After years of traversing the globe as the Dalai Lama's biographer and observing how people struggle in searching for meaning, Iyer wonders what kind of paradise can be found in our fractious world.

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: Babel or The Necessity of Violence, Sultana's Dream, La última copa/The Last Cup, and Brick.

Maia Kobabe set out to express an experience with gender identity. The graphic memoir Gender Queer is now the most banned book in the United States, according to the American Library Association.

In 2020, Gender Queer was given a Stonewall Honor and an Alex Award and was headed for a fourth printing. By spring of 2022 it topped the ALA's list of most challenged books.

Robert Gottlieb has been working in publishing since 1955. The documentary Turn Every Page, by daughter Lizzie Gottlieb, examines his decades-long editing relationship with author Robert Caro.

Republicans backed Donald Trump in 2016, changing the party's identity. Republican strategist Tim Miller explores this shift in his book Why We Did It: A Travelogue On The Republican Road To Hell.

Jerry Craft published the Newbury award-winning graphic novel New Kid in 2019. The novel focuses on the experience of being Black and the "new kid" at a predominantly white school.

New Kid won the Newbery Medal, the Coretta Scott King Author Award, and the Kirkus Prize. But the book has been challenged in some school districts for content related to race.

Rev. Russell Levenson, Jr. got to know former President George H.W. Bush and his wife over more than a decade. He said how they lived their faith can serve as a roadmap for anyone, religious or not.

These books shed light on some of dance's most iconic figures and provide a glimpse into the state of ballet culture today — and the direction it's heading next year and for years to come.

Sedaris' darkly funny account of his stint as a Macy's department store Christmas elf named Crumpet has been a hallmark of the Morning Edition airwaves for 30 holiday seasons.

The winner of the ALA Coretta Scott King - Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement has written more than 100 children's books. Her latest, about the pandemic, is called Garvey in the Dark.

Rax King, Elin Hilderbrand, and Steph Cha divulge their favorite reads and how they've impacted their own creative process.

When Beyond Magenta hit shelves in 2014, little had been written or said publicly about transgender and nonbinary teens. The book received positive reviews. By 2015, it was being challenged.

Susan Kuklin published the award-winning Beyond Magenta in 2014. The collection of images and interviews with transgender and nonbinary teens and young adults centers their experiences and identities.