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...
Aug 07, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode is all about music history. First, musicologists Kerry O'Brien and William Robin tell NPR's Noah Caldwell about their new book, On Minimalism , and how the genre was born out of 1960s counterculture and went on to influence artists like The Who and Alice Coltrane. Then, Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome tell NPR's Samantha Balaban about their new picture book, The Story of the Saxophone , which chronicles the instrument's journey to becoming one of jazz's most important pla...
Aug 04, 2023•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode comes to you straight from Madhur Jaffrey's kitchen. NPR's Michel Martin pays the celebrated chef and actor a visit in her New York home, where she discusses how she first learned to cook while studying acting in London. Jeffrey also reflects on how Indian cooking has changed since she published her first cookbook. An Invitation to Indian Cooking will be re-issued later this year to mark its 50th anniversary. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices ...
Aug 03, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast In his new book, A Little Devil in America , poet Hanif Abdurraqib writes about music in such a way that NPR's Rachel Martin wanted to focus a conversation about spiritual transcendence related to it. What came out, however, was a deep discussion about how losing his mother and close friends early in life created its own kind of spiritual practice for Abdurraqib. In today's episode, he explains how "grief makes a home within us" and why that might actually be a good thing. Learn more about spons...
Aug 02, 2023•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the midst of the #MeToo movement in 2017, Claire Dederer posed a difficult question in The Paris Review : "What Do We Do With the Art of Monstrous Men?" From that viral essay comes her new book, Monsters , which examines how we morally engage with – or don't – musicians, authors and actors whose work we love, when we condemn their personal actions. In today's episode, Dederer tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe how this question first arose for her around Roman Polanski movies, and how complex and pers...
Aug 01, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Johannes Vermeer's 1664 masterpiece "The Concert" was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. That real - still unsolved - case is at the heart of Daniel Silva's new thriller, The Collector . Despite his initial reluctance, art restorer and former Israeli intelligence officer Gabriel Allon is enlisted to hunt down the painting, along with an unexpected collaborator. In today's episode, Silva speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about his distaste for art theft and his reasons for turni...
Jul 31, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode is all about young readers and the ways they interact with complicated emotions. First, NPR's Julie Depenbrock speaks with Jon Klassen about his new book, The Skull , inspired by a folk tale about a little girl who runs away from home. She befriends the skull and they form a close bond despite the strangeness of the situation. Then, NPR's Miles Parks talks with author Kevin Johnson and illustrator Kitt Thomas about their new book, Cape , which chronicles a young boy's first exper...
Jul 28, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Aurora James is the designer behind the fashion brand Brother Vellies and the 15% pledge, an initiative that encourages major retailers to stock more work by Black-owned businesses on their shelves. In her new memoir, Wildflower , she describes the complicated upbringing that led her to her current work as a creative and activist. In today's episode, she tells NPR's Michel Martin why it was so important for her to work with African artisans and the misconceptions and biases she hopes to break do...
Jul 27, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast In their new book, Nobody's Fool , psychology professor Daniel Simons and cognitive scientist Christopher Chabris make the case that people don't just fall for scams because they're gullible. The way our brains work – the way they reason and trust – can often lead us to believe a piece of misinformation or to click on a phishing scam. In today's episode, the authors explain to NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer why truth bias and familiarity can work against us, but that skepticism and fact-checking can help ...
Jul 26, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast In today's episode, author Nishanth Injam tells NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer that when he first arrived in the U.S. from India, he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake. That tension he grappled with is now at the heart of his debut collection of short stories, The Best Possible Experiences , which chronicles the expansive ups and downs of being an immigrant, both at home and in a new place. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Jul 25, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast The new novel The Rachel Incident is rooted around a wonderful, messy friendship. Rachel and James live together, party, and get themselves into a peculiar situation with an older married couple. In today's episode, author Caroline O'Donoghue speaks with NPR's Miles Parks about how abortion and sexual repression in Irish society play a large role in Rachel's early adulthood. O'Donoghue also shares why it was important to her that the novel be told from an older Rachel's perspective, reflecting o...
Jul 24, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode takes us back in time to American society in the '70s. First, NPR's Scott Simon speaks with author Dennis Lehane about Small Mercies , his new novel about the desegregation of Boston public schools and a mother's plight to find her missing daughter during that time. Then, Simon chats with CNN anchor Jake Tapper about his book All the Demons Are Here , a family drama that involves a U.S. marine, a journalist, and their politician father making sense of post-Vietnam and post-Waterg...
Jul 21, 2023•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ana Menéndez's novel The Apartment starts decades – maybe centuries – before the art deco building named The Helena is built in South Beach, and ends eons into the future. What takes place in apartment 2B in the in-between is where her story lives. From a Cuban concert pianist to a refugee, Menéndez dives into who lives at The Helena and how their time there shapes them. In today's episode, she tells NPR's Ari Shapiro why she wanted time to become its own character in the book, which she spent m...
Jul 20, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In his new nonfiction book, When Crack Was King , Donovan X. Ramsey explores how the crack cocaine epidemic of the '80s and '90s shaped people, neighborhoods and entire communities, particularly for Black and low-income folks. He writes portraits of those who struggled with addiction, those who sold the drug, and those who tackled policy and decriminalization. In today's episode, Ramsey tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe why he wanted to dispel the myth of the "superpredator," and how societal views on a...
Jul 19, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Cassie, the main character of Sarah Rose Etter's novel Ripe , has hit a wall. She's burned out at her toxic Silicon Valley job, she's disillusioned by the staggering wealth and poverty that surround her at the same time, and she's struggling with depression and anxiety. In today's episode, Etter tells NPR's Juana Summers how Cassie's experience parallels some of her own time working for a start-up and why girlbossing her way out of her problems isn't an option for Cassie. Learn more about sponso...
Jul 18, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Early in today's episode, Aaliyah Bilal says she knows that a lot of people associate the Nation of Islam with hate. But in her new collection of short stories, Temple Folk , she reclaims narratives about Black Muslims and how they contemplate faith, identity and community in the U.S. She tells NPR's Scott Detrow why it was especially important for her to center women's stories and how her characters contend with some of the complexities of the movement. Learn more about sponsor message choices:...
Jul 17, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Both interviews today are with author Douglas Stuart. The first is about his Booker prize-winning Shuggie Bain ; a story based on his own life growing up a queer son of a single mother struggling with addiction. He told NPR's Scott Simon that he hoped people could find comfort in this story. Next, Stuart spoke to NPR's Ari Shapiro about his new book, Young Mungo . It's a story about two boys separated by faith who end up falling in love with each other. Stuart told Shapiro that when he "write[s]...
Jul 14, 2023•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bonnie Garmus' new novel Lessons In Chemistry has been getting a lot of buzz. Elizabeth Zott is a talented chemist but because it's the 1960s she faces sexism in her quest to work as a scientist. So instead she has a cooking show that is wildly popular. Garmus told NPR's Scott Simon that the character of Elizabeth lived in her head for many years before she started writing this novel. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Jul 13, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Former Homeland Security official and author Juliette Kayyem has a new book out that encourages preparedness. The Devil Never Sleeps makes the case that disasters are going to happen, and gives advice on how to manage them. Kayyem told NPR's Steve Inskeep that we need to redefine our definition of success after disasters occur. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Jul 12, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Author Jenny Tinghui Zhang is out with a new historical fiction novel, Four Treasures of The Sky . Set in the 1800s during the height of anti-Chinese sentiment, a young girl named Daiyu is kidnapped and brought to the U.S. Zhang told NPR's Ayesha Rascoe that she has seen a lot of reviews that refer to this book as 'timely' – and that she does not think that is a good thing when a book is about racism. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Jul 11, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ocean Vuong's new collection, Time Is A Mother , is about his grief after losing family members. Vuong told Morning Edition 's Rachel Martin that time is different now that he has lost his mother: "when I look at my life since she died in 2019, I only see two days: Today when she's not here, and the big, big yesterday when I had her." Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Jul 10, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode is about two children's books with very big themes. First, author-illustrator Vashti Harrison speaks with NPR's Juana Summers about Big , which chronicles how words affect children – and particularly young, Black girls – as they grow older and their bodies change from baby to big kid. Then, Dolly Parton joins NPR's Melissa Block to discuss Billy the Kid Makes It Big , a story about a music-making dog (inspired by a real-life pet!) standing up to the bullies around him. Learn more...
Jul 07, 2023•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast V.V. Ganeshananthan's new novel, Brotherless Night , dives into the Sri Lankan Civil War through the story of Sashi, a 16-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a doctor. As violence unfolds around her and her family, Sashi watches her goals – and personal stakes in the conflict – shift right before her eyes. In today's episode, Ganeshananthan speaks to Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about the long-lasting impact of colonization in Sri Lanka and the importance of writing from a place of historical a...
Jul 06, 2023•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the 1960s, FDA inspector Frances Kelsey was assigned her first drug to review: thalidomide. Her thorough investigation led her to discover that the drug had caused pregnant women to bear babies with birth defects around the world – including in the U.S., where the drug had been distributed in clinical trials. Jennifer Vanderbes' new book, Wonder Drug , looks back on that chapter of American history. In today's episode, she tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe how big and unregulated the pharmaceutical i...
Jul 05, 2023•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Little Monsters is the story of two adult siblings, Ken and Abby Gardner, who were raised by their widowed father in Cape Cod. As their dad's 70th birthday approaches, all three members of the small family are on the precipice of great success in their respective fields – but also on the precipice of coming forward with some pretty dark secrets from their past. In today's episode, author Adrienne Brodeur tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about how this book takes inspiration from her own family, and...
Jul 04, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Orphan Bachelors , the title of Fae Myenne Ng's new memoir, is a reference to the many "grandpas" she had while growing up in San Francisco's Chinatown. These men had been forced to stay single and childless by the Chinese Exclusion Act. In her book, Ng traces the long-lasting legacy of that legislation, which even touched her own parents. She tells Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about the deep loneliness that stopped procreation for four generations, and the way Ng and other children became the b...
Jul 03, 2023•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's episode is all about parents, their adult children, and the frustration and forgiveness that can come to a head in those relationships. First, author Jenny Xie speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about her new novel, Holding Pattern , in which protagonist Kathleen Cheng moves back in with her mom after dropping out of grad school and going through a breakup. Then, NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Nathan Go about Forgiving Imelda Marcos, which follows a Filipino chauffeur's call to his estra...
Jun 30, 2023•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ken Jennings is well-known for winning – and hosting – Jeopardy! Now, he's got a new book out full of pop culture knowledge and research: 100 Places to See After You Die. Formatted like a travel guide, the book spans across different destinations inspired by the way philosophers, poets and even cartoons imagine heaven and hell. In today's episode, Jennings speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about what he learned from his studies into Hinduism, Greek mythology and The Simpsons , and how portrayals of ...
Jun 29, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kenny "The Jet" Smith's life has largely revolved around basketball in one way or another. The basketball commentator, Inside the NBA host and two-time NBA champion is now opening up about the people and relationships behind that career in his new memoir, Talk of Champions . In today's episode, he speaks to Here & Now's Scott Tong about how social justice, his high school coach, and friendships with people like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant inspired him to write his life story. Learn more about...
Jun 28, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast J. Ryan Stradal knows about supper club culture in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the rest of the northern midwest – he grew up in a town where those dining establishments blurred the lines between restaurant and social club, family and community. That culture is at the heart of his new novel, Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club , where main character Mariel has inherited one such supper club from her grandparents. In today's episode, Stradal tells Here & Now's Robin Young about how chain dine...
Jun 27, 2023•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
