Chrysta Bilton's mother was a lesbian who asked a man she'd just met to be her sperm donor. It was only much later that Bilton learned the same man had donated sperm to countless other women.

Hear the towering – and polarizing – author in conversation about his 4,000-page book, The Oxford History of Western Music.

Rafael Agustin's parents were physicians in Ecuador, but when they came to the U.S. they worked at a car wash and Kmart to get by. It wasn't until he was a teen that he learned they were undocumented.

Ada Limón was named as the nation's 24th poet laureate by the Library of Congress. She will take over from Joy Harjo, who has held the position since 2019.

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: Rutherford Falls season two, Magic Mike XXL, and more.

Although Donald Trump remains an eminence throughout, the author's true subject here is Trump's stable of enablers and the transformation they have wrought on their party and themselves.

In her third poetry collection, Zeina Hashem Beck is graceful her defiance of fitting self into a box. She embraces the multitudes – mother, citizen, poet, warrior – and presents herself as one whole.

In her latest poetry collection Girls That Never Die, Safia Elhillo writes about the shame and violence that often comes with being a woman.

The comic artist was discovered off the coast of Nago, Okinawa, Japan, wearing snorkeling gear. First published in 1996, the series he created became a worldwide sensation.

At a time when comics and graphic novels were seldom released by mainstream publishers, Gina Gagliano worked tirelessly to put the genre on the radar. Now she's head of the Boston Book Festival.

Jay Wellons has operated on children's brains and spinal cords. He knows the anguish of losing a patient and the exhilaration of saving a child's life. His memoir is All That Moves Us.

Jean Thompson's novel follows an insecure young woman as she's drawn into a clique of poets. The Poet's House is a story about the corrosive power of shame and the primal fear of sounding stupid.

In a new book, pilot and author of Skyfaring Mark Vanhoenacker takes readers to far-flung cities he once dreamed about during his childhood in western Massachusetts.

In his day, J. Paul Getty was known as "the richest man in America." James Reginato's biography, Growing Up Getty, is an exhaustive account of how the rich are different from most people.

Every year, we ask NPR staff and contributors to tell us about their favorite books. From a list of 167 books so far this year, here are the 14 that the most people chose as their top pick.