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Books

They didn't get the Newbery or Caldecott but these kids' authors won big this year

Novelist Angeline Boulley's first book for teenagers, Firekeeper's Daughter, won multiple awards from the American Library Association this year. Amber Boulley /Macmillan Children's Publishing Group hide caption

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Amber Boulley /Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

They didn't get the Newbery or Caldecott but these kids' authors won big this year

The American Library Association handed out nearly two dozen awards for kids' books this week. We look at some of the winners.

They didn't get the Newbery or Caldecott but these kids' authors won big this year

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'And I say, Hey! HEY!' Aardvark Arthur's wonderful new days are ending
Little Brown & Co.

Arts & Life

'And I say, Hey! HEY!' Aardvark Arthur's wonderful new days are ending

The world-famous aardvark first appeared in print over 45 years ago. The Emmy and Peabody award-winning TV show is about to begin its 25th and final season — and creator Marc Brown has a new book.

'And I say, Hey! HEY!' Aardvark Arthur's wonderful new days are ending

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'Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations' from Wajahat Ali

Wajahat Ali, author of Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American. Damon Dahlen/Huffington Post hide caption

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Damon Dahlen/Huffington Post

It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

'Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations' from Wajahat Ali

Sam chats with author Wajahat Ali about his new book, Go Back To Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on Becoming American. The book points out just how hilarious, untenable, and difficult becoming American can actually be. Throughout the book, Ali uses his own story to offer strategies to make America more welcoming and compassionate.

'Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations' from Wajahat Ali

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Books We Love: Recommendations For Music Fans
Becky Harlan/NPR

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Books We Love: Recommendations For Music Fans

If you're looking to discover a new book, NPR has a marvelous mechanism to help you out: It's called Books We Love, and it's a sortable guide to hundreds of great books from 2021, as handpicked and recommended by the NPR staff. Today we're talking about some of the music-related books we loved in 2021.

Books We Love: Recommendations For Music Fans

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Author Imani Perry explores the South to reveal the soul of America

Author and Princeton Professor Imani Perry. Ecco hide caption

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Ecco

Author Interviews

Author Imani Perry explores the South to reveal the soul of America

Imani Perry discusses what it meant to write a book about her own home, and why the South is so important to comprehend the rest of the nation.

Author Imani Perry explores the South to reveal the soul of America

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Dave Eggers: How Can Kids Learn Human Skills in a Tech-Dominated World?
Andrew Heavens / TED

TED Radio Hour

Dave Eggers: How Can Kids Learn Human Skills in a Tech-Dominated World?

Fiction can serve as a window into multiple realities--to imagine different futures or understand our own past. This hour, author Dave Eggers talks tech, education, and the healing power of writing.

Dave Eggers: How Can Kids Learn Human Skills in a Tech-Dominated World?

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'The Urge' says calling addiction a disease is misleading

Carl Erik Fisher, psychiatrist and author of The Urge: A History of Addiction. Beowulf Sheehan/Beowulf Sheehan hide caption

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Beowulf Sheehan/Beowulf Sheehan

'The Urge' says calling addiction a disease is misleading

A psychiatrist says calling it a disease takes important attention away from racism and other things that are often associated with addiction.

'The Urge' says calling addiction a disease is misleading

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Influential fashion journalist André Leon Talley dies at 73

In 2007, Vogue magazine editor at large André Leon Talley attends a post-Fashion Week panel discussion on the lack of Black images in the current fashion output in New York. Talley, the towering former creative director and editor at large of Vogue magazine, has died. He was 73. Talley's literary agent confirmed Talley's death to USA Today late Tuesday. Mary Altaffer/AP hide caption

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Mary Altaffer/AP

Obituaries

Influential fashion journalist André Leon Talley dies at 73

André Leon Talley, the towering former creative director and editor at large of Vogue magazine, has died. He was a regular in the front row of fashion shows in New York and Europe.

'The Engagement' looks at the complicated history of marriage equality
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

NPR's Book of the Day

'The Engagement' looks at the complicated history of marriage equality

Journalist and author Sasha Issenberg has written a book about the history of marriage equality in America. The Engagement details how messy and complicated this fight was at times. Issenberg told NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben that within the LGBT community, there were, and are, many different policy concerns that didn't always gel. Marriage ended up being a top priority for some but not everyone agreed it should be.

'The Engagement' looks at the complicated history of marriage equality

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'What Is Otherwise Infinite' asks for granular honesty in our search for meaning
Tin House Books

Review

Book Reviews

'What Is Otherwise Infinite' asks for granular honesty in our search for meaning

In her fourth collection, poet Bianca Stone unites vulnerability and humor to tackle the heavy question of what it means to be alive.

'What Is Otherwise Infinite' asks for granular honesty in our search for meaning

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A new look at how turmoil is defining the lives and politics of Generation Z

Young people have been on the front lines of activist movements, including on the issue of climate change. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A new look at how turmoil is defining the lives and politics of Generation Z

In a new book, Fight: How Gen Z is channeling their fear and passion to save America, pollster John Della Volpe explores how America's youngest voters and activists are coming of age.

A new look at how turmoil is defining the lives and politics of Generation Z

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In 'Of Women And Salt,' women weave the future out of scraps
Flatiron Books

NPR's Book of the Day

In 'Of Women And Salt,' women weave the future out of scraps

"We are force." This line is originally from a Victor Hugo letter to Cuban independence fighters, but it's also found throughout Gabriela Garcia's novel, Of Women And Salt. The book, new in paperback, is about generations of Cuban and Salvadoran women navigating patriarchal societies. She told NPR's Sarah McCammon that she was especially inspired by this phrase because she "was thinking about all of the multitudes within women - how they're more than just immigrants or mothers or any of these other labels that are sort of imposed on them."

In 'Of Women And Salt,' women weave the future out of scraps

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Attorney Laura Coates has witnessed the dissolution of voting rights first hand

Laura Coates teaches law at George Washington University Law School and is a senior analyst for CNN. She also hosts The Laura Coates Show, on radio SiriusXM's Urban View. Amanda Ghobadi /Simon & Schuster hide caption

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Amanda Ghobadi /Simon & Schuster

Race

Attorney Laura Coates has witnessed the dissolution of voting rights first hand

Fresh Air

While working for the Department of Justice, Coates says she saw voter rolls being purged and instances where polling places were moved to known Klan locations. Her new memoir is Just Pursuit.

Attorney Laura Coates has witnessed the dissolution of voting rights first hand

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'The Three Mothers' who paved the way for three extraordinary men
Flatiron Books

NPR's Book of the Day

'The Three Mothers' who paved the way for three extraordinary men

This Martin Luther King Jr. day we focus on the woman who raised Dr. King, his mother, Alberta. His mother and those of two of his contemporaries take center stage in Anna Malaika Tubbs' book, The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped A Nation. Tubbs told 1A's Jenn White that history is often told by and about men, but knowing these women's stories - "taking their lives from the margins and putting them in the center" - is just as important. As Tubbs notes, "If they'd never had these famous sons, they still were worthy of being seen."

'The Three Mothers' who paved the way for three extraordinary men

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