NPR's Book of the Day

It’s Back to School week at NPR’s Book of the Day , which means we’re looking back at interviews with authors who may have shown up on your high school syllabus. First, Jhumpa Lahiri debuted her short story collection Interpreter of Maladies in 1999. In the title story, an American family visits India and their guide develops an infatuation with the wife. In today’s episode, Lahiri speaks with NPR...

Today’s episode features two books that dissect very different case studies in politics: Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign and the anti-abortion movement. First, in July 2024, Harris’ presidential campaign launched like a rocket – but it seemed to stall shortly after. 2024 goes behind the scenes of the Harris team as they leapt into the race months before the election. In today’s episode, NPR’s...

Meg Medina’s new young adult novel begins with a fall: Graciela, a 13-year-old-girl, is blown off a cliff and sucked into the bottom of the sea. A century later, she awakens and her afterlife begins. Most of the characters in Graciela in the Abyss are ghosts and spirits, but Medina says the story is really about life. In today’s episode, she joins NPR’s Scott Simon for a conversation that touches...

In her first nonfiction book Misbehaving at the Crossroads , Honoree Fanonne Jeffers weaves together history, political commentary and poetry that centers Black women. The poet and novelist’s essays explore what it’s like to occupy an intersectional identity while excavating the past. In today’s episode, Jeffers speaks with NPR’s Juana Summers about how writing this book led to a surprising reconc...

Raja teaches philosophy to high schoolers and shares an apartment with his 82-year-old mother, Zalfa. Rabih Alameddine explores their relationship – and other forms of intimacy – in his new novel The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) . In today’s episode, the author joins NPR’s Scott Simon for a conversation about Raja’s self-deprecation, Zalfa’s relationship with another older...

Tamara Yajia’s memoir Cry for Me, Argentina describes a chaotic upbringing between Argentine and American cultures. A big focus of the memoir is her “insane” family, who exposed Yajia to a high level of sexual openness, including group excursions to Buenos Aires’ red-light district. In today’s episode, the writer speaks with NPR’s Ailsa Chang about her mixed experience as a childhood performer, a...

Two children’s books were brought to life by close collaborations, one between longtime friends and another that began with a chance encounter. First, Papilio follows an adventurous caterpillar through different stages of metamorphosis, each written and illustrated by three friends: Ben Clanton, Corey R. Tabor, and Andy Chou Musser. In today’s episode, the authors speak with NPR’s Scott Simon abou...

Artem is a 12-year-old Ukrainian boy who likes to spend summer days on his grandfather’s sunflower farm swimming with his younger brother, Yuri. But one night in February 2022, they hear sirens and bomb blasts – and soon, they’re fleeing war. Sam Wachman’s debut novel The Sunflower Boys was inspired by his ancestral ties to Ukraine and his experience volunteering with Ukrainian children. In today’...

For Martha Barnette, griping about grammatical pet peeves is one of the least interesting ways to talk about language. Instead, the co-host of the radio show “A Way with Words” says she’d rather think about word origins, regional dialects, slang, or that phrase your grandma used to say. Her new book Friends with Words is full of surprising facts about language. In today’s episode, she talks with H...

Author Kate Riley says her book Ruth was partly based on her year spent living in an insular religious community. The debut novel explores what it’s like to live in a world without total access to information, despite the protagonist's intense curiosity. In today’s episode, Riley speaks with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe about the Peace Church tradition, how her interior life shaped the novel, and why this...

When poet Raymond Antrobus was 6 years old, he learned he was deaf. His new memoir The Quiet Ear describes living in a world of in-betweenness, straddling intersections of race, class, hearing and deafness. In today’s episode, Antrobus joins NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly for a discussion that touches on his connection with the creative deaf community in London, his dad’s DJ sets, and differences between...

Ashley Cullins and David Lubin are out with new books that delve into the histories of iconic films. First, in 1996, the character Ghostface was introduced to audiences in the first Scream movie. Cullins has written a history of these films–which are still being made–called Your Favorite Scary Movie . In today’s episode, she joins NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe to talk about the franchise. Then, this year ma...

It’s been 80 years since the United States detonated atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in more than 200,000 deaths. Garrett Graff’s new book The Devil Reached Toward the Sky is an oral history from scientists, politicians, pilots, soldiers and survivors of these weapons. In today’s episode, he speaks with NPR’s Scott Simon about the development of the atomic bomb, the lived exper...

Aisha Muharrar’s debut novel Loved One is about a woman’s effort to understand her relationship with a friend who’s recently died. Julia had been friends with Gabe for nearly a decade after the two briefly dated – but their relationship became complicated right before his death. In today’s episode, Muharrar joins NPR’s Juana Summers for a conversation about ambiguous loss, uncertainty, and how the...

To write his latest book Dinner with King Tut , Sam Kean joined a group of experimental archaeologists who learn by doing. These researchers aim to recreate the sites, sounds, smells and tastes of lost civilizations in order to solve mysteries about how people lived. In today’s episode, Kean talks with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe about eating caterpillars, making acorn bread, and the tension between exper...

Karin Slaughter’s new book opens on a hot summer night in Georgia. It’s Madison Dalrymple’s 15th birthday and she has a big night planned with her best friend. But both girls go missing and there’s no easy answer to what happened to them. We Are All Guilty Here is the crime writer’s 25th book in 25 years of writing. In today’s episode, Slaughter joins NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly for a conversation tha...

Nadiya Hussain and Kristen Kish are winners of two of the most popular cooking shows on television – and they’re both out with new books about life and food. First, Hussain won The Great British Baking Show in 2015. Her latest cookbook Cook Once, Eat Twice is about simplicity, efficiency, and turning one dish into two different meals. In today’s episode, she speaks with NPR’s Sarah McCammon about...

James Parker finds inspiration for odes in small and large things: history, America, brain farts, his flip phone, Pablo Neruda, meditation. The Atlantic staff writer’s book Get Me Through the Next Five Minutes spans these subjects and more. In today’s episode, Parker joins Here & Now’s Anthony Brooks for a conversation that touches on the subjects he’s found difficult to write odes to, the origins...

Author Xenobe Purvis says the premise for her new novel is based on a nugget of history. In 1700, a doctor reported that five sisters in Oxfordshire, England were said to be “seized with frequent barking in the manner of dogs.” Purvis’ The Hounding imagines what happens to these girls after a ferryman starts a dangerous rumor about them. In today’s episode, Purvis talks with NPR’s Scott Simon abou...

Alexis Okeowo grew up in Alabama. But it wasn’t until they left for college that Okeowo realized the strong stereotypes outsiders held about their home state. With their new book Blessings and Disasters , the New Yorker staff writer blends memoir and reporting to tell an alternate history of Alabama. In today’s episode, Okeowo speaks with NPR’s Emily Kwong about those who are often excluded from t...

In Emily Hunt Kivel’s new novel Dwelling , a mass eviction in New York City throws a young woman’s life into chaos. Suddenly homeless, Evie relocates to Gulluck, Texas, where she moves into a giant cowboy boot, the only rental property she can afford. In today’s episode, Kivel joins NPR’s Adrian Ma for a discussion about how she approached American capitalism through the lens of fairy tales. To li...

In today’s episode, the authors of two recently released nonfiction books search for meaning in art. First, Elizabeth Barks Cox’s Reading Van Gogh: An Amateur’s Search for God chronicles her infatuation with the painter’s writings, especially those on spirituality. In today’s episode, Cox joins Here & Now’s Lisa Mullins for a conversation that touches on the artist’s eye for beauty and despair – a...

Kate Marvel is a climate scientist who has testified before Congress and served as lead author of the U.S. National Climate Assessment. But in her new book Human Nature , she takes a different approach to climate change, exploring the crisis through nine emotions. In today's episode, the scientist and author speaks with NPR’s Scott Simon about watching the world end through computer models, pushin...

In 2021, Jason Mott won the National Book Award for Hell of a Book . Now, he’s out with a new novel called People Like Us , in which two Black writers navigate life in the United States in an era of gun violence. Mott says the book is loosely based on himself – and leans into the audience’s tendency to conflate authors with the stories they write. In today’s episode, Mott talks with NPR’s Ayesha R...

Author Rax King says her new book of essays Sloppy is unified by themes of “addiction and bad habits.” King has been sober from alcohol and cocaine for three years and in these essays, she openly shares her sobriety journey. In today’s episode, King speaks with NPR’s Juana Summers about why the author doesn’t see addiction as a shameful secret, King’s relationship with her dad, and learning to gen...