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Books: Book Reviews, Book News, and Author Interviews NPR's brings you news about books and authors along with our picks for great reads. Interviews, reviews, and much more.

Books

Author Interviews

'Fairyland' author recalls growing up with her gay dad in pre-AIDS San Francisco

Alysia Abbott was raised by a single father at the dawn of the gay liberation era. Sofia Coppola recently adapted Abbott's memoir, Fairyland, to film. Originally broadcast in 2013.

FA: Alysia Abbott

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A photograph shows chef and cookbook author Samin Nosrat standing in the doorway of a house, colorful art hangs on the wall behind her, the glass door opens to her right, and she's surrounded by tall, leafy hydrangeas, allium, ferns, and other plants on either side. Samin is barefoot, wearing a colorful button-up shirt, leaning casually against the doorframe, and smiling down at a small white dog walking toward her on a brick pathway.
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Chef and writer Samin Nosrat is the author of Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love: A Cookbook. Aya Brackett hide caption

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Aya Brackett

Life Kit

How chef Samin Nosrat keeps up a casual weekly dinner with friends

Every Monday night for the past five years, chef Samin Nosrat makes dinner with friends. She explains how she's been able to maintain this ritual, plus her "criminally good" recipe for garlic bread.

After Midnight, by Daphne du Maurier
Simon & Schuster

Review

Book Reviews

You know Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca' — but she also wrote these terrifying tales

Rebecca dominates du Maurier's legacy, but she wrote plenty of other macabre novels and short stories. A collection called After Midnight gathers 13 of these tales, with an intro by Stephen King.

FA: Book Review: After Midnight, by Daphne Du Maurier

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Julian Brave NoiseCat

Julian Brave NoiseCat is the author of We Survived the Night. Emily Kassie/Penguin Random House hide caption

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Emily Kassie/Penguin Random House

Author Interviews

Julian Brave NoiseCat's survival story is both personal and ancestral

NoiseCat is the son of an Indigenous Canadian father and white mother. After a cultural genocide, he says, living your life becomes an existential question. His new memoir is We Survived the Night.

FA: Julian Brave Noisecat

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A person wearing a black shirt, shorts and a backpack walks past a book vending machine.

LitBox provides books by local authors directly to readers through a vending machine inside Western Market in Washington, D.C., as seen on Aug. 14. Lauren Woods created LitBox to help DMV writers get noticed. Maansi Srivastava/NPR hide caption

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Maansi Srivastava/NPR

Book News & Features

A book vending machine provides an outlet for D.C.-area authors after funding cuts

Washington, D.C.'s vending machine LitBox distributes books, with a serving of hope as local writers struggle with arts funding cuts.

Art, faith, & your tendency to overthink it.

What does it mean to have faith? Getty Images/Getty Images hide caption

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It's Been a Minute

Art, faith, & your tendency to overthink it.

Sometimes the harshest critic is the one in your head. What if instead you had faith in yourself, and what you're making?

Is faith the key to good art?

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John T. Edge, at home in Oxford, Miss., has written extensively about the South and its food culture. Now he's turned his pen to his family's own troubled history.

John T. Edge, at home in Oxford, Miss., has written extensively about the South and its food culture. Now he has turned his pen to his family's own troubled history. Debbie Elliott/NPR hide caption

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Debbie Elliott/NPR

In new memoir, John T. Edge explores Southern identity and a troubled family history

Writer John T. Edge has spent much of his career telling stories about a changing American South filtered through the lens of food and culture. Now he's talking about his troubled family's history.

In new memoir, John T. Edge explores Southern identity and a troubled family history

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M. Night Shyamalan and Nicholas Sparks join forces on 'Remain' novel and film

Author Interviews

M. Night Shyamalan and Nicholas Sparks join forces on 'Remain' novel and film

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and novelist Nicholas Sparks describe their collaboration to simultaneously craft the new novel and upcoming film Remain as a unique one that's unlikely to be replicated.

Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan join forces on 'Remain' novel and film

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Nick Offerman

Nick Offerman at Maximum Fun HQ Daniel Speer/Maximum Fun hide caption

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Daniel Speer/Maximum Fun

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Nick Offerman

Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, Fargo, The Last of Us) returns to the show to talk about his new book, Little Woodchucks, and to share why woodworking is such a big part of his life. Plus, he gives Jesse a deep tissue massage. Yep, on the radio!

Nick Offerman

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Hungarian László Krasznahorkai has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Hungarian László Krasznahorkai has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in literature. Nobel Committee hide caption

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Nobel Committee

Culture

László Krasznahorkai wins 2025 Nobel Prize in literature

The Hungarian writer, known for his apocalyptic works, has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in literature. He joins the ranks of Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and Toni Morrison.

Who will win the Nobel Prize in literature?

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James Baldwin in London in 1964.

James Baldwin in London in 1964. A new biography focuses on the author's relationships. Jenkins/Getty Images hide caption

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A new James Baldwin biography explores how his lovers influenced his work

Baldwin: A Love Story, a book by Nicholas Boggs, has a singular focus on the redemptive power of devotion.

'Baldwin: A Love Story' explores how the author's love life inspired his work

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Mayci Neeley at an event with the cast of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" at SiriusXM Studios in May.

Mayci Neeley at an event with the cast of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" at SiriusXM Studios in May. Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for SiriusXM hide caption

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Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for SiriusXM

Interview highlights

'Mormon Wives' star Mayci Neeley shares her complex life in new memoir

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Mayci Neeley of Hulu's The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives about how her traumatic college days have shaped her relationship with her religion.

'Mormon Wives' star Mayci Neeley shares her complex life in new memoir

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Letter poems to friends — of all kinds — in 'Dear Acorn, (Love, Oak)'
Illustrations © 2025 by Melissa Sweet / Clarion Books

Picture This

Letter poems to friends — of all kinds — in 'Dear Acorn, (Love, Oak)'

What would an acorn write to an oak tree? Or a coat to her button? A child to his toes? A pebble to the river? Dear Acorn, (Love, Oak) is a new kids' book of letter poems to friends.

PICTURE THIS: Dear Acorn, Love Oak

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The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kiran Desai
Hogarth

Review

Book Reviews

'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny' is a terrific, tangled love story

This is an epic novel to be savored. At nearly 700 pages, this multi-character, multi-stranded story explores exile and displacement — not only from one's home, but also from one's own sense of self.

FA: Book review: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

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These books top PEN America's list of the books most often challenged and banned from school classrooms in the U.S. during the 2024-2025 school year.

These books top PEN America's list of the books most often challenged and banned from school classrooms in the U.S. during the 2024-2025 school year. PEN America hide caption

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PEN America

Book News & Features

PEN America warns of rise in books 'systematically removed from school libraries'

A new report says that the number of books being challenged or removed from public schools across the country has risen exponentially in the past two years. A Clockwork Orange tops their list.

Mark Ronson performs at Night Club 101 in New York City on Sept. 19, 2025.

Mark Ronson performs at Night Club 101 in New York City on Sept. 19, 2025. Theo Wargo/Getty Images hide caption

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Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Author Interviews

'I can't stop DJing,' Mark Ronson says — never mind the back pain

Ronson's memoir, Night People, is a love letter to late-night 1990s New York City. Ronson would go on to produce music for Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and other pop superstars.

FA: Mark Ronson

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