John Vercher trained in mixed martial arts as a young man. His novel, After the Lights Go Out, centers on a veteran MMA fighter who struggles to remember everyday things.
Ottessa Moshfegh's Lapvona follows the life of Marek, a 13-year-old peasant boy who lives in a cruel world of sadism and stink, cannibalism and self-flagellation.
T.J. Newman began writing the hijack thriller Falling while she was a flight attendant. She'd jot down ideas on paper napkins in the quiet moments on red-eye flights. Originally broadcast July 2021.
In her book, author Angela Garbes makes the case that the work of raising children has always been undervalued and undercompensated in the U.S. Then came the pandemic, and everything got harder.
In his new book, An Immense World, science writer Ed Yong explores the diversity of perception in the animal world — including echolocation, magnetic fields and ultraviolet vision.
Juneteenth celebrates the day slavery ended in Texas, June 19, 1865. Historian Annette Gordon-Reed studies the early American republic and the legacy of slavery. Originally broadcast May 25, 2021.
Emma Thompson stars as an older woman who hires a younger sex worker in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. Dakota Johnson is a single mother who's wooed by a recent college grad in Cha Cha Real Smooth.
Washington Post tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler says a 1998 law prohibits tech companies from collecting data on kids — but only if the companies know the age of their users.
In David Santos Donaldson's debut novel, a young gay Black man gets some supernatural relationship advice from the Black lover of a famous white British writer, both of them long dead.
Linda Villarosa says bias in the health care system and the "weathering" affect of living in a racist society are taking a serious toll on African Americans. Her new book is Under the Skin.
Tur's parents ran a helicopter news service in LA in the '80s and '90s. While she loved the rush of flight, her family dynamic was a volatile one. Her memoir is Rough Draft.
Tur's parents ran a helicopter news service in LA in the '80s and '90s. While she loved the rush of flight, her family dynamic was a volatile one. Her memoir is Rough Draft.
The Sound of Music star will soon be honored with the AFI's Life Achievement Award. In 2008 and 2019, she spoke to Fresh Air about growing up during WWII and performing in her parents' vaudeville.
Lindsey Fitzharris' new book tells the true story of Harold Gillies, a British surgeon whose team worked to reconstruct the faces of some of the 280,000 men who suffered facial trauma during WWI.
Kingston burst onto the scene in 1976 with The Woman Warrior and then kept writing. Critic John Powers says that, like James Baldwin, she's managed to shift American culture and remain relevant.
