Books & Literature

Asher's father died in a car crash in Nigeria when she was 5. Afterward, her mom raised four children on her own in a crime-ridden London neighborhood. Asher's memoir is Where the Children Take Us.

Denk talks about what he learned from his teachers, and his failures, frustrations and pivotal moments as an artist. His new memoir is Every Good Boy Does Fine. Originally broadcast March 21, 2022.

The British singer/guitarist talks about his formative years, and about pioneering a new musical genre that blended rock with traditional music of the British isles. Thompson's new memoir is Beeswing.

Falling in love at 72 — over email — sounds like the plotline of a romantic comedy. But that's exactly what happened to writer Delia Ephron. Along with her late sister Nora Ephron, Delia co-wrote the '90s classic You've Got Mail. Against all odds, Delia found herself in a familiar cinematic situation.

As a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1995 until 2001, Molly Shannon became famous for playing Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher. That should have felt like a triumph, but instead, she felt depressed. Shannon's mother, along with her 3-year-old sister and a cousin, died decades earlier, when her father, who had been drinking, crashed the family car into a pole. For years, the memory of her mother and sister propelled her forward in her career. Her new memoir Hello, Molly! recounts the tragic as well as the wonderful turning points in her life.

The Nobel Prize-winning novelist explains how he honed his craft earlier in his career. His book, Klara and the Sun, is set in the future and has an A.I. narrator. Originally published March 17, 2021.

Mandel's latest work is an ingeniously constructed, deeply absorbing novel that summons up three fully realized worlds in three distinct time periods — including the 25th century.

Appointed by President Clinton in 1997, Albright advocated for the expansion of NATO into the former Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe. She died March 23. Originally broadcast in 2003 and 2018.

In the memoir, The Beauty of Dusk, Frank Bruni chronicles the changes to his vision and the adaptations he's had to make in his work, personal life and attitude. The book also profiles a number of other people who've survived and thrived in ways that Bruni says are profoundly instructive.

The MacArthur "genius" grant winner talks about what he learned from his piano teachers, and his failures, frustrations and pivotal moments as an artist. Denk's new memoir is Every Good Boy Does Fine.

Denying that the Sandy Hook mass shooting had occurred became "a highly symbolic thing," Elizabeth Williamson says, author of the book Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth. "People did this for reasons of ideology. They did it for, in Alex Jones' case, profit. They did it for psychological reasons. There was a tribalistic bonding that happened around this."

Shortly after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2019, architect Brian Ameche, then in his mid-60s, told his wife, novelist Amy Bloom, that he wanted to end life on his own terms, before the disease robbed him of everything.

David Sipress endured years of rejection before finally landing a gig with The New Yorker in '98. "I wasn't about to let all that rejection get in the way," he says. His new memoir is What's So Funny?

The guilty pleasures of Vladímír, a virtuoso debut novel by Julia May Jonas, begin with its cover: a close up from the neck down of man's very nice open-shirted chest and hands resting on his clothed crotch.

Though the main character in Otsuka's new novel has lost much of her memory to dementia, she still remembers being sent to an incarceration camp for Japanese Americans during World War II.

Gitlin was part of the tumultuous student protest movement of the 1960s, and continued his commitment to social change through teaching and writing. He died on Feb. 5. Originally broadcast in 1987.

Back in 1970, Hansen began a series of 12 novels about an LA insurance investigator named Dave Brandstetter. The novels were something daring and new: featuring a tough guy detective who was also gay.

Spiegelman's graphic novel, which was recently banned by a school district in Tennessee, tells the story of how his Jewish parents survived the Holocaust in Poland.

Russell Shorto's grandfather was a mob leader in the industrial town of Johnstown, Pa. He spoke to Fresh Air in 2021 about the havoc that resulted from his grandfather's business dealings.

Science writer Florence Williams experienced what felt like a brain injury when her husband left her after more than 25 years together. So she decided to explore the connection between heartache and physical pain — including possible changes in the immune, digestive and nervous systems. Her new book is Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey.