NPR's Book of the Day

Today's episode is a true story that reads like a novel. In 2006, author and labor organizer Saket Soni received a call from an Indian migrant worker. He was one of hundreds of men hired by Signal International to fix hurricane-ravaged oil rigs in Mississippi and asked to pay $20,000 under the impression it would go towards green card expenses. But as Soni explains in his new book, The Great Escap...

Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim follows a Korean-Argentinian teen's journey to understanding who she is. Through the comfort of her multicultural home in Queens to the hallways of her ultra-woke, elite prep school in Manhattan, Alejandra grapples with academics, the politics of school lunch, and even a microaggression from her own teacher. As author Patricia Park tells Her...

The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa by Stephen Buoro is one of our favorite books of 2023. It focuses on a 15-year-old boy, Andy Aziza, who lives in Kontagora and uses the framework of superheroes and villains to grapple with the systemic issues in his home country of Nigeria and the African continent as a whole. In today's episode, Buoro speaks with NPR's Camila Domonoske about his protag...

As Hollywood was warming up for a summer of labor strikes a few months ago, Vanity Fair 's Maureen Ryan came out with a new book, Burn It Down , that exposed a lot of the abuses many writers, actors and crew members were coming forth about. When the book first published, Ryan spoke with NPR's Eric Deggans about how the set of Lost became a centerpiece of her research, and how her own experience sp...

In her new novel Loot , Tania James writes of a 17-year-old woodworker who's commissioned to build a tiger automaton for the Indian ruler Tipu Sultan in the 18th century. The story is inspired by the real-life Tippoo's Tiger, one of the most famous sculptures in London's Victoria and Albert Museum. James' tale of colonization, war, love and art stretches across India and Europe – and as she tells...

Today's episode features interviews with two highly accomplished artists who've written graphic memoirs about the intricacies of growing up as young men of color in the U.S. First, NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Darrin Bell about The Talk, which chronicles how Black parents speak to their kids about race and policing, and how he experienced that as a son and a fa...

The new novel and National Book Awards finalist by Justin Torres, Blackouts , blurs the line between fiction and history to bring marginalized queer narratives to life. In today's episode, Torres speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about how he was inspired by the work of lesbian archivist and researcher Jan Gay — but when he hit a dead end trying to learn more about her, he used fiction to fill in the...

King:A Life , the biography by Jonathan Eig, provides a fresh perspective into the life of one of America's most important activists. From his upbringing in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward neighborhood to his path through university and the frontlines of the Montgomery bus boycott, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s career and impact is explained through his faith and relationships. In today's episode, Eig speak...

The Covenant of Water follows three generations of a family in the coastal state of Kerala, India, where they're haunted by a devastating event, over and over: In every generation, someone in the family drowns. In today's episode, Dr. Abraham Verghese tells NPR's Ari Shapiro about the medical themes in the novel, and how his daytime occupation as a physician and professor at Stanford University in...

Back for its 11th year, Books We Love curates NPR staff and critics' favorite books of the year. You can discover your next great read or find the perfect gift for a literary loved one using our interactive guide. With more than 380 books to choose from, you can filter your search with various tags, including "Book Club Ideas," "Seriously Great Writing," and "Staff Picks." In today's episode, Andr...

Comedian Jamie Loftus has been eating hot dogs her whole life. But in her new book, Raw Dog , she takes a road trip across the U.S. to discover how they're prepared in different parts of the country, and does a deep dive into everything from the labor conditions in meatpacking plants to the social class implications of who eats hot dogs and why. In today's episode, Loftus speaks with NPR's Ayesha...

Today's episode features interviews with two giants in pop culture who get very real about the pitfalls in their personal and professional lives. First, NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Henry Winkler about his new memoir, Being Henry , and how his overnight stardom as The Fonz on Happy Days was followed by a long lack of acting roles. Then, NPR's A Martinez chats with Arnold Schwarzenegger about his...

The Minecraft trilogy by Max Brooks is about two humans – Guy and Summer – who get trapped in the world of the video game Minecraft and have to find their way out. In today's episode, Brooks speaks with NPR's Andrew Limbong about how Minecraft is the perfect medium through which to teach kids about conflict, survival and adapting to change. But they also get to talking about how Brooks' first book...

There are lots of things Curtis Chin, co-founder of the Asian American Writers' Workshop, learned at his family's Chinese restaurant: how to be curious, how to be kind, how to create community. His new memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant , recalls Chin's upbringing as a gay Chinese-American boy in 1980s Detroit, and how the family business served as the ultimate safe sp...

The debut novel by E.J. Koh is short in length, but extensive in time and place. The Liberators follows several generations of two Korean families, and encapsulates how different individuals reckon with the legacy of war, love and betrayal within their lineage. In today's episode, Koh speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about the importance of zooming into people's ordinary lives to understand the impac...

Barbra Streisand spent 15 years working to get her directorial debut, the movie Yentl , made. She writes in her new memoir, My Name is Barbra , that people in Hollywood often told her the story was "too Jewish" to appeal to a mainstream audience. In today's episode, Streisand speaks with NPR's Brittany Luse, host of the podcast It's Been a Minute , about that experience. She also talks about why s...

Kerry Washington is well-known for her roles in Scandal , Little Fires Everywhere and Django Unchained . But in her new memoir, she reveals a LOT that the public doesn't know about her – and one big thing she didn't even know about herself until fairly recently. In today's episode, Washington sits down with NPR's Juana Summers for a two-part conversation about how a secret her parents kept for dec...

Today's episode is a little different. NPR's David Folkenflik sits down with two writers – Walter Isaacson and Michael Lewis – to ask about their experiences writing biographies of Elon Musk and Sam Bankman-Fried, respectively, and what it means to watch the person you're profiling become a villain in the public eye in real time. They discuss the process of getting close – or keeping their distanc...

For the first few years that National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward was writing her new novel, Let Us Descend , she says she really struggled to tap into her main character. Annis is an enslaved Black woman who faces unsurmountable hardships – but she also finds deep comfort in the spirits and elements that surround her. In today's episode, Ward tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe why she needed to incorpor...

Hugo Contreras, the protagonist of Raul Palma's new novel, is a babaláwo ; he can cleanse evil spirits. Except he doesn't really believe in the whole thing. So when he's able to strike up a deal with a debt collector – get rid of the ghosts in his house in exchange for a clean slate – he assumes he can mostly fake it. In today's episode, Palma joins NPR's Scott Simon to discuss A Haunting in Hiale...

Abraham Lincoln's leadership is often remembered for reaching across the aisle – he tried to find compromises even in the most divisive times. But as successful as he was in saving the union, Lincoln also spent a lot of time agreeing to disagree with those around him. In his new book, Differ We Must , NPR's Steve Inskeep examines Lincoln's life through 16 such confrontations. In today's episode, I...

Today's episode is all about artificial intelligence and its ever-growing role in our society. First, NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with tech entrepreneur Mustafa Suleyman about his new book, The Coming Wave , and why – as someone who's deeply involved in the world of AI – Suleyman insists it begs for regulation. Then, NPR's Chloe Veltman speaks with New Yorker cartoonist Amy Kurzweil about her new g...

Ola and Michael are, by all means, a power couple. They're both high-profile journalists, engaged to be married in a month, who wake up one morning to find Michael's name on an anonymous list of predatory men in media. In today's episode, author Yomi Adegoke discusses her new novel, The List , which was inspired by a similar document published online during the #MeToo Movement. She tells NPR's Aye...

The new novel by Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors , is a project of historical fiction immersed in the culturally rich island of Penang in the 1920s. A once revered, now flailing British writer arrives to visit a friend and find inspiration for a new book. What he uncovers – secret affairs, a murder trial, and deeply complicated relationships – proves to be more than he expected. In today's episod...

Since being named general secretary of China's ruling Communist Party, Xi Jinping has exerted his power to control historical narratives in China. But in his new book, Sparks , Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ian Johnson profiles the people who've fought back to record – and report – the country's full history, including famines, virus outbreaks and ethnic conflicts. In today's episode, Johnson sp...