NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour host Linda Holmes knows a thing or two about audio. She leans into this knowledge in her latest novel, in which a podcast producer, Cecily Foster, gets the opportunity to host her own show. The catch? The podcast is about her love life, and she has to embark on 20 first dates set up by an influencer. In today's episode, Holmes speaks with NPR's Asma Khalid about the tropes of romantic comedy, and what it means to love your work and your craft without tying all your pas...
Mar 05, 2025•11 min
Kelsey McKinney has built her career on gossip. The co-creator and former host of the popular podcast Normal Gossip has been interested in the topic since her upbringing in the Evangelical church, where she was taught that talking about others is a sin. Now, she's out with a new book, You Didn't Hear This From Me , which argues that gossip is a natural, morally-neutral social tool. In today's episode, McKinney joins NPR's Juana Summers for a conversation that touches on the author's religious up...
Mar 04, 2025•9 min
In Charlotte Wood's Stone Yard Devotional , an unnamed narrator renounces modern life in Sydney, retreating to a cloistered religious community in her hometown. But soon after, a series of three visitations causes the narrator to rethink the choice she's made. In today's episode, Wood speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about the novel, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2024. They discuss Wood's decision to withhold judgement of her character's actions, the biblical nature of the story's d...
Mar 03, 2025•9 min
To mark the end of Black History Month, we're revisiting two conversations about James Baldwin that first aired last summer for his 100th birthday. First, NPR's Andrew Limbong speaks with McKinley Melton – associate professor of Africana Studies at Rhodes College – about Baldwin's first novel, Go Tell It On the Mountain . Melton says he sees the work as an autobiographical revisitation of the author's own childhood, filled with all that Baldwin wished he knew at 14. Then, professor and novelist ...
Feb 28, 2025•11 min
Strange stories are often used to fill gaps in human knowledge. But why do people love bizarre explanations for the unexplained? Dr. Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen look to answer this in their new book, Pseudoscience: An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them. In today's episode, Kang and Pedersen speak with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about some of the most popular conspiracies, being careful about which ones to indulge in, and the dangers of being misinformed. To listen to Book of the Da...
Feb 27, 2025•7 min
Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama cataloged spreadsheets of poems to help create his new anthology, 44 Poems on Being with Each Other. The collection features writing from a variety of poets as well as reflections from Ó Tuama on the nuances of the human condition. Ó Tuama is also out with his own poetry collection, Kitchen Hymns. In today's episode, he speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about poetry that reflects complex emotions and about his background in theology. To listen to Book of the Day spon...
Feb 26, 2025•9 min
In 1957, a labor leader named Daniel Fignolé was the president of Haiti for 19 days. Just two weeks after his inauguration, he was forced to sign a resignation letter as part of a U.S.-backed coup. But growing up, Rich Benjamin – Fignolé's grandson – didn't know anything about his grandfather's political career. The cultural anthropologist says his family, especially his mother, erected a "wall of silence" around him. A new memoir, Talk to Me , is Benjamin's attempt to fill in these gaps in his ...
Feb 25, 2025•7 min
Mark Greaney is the author of the Gray Man series, a collection of espionage novels that chronicle the adventures of ex-CIA operative Court Gentry. The latest addition, Midnight Black, follows Gentry as he tries to save the woman he loves from Russian captivity. Greaney is known for conducting extensive research on the elements that make it into his writing. In today's episode, he speaks with NPR's Andrew Limbong about his trip to Russia several years ago, before the latest invasion into Ukraine...
Feb 24, 2025•8 min
Reid Hoffman has invested in AI for years. The LinkedIn co-founder said he used AI to vet his new book, Superagency , written with Greg Beato, which makes an optimistic case for an AI-powered future. In today's episode, Hoffman joins NPR's Steve Inskeep for a conversation about the book that touches on his decision to back Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and on his falling out with Elon Musk. Then, Bill Gates joins NPR's Scott Detrow for a conversation about his new memoir Source Code . Much...
Feb 21, 2025•17 min
When a young child goes missing at a family gathering, a pack of cousins sets out into the woods to find her. Idle Grounds follows this group of children as they search their late grandmother's property and wonder whether something sinister might lurk there. Krystelle Bamford says her new novel dips into the New England Gothic genre, inspired by the darkness that bubbles underneath the daylight of the adult world. In today's episode, Bamford speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about the author's own...
Feb 20, 2025•9 min
TV writer, culture critic and podcast host Ira Madison III was not just one of the only Black students at his high school, he was also one of the only gay kids. In his new memoir, Pure Innocent Fun, Madison writes about how cultural artifacts became more than just a source of entertainment - they became a way to feel connected to others. In today's episode, Madison speaks with NPR's Juana Summers about growing up without many queer adults to turn to, and how Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a way fo...
Feb 19, 2025•9 min
In Life Hacks for a Little Alien , both the narrator and protagonist are unnamed. The debut novel from Alice Franklin is written from a second-person perspective and follows a little girl who experiences the world differently. Little Alien is neurodivergent, but undiagnosed, and often finds that people don't understand her. When she encounters an ancient text written in an unknown language, she sees parallels between its indecipherability and her own experiences. In today's episode, Franklin spe...
Feb 18, 2025•7 min
Peter Beinart, once a defender of the Israeli state, has become one of its sharpest critics. His new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza , was born out of Beinart's personal struggle within the Jewish community in the wake of the war. In the book, Beinart makes an urgent appeal, asking his peers to imagine a world in which Palestinians and Israeli Jews share equal rights. In today's episode, Beinart joins NPR's Leila Fadel for a discussion that touches on the intertwined relationshi...
Feb 17, 2025•12 min
Caribbean American journalist Charmaine Wilkerson began her professional life in TV news. She recalls meeting people on the worst day of their life, when their personal pain was bared to the public eye. Her debut novel, Black Cake, and her new book, Good Dirt , both begin with grief, tracing the loss of loved ones to family revelations that come after. Today's episode revisits a 2022 conversation with Wilkerson and NPR's Kelsey Snell about the role of identity and cultural inheritance in Black C...
Feb 14, 2025•17 min
Singer-songwriter Neko Case of The New Pornographers band has just released a memoir titled The Harder I Fight the More I Love You. While the book touches on her time with the Canadian indie-rock group, Case's memoir focuses more on her upbringing – she opens up about her complex relationship with her mother, who faked her own death when Case was young. In today's episode, Case speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about tracing her own family history, allowing room for rage, and seeing forgiveness not ...
Feb 13, 2025•9 min
In 1917, Lev Bronshtein – also known as Leon Trotsky – spent 10 weeks in exile in New York City. The Russian revolutionary hoped to spark a socialist revolution in the United States, but found disappointment when American workers didn't respond the way he had hoped. Trotsky's time in New York is the subject of Robert Littell's latest novel, Bronshtein in the Bronx . In today's episode, Littell talks with NPR's Scott Simon about the author's family connection to the revolutionary, his decision to...
Feb 12, 2025•8 min
In Ali Smith's Gliff , two children wake up to find that someone has painted a red line around their home. They've been marked "unverifiable" and they're at risk of being captured. The dystopian near-future in which they live is a world of government surveillance and environmental destruction – and one without libraries. In today's episode, Smith talks with NPR's Scott Simon about the authoritarian themes in her novel. They discuss what makes authoritarianism feel attractive and safe, Smith's fo...
Feb 11, 2025•7 min
As a cable news host, MSNBC's Chris Hayes is in the attention business. But in today's interview, he says that he often feels like he's chasing rather than directing his audience's focus. In his new book, The Sirens' Call , Hayes argues that attention has become the information age's most finite resource, with damaging consequences for our politics, lives and collective alienation. In today's episode, Hayes joins NPR's Steve Inskeep for a conversation about the difference between attention and i...
Feb 10, 2025•8 min
The authors of two nonfiction books say they were moved to change the world after finding inspiration in nature. First, Robin Wall Kimmerer's book The Serviceberry explores themes including economies of abundance and reciprocity in the natural world – similar to those addressed in her hit book Braiding Sweetgrass . In today's episode, Kimmerer joins NPR's Ari Shapiro for a conversation that touches on biomimicry, little free libraries, and what nature can teach us about human economies. Then, we...
Feb 07, 2025•21 min
Cecilia, the main character in Olivia Abtahi's The Interpreter , wears an oversized green suit and tie. She's a kid, but she also works as a translator and interpreter for her immigrant parents. Whether at the DMV, the doctor's office or the mechanic, she's there to help out with cultural translation. The story, illustrated by Monica Arnaldo, is based on Abtahi's own experience growing up with an Iranian father and an Argentine mother who both spoke English, but sometimes needed support with cul...
Feb 06, 2025•12 min
At age 36, actor Naomi Watts visited her doctor in hopes of starting a family. Instead, she was told that she was close to menopause. She says she felt panicked and alone, despite the fact that tens of millions of women experience menopause each year. In a new book, Dare I Say It , Watts tries to open what she sees as a closed conversation around aging. Her advice-based book covers her own fertility story, her experience with menopause symptoms, skincare, nutrition and more. In today's episode, ...
Feb 05, 2025•9 min
In 2021, Andy Corren published an obituary for his late mother in The Fayetteville Observer . "A plus-sized Jewish lady redneck died in El Paso on Saturday," he wrote. His colorful, candid remembrance went viral on Twitter, and now Corren has expanded the tribute into a memoir. Dirtbag Queen recounts the author's experience of growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, with a single, Southern, unconventional mother of six children. In today's episode, Corren speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about ...
Feb 04, 2025•9 min
Betty Shamieh was the first Palestinian American playwright to have a play produced off-Broadway. She describes her debut novel, Too Soon , as a "Palestinian American Sex and the City." The novel follows three Palestinian American women across generations as they navigate love and identity. In today's episode, Shamieh speaks with NPR's Pien Huang about using comedy as a way to humanize characters who may be dehumanized in the real world, the 10 year writing process for the book, and how she didn...
Feb 03, 2025•7 min
Grady Hendrix is one of the biggest names in horror fiction today. He's published 11 horror novels and won a Bram Stoker Award for his non-fiction book on the history of horror fiction. In this episode, we revisit a 2021 conversation between Hendrix and former NPR host Audie Cornish about his book Final Girl Support Group with a discussion on society's obsession with violence and its perpetrators, rather than the victims. Then, we hear Hendrix speak with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about his latest nove...
Jan 31, 2025•19 min
After a long career as a prosecutor, a defense attorney and a judge, 77-year-old Rusty Sabich is retired. But when a young woman named Mae Potter goes missing, Rusty comes out of retirement to defend the lead suspect – who happens to be his soon-to-be stepson. Presumed Guilty is the latest novel from Scott Turow, who's been writing about this character since he published Presumed Innocent in 1987. In today's episode, Turow joins NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation that touches on second chances...
Jan 30, 2025•8 min
A new book titled Unassimilable: An Asian Diasporic Manifesto for the 21st Century by Bianca Mabute-Louie makes a radical case against assimilation for the Asian diaspora. The project was inspired by the author's upbringing in San Gabriel Valley, an ethnoburb right outside of Los Angeles, which Mabute-Louie describes as a place "where Asian immigrants go to never assimilate." In today's episode, the author joins NPR's Ailsa Chang for a conversation about what un-assimilability looks like in prac...
Jan 29, 2025•9 min
Photographer Brian Kelley has been collecting National Park ephemera for years. He wanted to find a way to share the maps, brochures and memorabilia he's collected from his visits, which resulted in the 2019 project Parks . Now, Kelley is out with a sequel, Parks 2 , a coffee table book that shares more of his personal archive of National Park designs. In today's episode, Kelley speaks with NPR's Sarah McCammon about what inspired him to start his collection, the history of design technology, an...
Jan 28, 2025•5 min
In this interview with NPR's Scott Simon, Han Kang says the idea for her latest novel came to her in a snowy, haunting dream. The Nobel Prize-winning author's We Do Not Part is itself dreamlike. The novel follows narrator Kyungha as she tries to rescue a friend's beloved pet bird in the midst of a snowstorm that has hit South Korea's Jeju Island. As the story goes on, Kyungha is confronted with the taboo, hidden history of a 1948 massacre that took place on the island. In today's episode, Simon ...
Jan 27, 2025•8 min
Two new novels tackle themes of motherhood and family secrets. First, in Emma Knight's The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus , 18-year-old Pen has just arrived as a student at the University of Edinburgh. For Pen's whole life, she's sensed that her parents were hiding something from her – and she believes the answers might lie in Scotland. In today's episode, Knight joins NPR's Mary Louise Kelly for a conversation about her debut novel. They discuss the first character that came to Knight – and h...
Jan 24, 2025•16 min
The beginning of a new year often represents a clean slate for people hoping to make a change. But by this point in January, many have let go of their resolutions. It can be difficult to make goals stick, especially when they require actions that aren't inherently rewarding. Katy Milkman, a behavioral economist at the University of Pennsylvania, has spent her career researching what it takes to achieve our goals. Her 2021 book How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You...
Jan 23, 2025•11 min
