Book News & Features

Michael Bond sits with a Paddington Bear toy in 2008. Bond died Tuesday, according to his publisher, nearly six decades after his beloved character first appeared in print.

Michael Bond, The 'Giant' Behind Paddington Bear, Dies At 91

3:45pm June 28, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

"Mr. and Mrs. Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform" — and readers first met Paddington with those words in 1958. Bond, who died Tuesday, turned that bear into an unforgettable friend.

Copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, on sale in an Arlington, Virginia bookstore in 2000.

Books
Arts

On Harry Potter's 20th Anniversary, Listen To His NPR Debut

5:55pm June 26, 2017

by Glen Weldon

The first Harry Potter book came out 20 years ago today. One year later, in 1998, was the first time we mentioned the book, on All Things Considered. Here's Margot Adler's piece in its entirety.

Queue Listen Now

J.K. Rowling's First 'Harry Potter' Book Turns 20 In The U.K.

6:38am June 26, 2017

The first 'Harry Potter' book was released 20 years ago today in the United Kingdom. Fans who grew up on the series are now sharing it with their own children.

Queue Listen Now

Children's book author Roald Dahl and his daughter Lucy. "Food was a huge part of our upbringing," Lucy Dahl says. Her father delighted his children with fanciful "midnight feasts" in the woods and often used mealtime to test out new characters from stori

Books
Arts

What If Willy Wonka Was Your Dad? Roald Dahl's Magical Parenting With Food

2:28pm June 16, 2017

by Dan Pashman

Food played a big role in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Dahl's other books. His daughter remembers fanciful "midnight feasts" and says her father used mealtime to test out new characters.

A new book examines how federal government policies made it easier for minorities to open fast-food franchises than grocery stores. Today the landscape of urban America reflects this history.

'Supersizing Urban America': How U.S. Policies Encouraged Fast Food To Spread

8:00am June 15, 2017

by Tove Danovich

A new book examines how federal government policies made it easier for minorities to open fast-food franchises than grocery stores. Today the landscape of urban America reflects this history.

The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South by John T. Edge.

Race, Class And Paying Down Southern Food's Great 'Debt Of Pleasure'

12:48pm June 11, 2017

In his book, The Potlikker Papers, John T. Edge tells the story of modern Southern history through food — which means "explicitly digging into issues of race, class, gender, ethnicity," he says.

Books
Arts

Beach Reads You Need: Four Sandy Summer Romances

10:00am June 10, 2017

by Maya Rodale

Our monthly romance roundup rolls on with four beach-appropriate reads for June, from the supernatural to the astronomical to an old-fashioned tale of family lost and found when you least expect it.

Maria Callas photographed at her home in Milan, Italy, in 1958.

Fame Is A Boomerang

3:54pm June 07, 2017

by Tom Huizenga

The legendary diva, who died 40 years ago this year, muses on stardom and fate — both on stage and off — in a luxurious new book of pictures and words.

Grant Cornett, Jello Disco Floor, 2016, for Gather Journal, food styling by Janine Iversen.

Books
Arts

The Big Picture: How Food Photos Have Told Our Story Over The Decades

12:31pm June 06, 2017

by Tove Danovich

The new book Feast for the Eyes is a collection of images that portray the many ways we relate to food: as advertisements, art and even political statements.

Gwendolyn Brooks poses with her first book of poems, A Street in Bronzeville.

Books
Arts

Remembering The Great Poet Gwendolyn Brooks At 100

10:04am May 29, 2017

by Karen Grigsby Bates

A new biography celebrates the life and legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who wrote about ordinary black life using extraordinary language.

Queue Listen Now