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Sigrid Nunez, Elizabeth Acevedo Among 2018 National Book Award Winners

November 14, 2018 • Nunez and Acevedo won for fiction and young people's literature, respectively. The prestigious literary prize also honored Jeffrey C. Stewart, Justin Phillip Reed, Yoko Tawada and Margaret Mitsutani.

Stan Lee, American comic book writer, editor, publisher and former President of Marvel Comics, attends the premiere of Doctor Strange in 2016. Lee died Monday at the age of 95. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images hide caption

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Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

A True Believer Remembers Stan Lee

November 12, 2018 • Stan Lee — born Stanley Martin Lieber — co-created many beloved Marvel Comics characters, but he became the company's tireless, beloved figurehead. NPR's Glen Weldon offers a remembrance.

A True Believer Remembers Stan Lee

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Comic book legend Stan Lee poses at the opening reception for "Stan Lee: A Retrospective" presented by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art on Feb. 23, 2007 in New York City. Mat Szwajkos/Getty Images hide caption

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Mat Szwajkos/Getty Images

Obituaries

A Marvel Of A Man: Stan Lee Dead At 95

November 12, 2018 • Lee gave us over six decades' worth of superheroes we could identify with, characters like Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk, who reacted to superpowered crises in believably flawed, human ways.

A Marvel Of A Man: Stan Lee Dead At 95

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EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Obama Reads From Her Forthcoming Memoir 'Becoming'

NPR host Audie Cornish interviews former first lady Michelle Obama about her memoir Becoming in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 2. Chuck Kennedy for NPR hide caption

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Chuck Kennedy for NPR

Books

EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Obama Reads From Her Forthcoming Memoir 'Becoming'

November 12, 2018 • In two audio clips from her memoir, set to hit shelves Tuesday, the former first lady reads about her life at Princeton and about her difficulties having a baby.

Michelle Obama on Princeton

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Review

Book Reviews

For November, 3 Perfect Sweater-Weather Romances

November 11, 2018 • Leaves are turning, the wind has a snap to it — it's finally fall, and we've got some great romance novels for you to cozy up with as the days get shorter and darker.

The Rise Of The Well-Read Black Girl Book Club

Glory Edim, the founder of the Well-Read Black Girl book club and community, has edited a new collection of essays by black woman authors. Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Instagram hide caption

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Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Instagram

The Rise Of The Well-Read Black Girl Book Club

November 10, 2018 • Glory Edim loves to read and talk about what she is reading. So she started a fellowship that became a literary festival, a collection of essays and a national phenomenon.

The Rise Of The Well-Read Black Girl Book Club

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Author Haruki Murakami Will Donate A Record Collection 'Beyond The Bounds Of Sanity'

Haruki Murakami, appearing at Waseda University in Tokyo on Nov. 4, 2018. The author was there to announce that he will donate his archives to the school, his alma mater. Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images

Music News

Author Haruki Murakami Will Donate A Record Collection 'Beyond The Bounds Of Sanity'

November 8, 2018 • Music is as intrinsic to the soul and spirit of Murakami's books as it is to the author's own.

Inside The Ever-Expanding Wizarding World: Harry Potter At 20

In the jacket art for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry faces off against Voldemort. It's among the items on display in a new exhibit at the New-York Historical Society. Mary GrandPré/Courtesy of Warner Bros. Corporate Archive hide caption

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Mary GrandPré/Courtesy of Warner Bros. Corporate Archive

Inside The Ever-Expanding Wizarding World: Harry Potter At 20

October 28, 2018 • It's hard to remember a world before Harry Potter. But it's been 20 years since readers in the U.S. were first introduced to the boy wizard, whose story has captivated audiences since.

Inside The Ever-Expanding Wizarding World: Harry Potter At 20

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Here Are The Winners Of The 2018 Kirkus Prizes

The 2018 Kirkus Prize winners (from left to right): Severance, by Ling Ma; Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, by Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James; Call Them by Their True Names, by Rebecca Solnit. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Agate Bolden; Haymarket Books hide caption

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Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Agate Bolden; Haymarket Books

Here Are The Winners Of The 2018 Kirkus Prizes

October 25, 2018 • Ling Ma's debut, Severance, won for fiction. Crown earned Derrick Barnes and Gordon James the young readers' prize. And Rebecca Solnit's essays, Call Them by Their True Names, won nonfiction laurels.

Review

Book Reviews

'Ruth Bader Ginsburg' Reminds Us Why The Justice Is A True Legal Icon

October 18, 2018 • Jane Sherron De Hart's biography sheds light on personal and professional challenges Ginsburg faced on the way to the top and puts the Supreme Court justice's life in context.

Review

Book Reviews

'Brief Answers To The Big Questions' Is Stephen Hawking's Parting Gift To Humanity

October 16, 2018 • The physicist's posthumous book highlights his belief in the rationality of nature and in our ability to uncover its secrets — and a faith in science's ability to solve humanity's biggest problems.

Review

Book Reviews

'Frederick Douglass' Is An Extended Meditation On The Legend's Self-Invention

October 16, 2018 • David W. Blight's opus manages to be both a celebration of a remarkable life and a sober reminder of the many ways in which our terrible times are shaped by those Douglass lived through.

Review

Book Reviews

In 'Them,' Sen. Sasse Aims To Find Ways To Move America Beyond Divisive Politics

October 15, 2018 • Them doesn't read like a campaign book — there's no humble-bragging about accomplishments. Sasse instead focuses on building relationships, but doesn't go deep enough or propose tangible solutions.

Three Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historians Aim To Put American Politics In Context

Matthew T. Carroll/Getty Images

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Book Reviews

Three Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historians Aim To Put American Politics In Context

October 11, 2018 • In new books, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Joseph J. Ellis — also Jon Meacham, whose tome hit shelves in May — aim to contextualize or contrast the Trump era with the leadership of previous presidents.

'Florida,' 'Heartland' Among National Book Awards Finalists

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Books

'Florida,' 'Heartland' Among National Book Awards Finalists

October 10, 2018 • "This year, instead of just celebrating the best American literature, we're celebrating the best literature in America," said Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation.

Review

Book Reviews

'The Reckonings' Examines What It Means To Have Justice

October 10, 2018 • Writing about topics as diverse as race, sexual assault, Hurricane Harvey, and art history, Lacy M. Johnson's essays are together a philosophy in disguise — equal parts memoir, criticism, and ethics.

Review

Book Reviews

'Presidents Of War' Sounds The Alarm About Presidential Power

October 9, 2018 • In his new book, Michael Beschloss focuses on the lead up to war. But a more pressing danger and indictment of presidential power may be the interventions not authorized by Congress.

Review

Book Reviews

'Belonging' Explores The Notion Of Homeland And Inherited Guilt

October 6, 2018 • In its searching honesty and multi-layered, visual and verbal storytelling, Nora Krug's memoir investigates mixed feelings about being German and her family's role in the Holocaust.

Here Are The Winners Of The 2018 MacArthur 'Genius' Grants

The 2018 recipients of the MacArthur "genius" grant. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation hide caption

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John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Arts & Life

Here Are The Winners Of The 2018 MacArthur 'Genius' Grants

October 4, 2018 • From engineering to economics, from painting to planetary science, the range of this year's class is vast. But the MacArthur Foundation expects them all to do big things with their newfound $625,000.

Review

Book Reviews

'All You Can Ever Know' Offers A Personal Account Of Transracial Adoption

October 4, 2018 • Nicole Chung's memoir is never myopic and, ultimately, it's universal: a story about families, learning to grapple with our own identities, and figuring out where we belong.

A young punk's Stasi arrest photo. SUBstitut Archiv hide caption

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SUBstitut Archiv

Music Features

Punks, Up Against The Wall

September 29, 2018 • The new book Burning Down the Haus fastidiously traces the self-discovery of punks in the socialist dictatorship of East Germany, and the violence and repression they endured on the way to freedom.

Review

Book Reviews

In 'Hiking With Nietzsche,' Challenges Are Seen Through The Philosopher's Teachings

September 26, 2018 • John Kaag extracts ideas from Nietzsche and his followers — but also from his own experience — in this stimulating book about combating despair and complacency with searching reflection.

After 'Forty Years Of Pointed Ears,' 'ElfQuest' Ends Its Legendary Run

September 26, 2018 • ElfQuest is a comics industry institution — this saga of, yes, elves on a quest has been running since 1978. But now, creators Wendy and Richard Pini have brought the quest to an end.

After 'Forty Years Of Pointed Ears,' 'ElfQuest' Ends Its Legendary Run

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From 'Everything Under' To 'Overstory': The 2018 Man Booker Prize Shortlist

The books on the shortlist for the 2018 Man Booker Prize, from top to bottom: The Long Take, by Robin Robertson; Milkman, by Anna Burns; Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan; Everything Under, by Daisy Johnson; The Mars Room, by Rachel Kushner; and The Overstory, by Richard Powers. Jack Taylor/Getty Images hide caption

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From 'Everything Under' To 'Overstory': The 2018 Man Booker Prize Shortlist

September 20, 2018 • Just half a dozen authors remain in contention for the prestigious fiction award: Anna Burns, Esi Edugyan, Daisy Johnson, Rachel Kushner, Richard Powers and Robin Robertson.