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Revisiting Charles Portis’ True Grit
Westerns are seemingly back in the culture. With the popularity of the television series Yellowstone and musical artists like Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter winning Album of the Year, it feels like we need …
Published on 1 day ago
Stephen King on 'The Shining' sequel and the novel he co-authored with his son
In today’s episode, "King of Horror" Stephen King reflects on his sobriety, the sequel to The Shining and a novel he co-wrote with his son. First, The Shining came out in 1980, but King didn’t publis…
Published on 2 days ago
In 'The Hacienda,' the protagonist is trapped in a haunted house – and her marriage
After Mexico’s war for independence, a new bride finds herself alone in a haunted house surrounded by people who don't believe her. Isabel Cañas' debut novel The Hacienda blends romance, terror, and …
Published on 3 days ago
Shirley Jackson’s biographer on the writer’s ability to find evil in the ordinary
With stories like “The Lottery” and The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson was one of the great horror authors of the 20th century. In 2012, Ruth Franklin wrote a biography of the writer called …
Published on 4 days ago
Princeton professor Susan Wolfson on why we love 'Frankenstein' two centuries later
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, written in 1818, permeated our cultural imagination in a way few stories have. With a new film adaptation directed by Guillermo del Toro out now, we’re revisiting a 2012 …
Published on 5 days ago
'Interview with the Vampire' author Anne Rice takes NPR on a tour of her haunted home
Novelist Anne Rice was known for her supernatural tales about vampires, witches, and ghosts. In 1976, she gained notoriety for Interview with the Vampire, the first book in The Vampire Chronicles ser…
Published on 6 days ago
Revisiting Anne Rice’s ‘Interview with the Vampire’
Do you ever get the feeling that you’re watching or reading… a lot about vampires? With the 20th anniversary of the Twilight book series upon us, plus the fact that one of the year’s biggest films, S…
Published on 1 week, 1 day ago
'Paper Girl' and 'Joyride' are memoirs by journalists who get close to their subjects
Today’s episode features new memoirs by journalists who aren’t afraid to connect deeply with their subjects. First, in Paper Girl, Beth Macy travels back to her hometown, Urbana, Ohio. In today’s epi…
Published on 1 week, 2 days ago
This Palestinian journalist kept a diary as Israeli forces invaded – now it’s a book
As Israeli forces invaded Gaza in 2023, Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad kept a diary. Her writing is a record of the 45 days she spent reporting on the ground during the invasion until she evac…
Published on 1 week, 3 days ago
A new James Baldwin biography asks how the writer’s lovers might’ve shaped him
The scholar Nicholas Boggs has a new perspective on James Baldwin. The new biography Baldwin: A Love Story considers how the writer and Civil Rights leader’s lovers might’ve shaped him. In today’s co…
Published on 1 week, 4 days ago