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'All Boys Aren't Blue' honors coming of age as a queer Black boy
Author George M. Johnson says they knew their memoir, All Boys Aren't Blue, would be challenged by school boards – but they didn't realize just how much controversy it would stir up. The memoir explo…
Published on 2 years, 2 months ago
In 'New Kid,' a Black seventh grader navigates a new school
Jordan Banks, the protagonist of New Kid, is a seventh grade student who loves to draw and hopes to one day become a cartoonist. But the graphic novel following Jordan's arrival at a predominantly wh…
Published on 2 years, 2 months ago
Bans on books like 'Out of Darkness' target authors of color
Professor Ashley Hope Pérez's book Out of Darkness explores school segregation in 20th century Texas through a fictional love story between a young African-American boy and a Mexican-American girl. B…
Published on 2 years, 2 months ago
Novels by Hila Blum and William Landay unravel family mysteries
Today's episode is all about figuring out the moment things went wrong between family members – and how the fallout has long lasting effects on everyone involved. First, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speak…
Published on 2 years, 2 months ago
'Others Were Emeralds' is a coming-of-age story confronting racism in Australia
In today's episode, Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes and author Lang Leav bond over growing up in Australia, and navigating racism and anti-immigrant sentiments while also trying to find community as a y…
Published on 2 years, 2 months ago
Sandeep Jauhar's memoir explains how Alzheimer's works – and how it affected his dad
As a physician, Sandeep Jauhar had a certain understanding of Alzheimer's. Then, when the disease was impacting his own father, more and more questions, confusion, and frustrations arose. In his new …
Published on 2 years, 2 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 2 years, 2 months ago
'Foreign Bodies' traces the history of pandemics and vaccine hesitancy
Historian Simon Schama's new book, Foreign Bodies:Pandemics, Vaccines, and the Health of Nations, recounts the pain and panic caused by smallpox, cholera and the Bubonic plague over the past two cent…
Published on 2 years, 2 months ago
Two books examine the lives of Afghans in the aftermath of American withdrawal
Today's episode is all about the lives of women in Afghanistan, before and after the U.S. armed forces occupied the country. First, Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks with journalist Mitchell Zuckoff abo…
Published on 2 years, 3 months ago
Why Matthew McConaughey wrote a children's book about the "paradox of living"
Matthew McConaughey has a new children's book out, full of couplets with a pretty mature message. Just Because is all about the contradictions in life – like "just because I lied doesn't mean that I'…
Published on 2 years, 3 months ago