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Author Interviews NPR interviews with top authors and the NPR Book Tour, a weekly feature and podcast where leading authors read and discuss their writing. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Author Interviews

Book Pays Tribute to the Much Maligned Pigeon

A new book tells the story of the most common urban bird: pigeons. Author Andrew Blechman talks about Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird.

Book Pays Tribute to the Much Maligned Pigeon

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Before Harry, the Most Popular Potter Was Beatrix

Children's author Beatrix Potter is the subject of a new movie starring Renee Zellweger. But the film covers only a small chapter in the life of an accomplished woman, whose obsessions included the reproductive habits of mushrooms as well as the life of Peter Rabbit.

Before Harry, the Most Popular Potter Was Beatrix

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A President's Legacy

Writer Changed His Tune on Ford's Place in History

Robert Siegel talks with journalist Richard Reeves, author of the book A Ford, not a Lincoln: Or Why There are No Leaders in Washington, in which he was critical of Ford's presidency. Reeves says he later reassessed Ford's time in office and offered him an apology. Reeves says Ford was an ordinary man and a good man, and had a lot of common sense.

Writer Changed His Tune on Ford's Place in History

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Author Chris Offutt Reads 'A Good Pine'

Author Chris Offutt will read "A Good Pine," a short story set in his native Kentucky. In it, an old man raising his granddaughter alone is determined to get her a Christmas tree from the woods. But he has a problem — his axe is broken.

Author Chris Offutt Reads 'A Good Pine'

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Race

Covert, Michigan: A History in Black and White

Shortly after the Civil War, blacks and whites came together in Covert, Mich., building a town that defied most of the social conventions of the next 100 years. Historian Anna-Lisa Cox and descendants of the town's pioneers help tell its story.

Covert, Michigan: A History in Black and White

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Clement Moore, Anti-Jefferson Pamphleteer

Before he gave us the modern notion of Santa Claus in his poem A Visit from St. Nicklaus, Clement Moore was a bit of an attack-ad specialist. He wrote an 1804 pamphlet calling President Thomas Jefferson a racist.

Clement Moore, Anti-Jefferson Pamphleteer

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Books

France Honors American Novelist with Book Awards

Two of France's most prestigious book awards have gone to American Jonathan Littell for his first serious novel. Written in French, Les Bienveillantes or The Kindly Ones, is in the form of a memoir by a former SS officer who leads a hidden life in a French town. The novel is a huge hit in France.

France Honors American Novelist with Book Awards

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Children's Literature with Daniel Pinkwater

Books for Kids, for Every Winter Holiday

Children's author Daniel Pinkwater and Scott Simon read The Secret Science Project that ALMOST Ate the School by Judy Sierra and Stephen Gammel. Pinkwater also offers a list of books to give, get or simply read and enjoy this winter.

Books for Kids, for Every Winter Holiday

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Shanghai Builds for the Future

Dream World to Cosmopolis: Authors' Shanghai

Shanghai is changing at breakneck speed. That transformation, along with the hope, fear, greed and nostalgia that it engenders, is the stuff of novels. Three authors talk about the inspiration that China's most exciting city provides them.

Dream World to Cosmopolis: Authors' Shanghai

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