Accessibility links
Author Interviews NPR interviews with top authors and the NPR Book Tour, a weekly feature and podcast where leading authors read and discuss their writing. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Author Interviews

Books

'Imagine Me Gone' Paints Mental Illness Through Five Fictional Voices

NPR's Scott Simon asks Adam Haslett about his latest novel. Haslett says he "needed that imaginary space to investigate" his family history of mental illness.

'Imagine Me Gone' Paints Mental Illness Through Five Fictional Voices

Listen · 6:35
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/476272525/476272526" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
DeLillo's 'Zero K' Freezes At The Edge Of Immortality

Don DeLillo has won the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and been nominated for several Pulitzer Prizes. His new book is Zero K. Joyce Ravid hide caption

toggle caption
Joyce Ravid

DeLillo's 'Zero K' Freezes At The Edge Of Immortality

In Don DeLillo's new novel, a billionaire secretly funds an enterprise aimed at preserving people through cryogenics — a technology he hopes to use to rejoin his already-frozen wife.

DeLillo's 'Zero K' Freezes At The Edge Of Immortality

Listen · 5:49
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/476062916/476272622" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Parent Hacks

Books

The Art Of MacGyvering For Sleep-Deprived Moms And Dads

New parents need all the help they can get. Author and mom of two Asha Dornfest has compiled a book of 134 handy hacks for parents. That roll of blue painter's tape? A "magical multitasker," she says.

The Art Of MacGyvering For Sleep-Deprived Moms And Dads

Listen · 4:07
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/476152588/476204012" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Silicon Valley' And 'Bob's Burgers'

Bob's Burgers. FOX hide caption

toggle caption
FOX

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Silicon Valley' And 'Bob's Burgers'

This week, the roundtable discusses the HBO comedy Silicon Valley and Stephen Thompson sits down with Bob's Burgers creator Loren Bouchard.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Silicon Valley' And 'Bob's Burgers'

Listen · 52:00
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475949093/475951787" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Questlove On Prince, Doo-Wop And The Food Equivalent Of The 'Mona Lisa'

Questlove's previous books include Mo' Meta Blues and Soul Train. He also teaches a class about classic albums at New York University. Ben Watts/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Ben Watts/Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

Questlove On Prince, Doo-Wop And The Food Equivalent Of The 'Mona Lisa'

Fresh Air

In his new book, somethingtofoodabout, The Roots' drummer discusses the artistry involved in creating a great meal. "I'm more obsessed with the journey ... than the destination," Questlove says.

Questlove On Prince, Doo-Wop And The Food Equivalent Of The 'Mona Lisa'

Listen · 44:22
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475721555/475908436" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Meryl Streep's First Acting Gig: Becoming Pretty And Popular In High School
Bernardsville Public Library Local History Collection/HarperCollins

Meryl Streep's First Acting Gig: Becoming Pretty And Popular In High School

In a new biography called Her Again, author Michael Schulman says that at 14, Streep decided to reinvent herself — and before she was an Oscar winner, she was homecoming queen.

Meryl Streep's First Acting Gig: Becoming Pretty And Popular In High School

Listen · 5:39
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475616824/475696082" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Alter Egos

Politics

'Alter Egos' Dissects Hillary Clinton's Tenure As Obama's Secretary Of State

Fresh Air

Mark Landler of The New York Times discusses Clinton and Obama's contrasting views on America's role in the world. Clinton, Landler says, was often the hawk, more willing to intervene with force.

'Alter Egos' Dissects Hillary Clinton's Tenure As Obama's Secretary Of State

Listen · 44:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475584003/475612985" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Night Sky With Exit Wounds

Books

In The Lines Of Ocean Vuong, Echoes Of His Family's Past In Vietnam

Award-winning poet Ocean Vuong speaks about his new book Night Sky with Exit Wounds, which weaves growing up in America with his family's memories of a war-torn Vietnam.

In The Lines Of Ocean Vuong, Echoes Of His Family's Past In Vietnam

Listen · 4:32
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475511998/475511999" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Wake Up You cover

Music Interviews

'Wake Up You!' Explores The Transitional, Post-War Rock 'N' Roll Of Nigeria

In the 1970s, a crop of young rock bands with "a new sense of fury and fuzz" arose in the aftermath of the country's civil war, says historian Uchenna Ikonne.

'Wake Up You!' Explores The Transitional, Post-War Rock 'N' Roll Of Nigeria

Listen · 7:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475138787/475512018" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

Books

Timbuktu's 'Badass Librarians': Checking Out Books Under Al-Qaida's Nose

Librarian Abdel Kader Haidara organized a smuggling operation to keep centuries-old manuscripts out of the hands of al-Qaida. Joshua Hammer wrote about it in The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu.

Timbuktu's 'Badass Librarians': Checking Out Books Under Al-Qaida's Nose

Listen · 7:13
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475420855/475424821" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Book News & Features

George Plimpton Reissues Books That Took Us Inside The Game

Seven of the the late George Plimpton's sports books are being re-released. NPR's Scott Simon talks with sportscaster Bob Costas about the collection.

George Plimpton Reissues Books That Took Us Inside The Game

Listen · 4:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475388741/475388742" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Book News & Features

Activist, Professor, Historian — Now A Poetry Pulitzer Prize Winner

Peter Balakian is the author of "Ozone Journal," winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Scott Simon talks with Balakian about how the collection has changed since he began writing decades ago.

Activist, Professor, Historian — Now A Poetry Pulitzer Prize Winner

Listen · 3:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475388669/475388675" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Living Bird

Flights Of Fancy: Exploring The Songs And Pathways Of 'The Living Bird'

Fresh Air

Wildlife photographer Gerrit Vyn and essayist Scott Weidensaul share bird calls and discuss some of the remarkable abilities of birds. Originally broadcast Oct. 20, 2015.

Flights Of Fancy: Exploring The Songs And Pathways Of 'The Living Bird'

Listen · 28:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475246429/475289949" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
A Baby Boomer With Parkinson's Reports Back From Front Lines Of Aging
/iStockphoto.com

On Aging

A Baby Boomer With Parkinson's Reports Back From Front Lines Of Aging

Journalist Michael Kinsley was diagnosed when he was in his 40s. Now in his 60s, he says he feels like he's "a scout for his generation." His new book is Old Age: A Beginner's Guide.

A Baby Boomer With Parkinson's Reports Back From Front Lines Of Aging

Listen · 5:15
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/475147662/475161641" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript