W.H. Auden's Poem 'September 1, 1939' Still Resonates In Times Of Crisis
Critic Ian Sansom's deeply informed and unapologetically digressive new book dives into Auden's life — as well as the life of his singular poem.
Books
Get Ready To Astro-Blast Off With 'The Last Kids On Earth'
This month, our kids' books columnist Juanita Giles is thinking about how hard it is to race through a series — as her son did with The Last Kids on Earth — and have to wait for the next book.
MacArthur 'Genius' Grant Winners Attest To 'Power Of Individual Creativity'
As usual, the more than two dozen winners in 2019 span a range of fields, from fiction and cartoons to neuroscience and theoretical geophysics. Now they've got one important accolade in common.
'The Shadow King' Is A Gorgeous Meditation On Memory, War And Violence
Maaza Mengiste's new novel is set just before the second Italo-Ethiopian War, and follows a woman who becomes a guard to a "shadow king," a man impersonating exiled Ethiopian ruler Haile Selassie.
In Golden Age Hollywood, Film Stars Slid Into Each Others' Telegrams
The new book Letters from Hollywood offers a peek inside the inner workings of the film industry through 137 communiques from luminaries like Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis and a very young Jane Fonda.
Patti Smith Weaves Between Worlds Real And Imagined In 'Year Of The Monkey'
Smith's musical career sometimes threatens to overshadow her accomplishments in other creative fields, but every page in this book reminds us that she is an accomplished novelist, essayist and poet.
The Joys of Mothering While Black
Black motherhood is joyful. That’s one message three black women writers are sharing with the world in their latest works. Nefertiti Austin is a single, adoptive mother who quickly learned
Ta-Nehisi Coates On Magic, Memory And The Underground Railroad
"Magic is often very much a part" of the story of enslavement and escape, Coates says. His new novel, The Water Dancer, imagines a world in which teleportation helps power the Underground Railroad.
In 'Make It Scream, Make It Burn,' Leslie Jamison Turns The Pen On Herself
With her new essay collection, Jamison reverses the arc of The Empathy Exams by moving from the external to the internal, from others' longings and hauntings to her own.
Author of 'The Recovering,' And 'The Empathy Exams' Releases Essays
NPR's Noel King talks to Leslie Jamison about her latest collection of essays: Make It Scream, Make It Burn.