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Baltimore Author Discusses 'Living (And Dying) While Black'

2:13pm May 13, 2016

Author D. Watkins says that crack destroyed his East Baltimore neighborhood, and he explains how the real day-to-day of selling drugs is nothing like the movies. Originally broadcast Oct. 1, 2015.

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Remembering Michael S. Harper, A Poet With An Ear For Jazz

2:13pm May 13, 2016

Harper, who died Saturday, was known for his jazz-influenced poems. His first volume of poetry, Dear John, Dear Coltrane, was nominated for a National Book Award in 1978. Originally broadcast in 2000.

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Brilliant 'Central Station' Is Rich With Detail And Mystery

5:17pm May 12, 2016

by Jason Sheehan

Lavie Tidhar's new novel follows a motley crew of spacemen, castaways, data vampires and magical children in a beautifully realized far-future Tel Aviv. It's short, lush and close to a masterpiece.

In Daniel Clowes' Patience, a man turns to time travel after his true love is murdered.

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Cartoonist Daniel Clowes On Time Travel And Giving Readers Their Money's Worth

2:32pm May 12, 2016

At 55, Clowes is one of the most influential artists in the independent comics world. His latest book, Patience, uses time travel to look at the ways random events can set a life on a new path.

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Junot Diaz's new book is titled This Is How You Lose Her.

Guest DJ Junot Diaz: 'It Takes Guts To Be Alive'

1:19pm May 12, 2016

by Jasmine Garsd

An encore presentation of an all-encompassing conversation with award-winning author Junot Diaz. Diaz also picks an exciting assortment of bachata and urban merengue to play on the show.

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Louise Erdrich is the author of 15 novels, including The Plague of Doves and The Round House. She is the owner of Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, Minn.

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After Tragedy, 2 Families Find Their Own Justice In Louise Erdrich's 'LaRose'

6:04pm May 11, 2016

by NPR Staff

When an Ojibwe hunter accidentally kills his friend's child, he sends his own son to live with the grieving family. Erdrich says tribal family ties are "extremely close" and "much more fluid."

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Shadows Under Water In 'Everything Is Teeth'

7:00am May 11, 2016

by Jean Zimmerman

Novelist Evie Wyld departs from straight-ahead fiction in her new graphic novel about a young girl describing childhood summers in Australia — and her dark fascination with the sharks in the water.

Cover detail of Heat & Light, by Jennifer Haigh.

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A Dying Coal Town Falls Into 'Fracking Frenzy' In 'Heat & Light'

6:55pm May 10, 2016

by Maureen Corrigan

Jennifer Haigh's new novel explores the fallout of the natural gas boom in a small Pennsylvania town. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Heat & Light an "exquisitely designed, semi-satirical social novel."

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Kate Tempest has written music, plays, poetry and novels.

'There Was More I Wanted To Say': Kate Tempest Turns Hit Album Into A Novel

6:05pm May 10, 2016

by NPR Staff

The rapper's debut album, Everybody Down, followed Becky and Harry, two Londoners struggling with love, work and drugs. Now her new book, The Bricks That Built The Houses, takes a look at their pasts.

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Science, Fiction And Philosophy Collide In Astonishing 'Lightning'

5:51pm May 10, 2016

by Jason Heller

Ada Palmer's dizzying debut novel is dense and complex, packed with philosophy and visions of what life might be like in the year 2424: Radically different, yet based on Enlightenment ideals.