The Covenant of Water follows three generations of a family in the coastal state of Kerala, India, where they're haunted by a devastating event, over and over: In every generation, someone in the family drowns. In today's episode, Dr. Abraham Verghese tells NPR's Ari Shapiro about the medical themes in the novel, and how his daytime occupation as a physician and professor at Stanford University informs his writing. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privac...
May 15, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode features two novels with two very different protagonists, though their journeys might have more in common than appears at first glance. First, Stephen Buoro discusses The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa with NPR's Camila Domonoske, which follows a young Nigerian man's obsession with whiteness. Then, NPR's Scott Simon asks Max Porter about Shy , a short novel depicting a British teen's escape from his boarding school for troubled kids. Learn more about sponsor message choi...
May 12, 2023•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Actor Rainn Wilson says he's "always identified as being a dork and a misfit and an outsider." In fact, he says that's probably why he found so much success playing Dwight Schrute in The Office . But in real life, Wilson attributes his dorkiness to how uncool it was to be "the God guy" in the New York acting scene, causing him to shy away from it. In his new book, Soul Boom , he details the monumental role spirituality now plays in his life. He tells NPR's Rachel Martin about his journey back to...
May 11, 2023•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Miles Morales, the beloved protagonist of Jason Reynolds' Spider-Man novel, is back. And this time, he's dealing with in-school suspension for challenging his history teacher at an elite Brooklyn private school. But between writing poetry about his new crush and saving the world, the young, Black and Puerto Rican superhero also stumbles into some major themes about racism and censorship. Reynolds tells NPR's A Martinez how his newest novel is a response to the book bans taking place across the c...
May 10, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast For poet Camille Dungy, environmental justice, community interdependence and political engagement go hand in hand. She explores those relationships in her new book, Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden . In it, she details how her experience trying to diversify the species growing in her yard, in a predominantly white town in Colorado, reflects larger themes of how we talk about land and race in the U.S. In today's episode, she tells NPR's Melissa Block about the journey that gardening put...
May 09, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast The protagonist of Susanna Hoffs' debut novel, Jane Start, probably listens to Dionne Warwick to hype herself up in the morning. Start is 33 and living with her parents – her days of pop stardom, for one song, are 10 years behind her. But in This Bird Has Flown , a romantic spark reignites a second chance for her creative endeavors, too. In today's episode, Hoffs tells NPR's Andrew Limbong how her own experiences as a rockstar influenced the story, which she's now adapting into a feature film. L...
May 08, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode features two children's books about Indigenous Americans. Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes speaks with author Carole Lindstrom and illustrator Steph Littlebird about their new picture book My Powerful Hair , which tells the story of a girl who grows her hair long, something her grandmother was not allowed to do. Then, NPR's Miles Parks talks with Traci Sorell and Arigon Starr about Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series . It tells the story of Charles Bender of the...
May 05, 2023•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Congresswoman and former professor Katie Porter is known for showing up to hearings with a whiteboard to explain complicated topics. She's now written a book about her life, including what it takes to be a working mom in Congress. One of several prominent Democrats running for the Senate in California, Porter talked with NPR's Juana Summers abouther new memoir I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
May 04, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast NPR's Andrew Limbong talks with Dionne Ford about her new book, Go Back and Get It: A Memoir of Race, Inheritance, and Intergenerational Healing . In it, Ford grapples with an old family photograph showing her great-great-grandmother, Tempy Burton, who was enslaved by Colonel W.R. Stuart, her great-great grandfather. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
May 03, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the new children's book The Rhythm of Time from crime writer S.A. Cosby and musician Questlove, time is like a song. That's what they told NPR's Ayesha Roscoe when they talked about their book, which follows a kid from Philly and his best friend as they travel back in time to see a rap group from the 90s that broke up. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
May 02, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In her new memoir, All Things Considered co-host Mary Louise Kelly talks about the time she got a call from her son's school nurse while she was boarding a Black Hawk helicopter in Baghdad. Kelly joined NPR's Scott Simon to discuss this and other stories she shares in It. Goes. So. Fast. The Year of No Do-Overs – which follows Kelly as she looks at the balance of work and motherhood, intention and memory Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
May 01, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode starts with a familiar feeling – the way your heart drops when a book character that you love doesn't get the outcome you wanted for them. But the authors we hear from both took that and ran with it, writing new outcomes for the women of Greek mythology they think are misunderstood. First, Madeline Miller tells NPR's Barrie Hardymon about her novel Circe , which details the goddess' backstory. Then, Tiziana Dearing at WBUR's Radio Boston speaks with Rebecca Caprara about Spin , h...
Apr 28, 2023•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Reginald Dwayne Betts and Titus Kaphar knew they were meant to work together when they first met. In 2019, they exhibited a project at MoMA PS1 that explored criminal justice through redacted court documents turned into poems and visual artworks. Now, that exhibit is a book called Redaction . They tell NPR's Juana Summers about how they both employ their mediums to capture the effects of incarceration, and how their collaboration focuses on joy and community even amidst deep suffering. Learn mor...
Apr 27, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donal Ryan's new novel, The Queen of Dirt Island , centers its women characters. He tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly that making the men peripheral wasn't his goal – "it just kind of happened." In today's episode, he explains how a childhood spent listening to his grandmother, sister and neighbors in his mom's kitchen inspired the voices in the book, and why he wrote with a strict word count in mind for each chapter. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy...
Apr 26, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode is a true story that reads like a novel. In 2006, author and labor organizer Saket Soni received a call from an Indian migrant worker. He was one of hundreds of men hired by Signal International to fix hurricane-ravaged oil rigs in Mississippi and asked to pay $20,000 under the impression it would go towards green card expenses. But as Soni explains in his new book, The Great Escape , that was far from the truth. He tells Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about the harsh conditions wo...
Apr 25, 2023•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ari Shapiro's voice might be familiar to listeners for a number of reasons. He's one of the hosts of All Things Considered; he also sings and tours with the band Pink Martini, sometimes in places with languages he doesn't speak – as he tells NPR's Steve Inskeep. In today's episode, the NPR journalist talks about his new memoir, The Best Strangers in the World , and opens up about the way he brings his personal experiences to his professional and creative endeavors – from being one of the only Je...
Apr 24, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode covers two very different stories involving personal loss and what comes after. First, author Laura Braitman tells NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer about her memoir, What Looks Like Bravery , and how her father's death earlier in life pushed her to unhealthily lean into academic and professional achievements as a coping mechanism. Then, NPR's Rachel Martin sits down with The Atlantic 's Jennifer Senior. Her new book, On Grief , expands on her Pulitzer-Prize winning essay about the diary left...
Apr 21, 2023•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a small North Carolina town in 1976, three siblings are shot to death. That's the mystery at the center of De'Shawn Charles Winslow's new book, Decent People – and it's one the segregated town's white police officers aren't paying much attention to. In today's episode, Winslow tells NPR's Scott Simon about the heroine who takes it upon herself to solve the case, and why - the author feels a need to paint a nuanced portrait of even the antagonists in his books. Learn more about sponsor message...
Apr 20, 2023•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Author Azar Nafisi has written a love letter to literature and reading in Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times . She does this in a series of letters to her late father who passed on in 2004. Nafisi says that reading can help us really live and also help us, and has helped her, survive challenging times. Nafisi told NPR's Scott Simon that literature's purpose is to let us experience new worlds: "to come out of yourself, and join the other." Learn more about spon...
Apr 19, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast From Notting Hill to the real-life relationships of several SNL writers with Hollywood starlets – to even the new Barbie movie tagline ("She's everything. He's just Ken.") – there's a recurring storyline in pop culture of ordinary guys dating up , falling in love with glamorous women who are seemingly out of their league. In her new book, Romantic Comedy , Curtis Sittenfeld shakes up these gender dynamics. She tells NPR's Juana Summers why she wanted her career-focused heroine – a comedy writer ...
Apr 18, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Amina Al-Sirafi, the protagonist of Shannon Chakraborty's new novel, commanded the Indian Ocean as one of its most notorious pirates during the 12th century. But when the story kicks off, Al-Sirafi is focused on raising her daughter, trying to live a peaceful life with her pirate days far behind her. The tale pulls Chakraborty's character back to her heyday in the waters – and as the author tells Here & Now' s Kalyani Saxena, Al-Sirafi's Islamic faith plays a much bigger role this time around. L...
Apr 17, 2023•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode is all about the complexities of sibling relationships, especially when the family is surrounded by hostile circumstances. First, NPR's Miles Parks speaks with Ari Tison about her new novel, Saints of the Household , which follows two mixed-race brothers navigating high school under their white father's abuse. Then, NPR's Ayesha Rascoe gets to talking with Rachel Eve Moulton about her book The Insatiable Volt Sisters and the way trauma gets passed down through generations. Learn ...
Apr 14, 2023•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sathnam Sanghera's new book, Empireland , focuses on how British imperialism shaped the trajectory of that country's history. But as he emphasizes in his opening chapter, the U.S. – much like the rest of the world – is not exempt from being a part of that story. In today's episode, Sanghera speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about how he came to understand that fraught history through his own personal experiences as a Sikh man in Britain, and why that particular empire stands out from the rest for hi...
Apr 13, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tanner and Louise have a 63 year age difference and pretty opposite personalities: Tanner is a former college athlete, hitting what she thinks is rock bottom after dropping out. Louise is the eccentric elderly lady she gets hired to take care of. But in Colleen Oakley's new novel, The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise , the two women forge an unlikely friendship when Louise's past forces them to hit the road. As the author tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, the story is equal parts inspired by ...
Apr 12, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nicole Chung's first memoir, All You Can Ever Know , recounts her story growing up adopted – a young Asian American woman in a predominantly white town in Oregon — and her journey to retrace her roots. Her new memoir, A Living Remedy , takes a closer look at Chung's adoptive parents and their financial struggles throughout her life, up until they both died within a year of each other. As she tells NPR's Steve Inskeep, her grief coalesced with a deep resentment for the social systems she felt sho...
Apr 11, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast The egg can be found anywhere from a breakfast plate to an Easter basket to a science museum. As author Lizzie Stark details in her new book, Egg: A Dozen Ovatures , the egg is not just an intrinsic part of many culinary traditions – it's also a cultural and artistic symbol across a variety of cultures. And as she tells Here & Now 's Jane Clayson, yes – it did come before the chicken. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Apr 10, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode features two books examining the sacrifices made by enslaved people in the U.S. First, NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with author Ilyan Woo about Master, Slave, Husband, Wife . It's a true story about a young couple that poses as an elderly white man and his slave in order to escape the South. Then, author Kai Thomas tells NPR's Ari Shapiro about how his novel, In the Upper Country , takes a closer look at the relationship between Black and indigenous people – and how free Black comm...
Apr 07, 2023•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Comedy writer Kashana Cauley grew up watching the film Conspiracy Theory , starring Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts, with her parents. She says that's likely her earliest entryway into a world she explores in her debut novel, The Survivalists – it follows a millennial lawyer falling in with a community of doomsday preppers. In this episode, Cauley tells NPR's Juana Summers about the control people might feel preparing for an impending apocalypse, and how that experience is ultimately shaped by our ...
Apr 06, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Novelist Barbara Kingsolver loves living in the Appalachian hills of southwestern Virginia. But she says she feels that the region is often misconstrued by mainstream media. Her new book, Demon Copperhead , follows a young boy grappling with the consequences of loss, addiction and poverty – but also finding ways to survive through creativity and imagination. In this episode, Kingsolver speaks with Here & Now 's Scott Tong about the Dickensian influences in the novel, the divide between urban and...
Apr 05, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jessica Johns' thriller, Bad Cree , opens with a startling image: a severed crow's head in someone's hand. In today's episode, Johns tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe she hoped that image would set the tone for the winding mystery within her new novel. It follows a young Cree woman who returns to a home and culture she left behind in hopes of helping her cope with grief. Much of Mackenzie's story involves her dreams, and Johns explains why she felt it was so important to honor that world – especially af...
Apr 04, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
