This engaging, well-researched, and frequently laugh-out-loud funny history places the Black experience at center stage with stories that should have already been part of our collective memory.

Jonathan Escoffery's If I Survive You and Chetna Maroo's Western Lane are among the contenders for this year's prize, which honors the best English-language fiction published in the U.K. and Ireland.

Jones says performing stand-up for the first time as a freshman in college felt like putting on a shirt that fit perfectly: "It was just so natural." Her memoir is Leslie F*cking Jones.

An impoverished servant girl escapes the fledgling Jamestown colony during the winter of 1609–1610 in a historical saga that takes its inspiration from Robinson Crusoe.

Most of the scrutinized books were written by or contained subject matter about people of color or members of the LGBTQ+ community, according to research by the American Library Association.

The number of bans and restrictions in the U.S. rose 33% in the last school year, according the the report. Florida had more bans than any other state.

Nathan Hill's stunning new novel about the stories we tell about our lives and our loves, and how we sustain relationships throughout time, is both funny and heartbreaking, sometimes on the same page.

Daniel Mason's gorgeous fifth novel tells of a yellow house deep in the woods of western Massachusetts — and its motley succession of occupants who leave their mark on the property.

Nancherla's starred in TV shows like BoJack Horseman and Master of None, and written for Late Night with Seth Meyers. She recounts her struggle with depression in the memoir, Unreliable Narrator.

Kwame Alexander, a poet, and Jerry Craft, an author and illustrator, went to Kenya to encourage reading — and learned a lot in the process.

The Care and Keeping of You from American Girl eased the adolescent anxieties of the millennial and Gen Z girls who read it. Now the book is marking its 25th anniversary.

NPR's Scott Simon asks historian Simon Schama about his latest book, Foreign Bodies, and about attitudes to inoculation.

Each week, Pop Culture Happy Hour guests and hosts share what's bringing them joy. This week: The audiobooks Mythos and Why We Love Baseball, and the new albums Jaguar II and Blame My Ex.

Red Carpet author Erich Schwartzel says that film studios increasingly need Chinese audiences to break even — which can result in self-censorship. Originally broadcast Feb. 21, 2022.

The Enchanters marks the return of Freddy O — a disgraced ex-LAPD cop and Confidential magazine dirt digger turned shifty private investigator and Hollywood fixer — and introduces Marilyn Monroe.