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Arts

'Shards' Puts A Fantastic Twist On Jewish Mythology

2:43pm October 13, 2015

by Jason Heller

Matthew Kressel kicks off an Old Testament-flavored fantasy trilogy with this story of a man, abducted by a demon, who learns he's one of 36 hidden saints whose existence preserves the Earth.

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This 'Clasp' Doesn't Quite Hold Together

1:43pm October 13, 2015

by Heller McAlpin

Sloane Crosley's new novel, The Clasp, follows a group of disaffected 30-somethings who gather for a classmate's posh wedding — but the casual misanthropy of the characters dims the book's pleasures.

Revisiting Rabin's Assassination, And The Peace That Might Have Been

1:34pm October 13, 2015

Twenty years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was killed by a Jewish religious zealot. Dan Ephron, author of Killing a King, discusses the assassination and its effect on the peace process.

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Read 'Fates And Furies' With The 'Morning Edition' Book Club

8:14am October 13, 2015

The Morning Edition Book Club listeners can put their questions to the novelist Lauren Groff, author of the latest selection, "Fates And Furies." Renee Montagne explains how to submit a question.

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The Lessons Learned From A Scholar's Incendiary Tweets

4:32pm October 12, 2015

A debate over academic freedom of speech sparked in summer 2014 when the University of Illinois rescinded a job offer to a professor over a controversial set of tweets about the Israel-Gaza conflict.

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Exhibition Delves Below Deceptively Simple Surface Of Hemingway's Prose

4:04pm October 12, 2015

by Tom Vitale

A collection of first drafts, letters, outtakes and photos on display in New York City illuminate the inner workings of Ernest Hemingway's meticulous writing process — failures, flaws and all.

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'Bloom County' And Opus The Penguin Return After A 25-Year Hiatus

3:06pm October 12, 2015

Comic strip creator Berkeley Breathed tells Fresh Air's Sam Briger that a 2008 letter from author Harper Lee inspired him to re-launch his famous strip on Facebook. It's now called Bloom County 2015.

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Donna Karan On Motherhood, Fashion And Designing The Perfect Pair Of Jeans

1:19pm October 12, 2015

When Donna Karan started her brand in 1984, she thought it would be "a little company." Four decades later, she looks back on her life, her legacy and leaving her company. Her memoir is My Journey.

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'Mothers' Tells Stories Too Often Silenced

6:41am October 11, 2015

by Jane Ciabattari

Bonnie Jo Campbell's confessional, unforgettable new story collection gives a voice to mothers and daughters, struggling to get by, desperate to be heard, but despairing of an audience.

Poet Ted Hughes met Sylvia Plath 1956. "They were both geniuses, says biographer Jonathan Bate. Hughes is shown above on the first day of trout fishing season in April 1986.

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Sylvia Plath's Husband, Ted Hughes, Lived A Life Of Poetry And Tragedy

10:28am October 10, 2015

by NPR Staff

Biographer Jonathan Bate says his job is to write about "the quality and endurance of the literary work." His new biography has been disavowed by the Hughes estate.

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