"I Reject Walls": A 2019 Poetry Preview
This year, says critic Craig Morgan Teicher, America's poets are stepping up and expressing their faith in the capacity of words to overcome barriers, find compromise, and speak truth.
Books
Once Centers Of Soviet Propaganda, Moscow's Libraries Are Having A 'Loud' Revival
"A library can be a loud place," says a city official in charge of Moscow's 400-plus public libraries, which have begun attracting visitors with coffee shops, theater rehearsals and lectures.
Carl Reiner, Who Turns 97 Soon, Is Still Working On Projects
A comedian, writer, actor, director and producer, Carl Reiner was part of the golden days of television. But these days, he's producing a lot of books.
He Was 460 Pounds. What Confronting His Weight Taught Him About Obesity In America
"Losing weight is figuring out something you can live with," says Tommy Tomlinson, author of the new memoir The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man's Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America.
'The Gilded Wolves' Is A Rich, High-Speed Heist Tale
Roshani Chokshi's new novel — set in an alternate Belle Époque Paris — features an unlikely team of thieves out to steal a magical artifact with connections to their colonized homelands.
'Unmarriageable' Sets 'Pride And Prejudice' In Pakistan
You may not think the world needs another retelling of Jane Austen's classic, but Soniah Kamal's Unmarriageable has an undercurrent of social and political commentary that makes it a worthwhile read.
There's No Rest For Anyone In 'The Dreamers'
Karen Thompson Walker's new novel imagines a pandemic that puts victims into a deep sleep, giving them strange dreams from which they may not wake up — and panicking those still awake.
In 'Holy Lands,' A Tale Of Family Drama And Pig Farming In Israel
The epistolary novel from author Amanda Sthers, newly available in English and now adapted into a feature film, is a story of reconciliation (and raising swine among Jews).
'Mala Vida' Never Quite Gets Up To Speed
Marc Fernandez' noir has fascinating elements — a crusading journalist, a trans detective, and the tragic real-life snatching of thousands of babies in Franco-era Spain — but ultimately falls flat.
Memoirist Retraces Her Journey From Survivalist Childhood To Cambridge Ph.D.
Growing up, Tara Westover had no birth certificate, never saw a doctor and didn't go to school. She writes about her transition into the mainstream in Educated. Originally broadcast Feb. 20, 2018.