Book News & Features

Apple: Price-Fixing Charges 'Not True'

4:29pm June 04, 2013

by Laura Sydell

Lawyers for Apple will be back in court again Tuesday defending the company against government charges that it conspired with publishers to fix e-book prices. All the major publishing houses settled months ago with the Justice Department. In opening statements, Apple's lawyer said the company won't settle because it did nothing wrong.

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Arthur Geisert's Thunderstorm follows a tempest in the rural Midwest.

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Arts

Arthur Geisert's 'Thunderstorm' Celebrates Life On The Prairie

11:39am June 03, 2013

by Rebecca Hersher

The award-winning children's book author has written more than two dozen books set in the American heartland. He's most famous for his intricate illustrations of the Midwest — sprawling prairie, family farms and his signature mischievous pigs.

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Pearl Buck was born in West Virginia but spent much of her childhood in China, where her parents worked as missionaries.

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A Lost And Found 'Wonder': Pearl S. Buck's Final Novel

6:15pm May 25, 2013

by NPR Staff

Before her death in 1973, Pearl S. Buck wrote one final novel. But The Eternal Wonder languished in a Texas storage unit for decades until its discovery last fall.

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Anthony Marra is a Stegner fellow and a recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award.

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From A Debut Writer, A Polished, Passionate, Must-Read Book

9:00pm May 06, 2013

by Meg Wolitzer

Anthony Marra's debut novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, takes place in war-torn Chechnya — a world of perpetual violence, fear and exploding land mines. But reviewer Meg Wolitzer says the characters are so vivid and the language so brilliant you want to stay there.

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A portrait of Winston Churchill in 1900, around the time he wrote "Our Modern Watchwords."

World News

Rare Churchill Poem Fails To Sell At Auction

6:23pm April 21, 2013

by NPR Staff

When the only known poem Winston Churchill wrote as an adult went up for auction in London recently, it was expected to fetch a pretty penny. But the poem failed to fetch a buyer, and now its fate is unknown. New Yorker Poetry Editor Paul Muldoon takes a critical look at "Our Modern Watchwords."

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Venezuelan author Romulo Gallegos (1884-1969), circa 1950.

Oil, Chavez And Telenovelas: The Rise Of The Venezuelan Novel

10:55am April 12, 2013

by Marcela Valdes

Although Venezuela has a rich literary culture, its writers remain largely unknown outside of the country. Marcela Valdes traces the intersection of literature and politics in the large Caribbean nation, showing the forces that have kept Venezuelan writers from getting the praise they deserve.

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A new documentary about Philip Roth premieres on PBS next week as part of a slew of celebrations in honor of the novelist's 80th birthday.

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A Measured Look At Roth As The Writer Turns 80

2:11pm March 19, 2013

by John Powers

The celebration of Philip Roth's career reaches its peak in a new documentary — Philip Roth Unmasked — that will screen on PBS next week as part of the American Masters series. There's no doubt that Roth is a master, and not just an American one, but the film tiptoes around the novelist's dark ferocity.

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This Dec. 26, 2004, photograph shows a trail of destruction in the southern Sri Lankan town of Lunawa after tidal waves lashed more than half of Sri Lanka's coastline.

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'Wave' Tells A True Story Of Survival And Loss In The 2004 Tsunami

7:56am March 05, 2013

by Lynn Neary

Sonali Deraniyagala lost her husband, two sons and parents to the Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people. Her new memoir recounts the events of that fateful day.

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6 Books On Shortlist To Win Oddest Title Prize

7:37am February 27, 2013

The competition coordinator of Britain's Diagram Prize says, "You can't judge a book by its cover, but I think people do." The winner will be announced March 22.

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The Polar Express won the Caldecott Medal in 1986, and was turned into an animated movie with Tom Hanks in 2004.

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A Colorful Anniversary: The Caldecott Medal Turns 75

10:11am January 28, 2013

by Lynn Neary

The award for the most distinguished children's picture book of the year is announced Monday. The first winner, in 1938, was a book of illustrated animals from the Bible, but the medal has also gone to books like Madeline's Rescue and Where the Wild Things Are.

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