Hough was 15 when her family left the Children of God cult. Afterward, she struggled to face the trauma of her past. Her new collection of personal essays is Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing.
Caleb Azumah Nelson's Open Water is built on a familiar premise: two young people meet and fall in love. Nelson's debut novel is brimming with references to Black art, music, poetry and photography.
Julie Lythcott-Haims's new book, Your Turn: How to Be an Adult, is a handbook on adulthood. Her 2017 memoir, Real American, is the story of her coming to terms with her biracial identity.
Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii — one of the most outspoken Democrats in Congress — wasn't always so vociferous. She says her story, detailed in a new memoir, has driven her to "stand up to bullies."
Erdrich's novel, The Night Watchman, is based on her grandfather's role in resisting a Congressional effort to withdraw federal recognition from her family's tribe. Originally broadcast March 4, 2020.
Biblical womanhood is a pervasive concept among evangelicals, but a new book by historian Beth Allison Barr argues those ideas may be more secular than scriptural.
Empire of Pain author Patrick Radden Keefe says the Sackler family has "thrown a lot of energy" into trying to thwart his reporting about the family's involvement in the opioid crisis.
NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Patrick Radden Keefe about his book Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. The book profiles the family that founded oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma.
When he was 12, Gates made a bargain with Jesus in an attempt to save his mother's life. He talks about how that altered his own life, and his new book and PBS series, The Black Church.
Boehner was the Republican speaker of the House during much of the Obama presidency. His new memoir recounts his time leading House Republicans — even if that meant doing things he personally opposed.
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with author Sanjena Sathian about her new book, Gold Diggers, that explores Indian-American identity in a fictional suburb of Atlanta.
Reem Kassis began gathering family recipes after the birth of her first child. The recipes, she says, "could be the story of any and every Palestinian family." Her new book is The Arabesque Table.
Leigh Bardugo is winding up her Russian-inflected Grishaverse series (at least for now) with Rule of Wolves, which continues the story of the dashing King Nikolai of Ravka and his demonic interloper.
What do Soul Train and Whitney Houston tell us about race in America? In his book, A Little Devil in America, the culture critic traces the history of Black performance through moments in pop culture.
Murakami's new story collection, First Person Singular, touches some of his favorite subjects — jazz, baseball, classical music — but also highlights some of the unexplained oddities of life.
The six-time Grammy winner got her start as a kid, singing backup for an Elvis impersonator. Her new memoir, Broken Horses, is about her early life and the family she's built.
Hunter Biden's new memoir is a story of his years of alcohol and drug addiction. He tells NPR that the one constant was the love of his family: "Their light was never not seeking me out."
