women pitted against each other.

Books
Arts

Poems For Houston

8:07am September 03, 2017

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to Gwendolyn Zepeda, Houston's first poet laureate, about the spotlight on the city during Hurricane Harvey.

Nathan Englander is also the author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.

Nathan Englander Says His New Book Is 'A Turducken Of A Novel'

8:04am September 02, 2017

by Scott Simon

Englander describes Dinner at the Center of the Earth as "a political thriller that's wrapped up in a historical novel that's really a love story that ends up being an allegory."

Books
Arts

Celia Perez's New Novel 'The First Rule Of Punk' Comes With Advice For Adolescents

4:32pm September 01, 2017

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with Celia Perez about her book, The First Rule of Punk for middle-grade readers. The first rule? Be yourself.

Jesmyn Ward poses for a portrait near DeLisle Bayou in DeLisle, Miss. Ward, 40, has chosen to return to DeLisle and raise her children there, despite her profound ambivalence about what the town represents.

Books
Arts

Writing Mississippi: Jesmyn Ward Salvages Stories Of The Silenced

4:31pm August 31, 2017

by Melissa Block

The author's books are set in the poor, black Mississippi community where she grew up, a place where, she says, "the past bears very heavily on the present."

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Celebrating 30 Years Of 'Fresh Air': Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist John Updike

2:38pm August 30, 2017

Over the course of his decades-long career, Updike authored more than 25 novels, including the Rabbit series. He also penned short stories, poems, essays and a memoir. Originally broadcast in 1989.

Queue Listen Now

The Consequences Of Anti-Vaccination In 'Keep You Safe'

7:58am August 27, 2017

Host A Martinez talks with Melissa Hill about her new novel, Keep You Safe, a story which takes on the heated topic of childhood vaccinations and the tragic repercussions of a parent's decision.

'Ghost Of The Innocent Man': A Story Of 24 Years Of Wrongful Imprisonment

7:58am August 27, 2017

A Martinez interviews Willie Grimes, who spent 24 years in prison, wrongly accused of rape, and Benjamin Rachlin, who chronicles his fight for exoneration in Ghost of the Innocent Man.