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Two historical fiction novels focus on women's lives during wars in Southeast Asia
Today's episode features two authors who've written novels centering the personal and political experiences of women during war. First, NPR's Rob Schmitz speaks with Vanessa Chan about The Storm We M…
Published on 1 year, 11 months ago
Roxane Gay fleshes out her strong 'Opinions'
In the era of constant hot takes, what actually makes an opinion worthwhile? Roxane Gay tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe that it's a combination of things: credibility, backing arguments, articulation. In t…
Published on 1 year, 11 months ago
Celine Saintclare's debut novel explores the life of a 'Sugar,Baby' in London
The protagonist of Celine Saintclare's Sugar, Baby is pretty disillusioned with her life: She's 21 and still at home, she has few friends and she feels like she'll never live up to her religious moth…
Published on 1 year, 11 months ago
Olympic runner Caster Semenya's memoir tackles gender stereotypes in sports
When she was only a teenager, South African runner Caster Semenya won gold at the 2009 World Championships. But she was soon faced with intense scrutiny over her gender and testosterone levels and fo…
Published on 1 year, 11 months ago
Booker Prize winner 'Prophet Song' is a dystopian tale of Irish authoritarianism
Early on in today's interview with author Paul Lynch, he says he was careful not to specify whether his dystopian novel Prophet Song is set in the future. Instead, the gripping tale of an Irish famil…
Published on 1 year, 11 months ago
Novels by Barbara Kingsolver and Daniel Mason excavate history for new meanings
Today's episode is all about two books that find parallels across long stretches of time. First, an interview with Barbara Kingsolver and former NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro about Kingsolver's novel …
Published on 1 year, 11 months ago
'The House of Doors' is a novel about romance, secrecy and colonialism in Malaysia
The new novel by Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors, is a project of historical fiction immersed in the culturally rich island of Penang in the 1920s. A once revered, now flailing British writer arrive…
Published on 1 year, 11 months ago
In 'A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens,' debt takes on many meanings
Hugo Contreras, the protagonist of Raul Palma's new novel, is a babaláwo; he can cleanse evil spirits. Except he doesn't really believe in the whole thing. So when he's able to strike up a deal with …
Published on 1 year, 11 months ago
Anne Enright's 'The Wren, The Wren' is a family story about poetry and betrayal
Phil McDaragh is a great Irish poet; he was also a lousy husband and father, abandoning his family to pursue his writing. In Anne Enright's new novel, The Wren, The Wren, three generations of women i…
Published on 1 year, 11 months ago
In 'The Fraud,' Zadie Smith takes on historical fiction and the Tichborne case
In the 19th century, a butcher living in Australia claimed to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. The Tichborne trial, which sparked much controversy and even more attention in Victorian Engl…
Published on 1 year, 11 months ago