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"Art is about being provocative," says the award-winning poet. "Art is also about beauty and if you leave the latter out, the former doesn't matter."

It's been 100 years since the sinking of the RMS Titanic, and the anniversary brings with it a barrage of literature. Former NPR editor Rachel Syme has been keeping track of the new releases and lists her favorites here. Do you have a favorite Titanic book? Let us know in the comments.

Photographer Mary Ellen Mark has taken a kitschy tradition and made it artful.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed described himself as the mastermind of 9/11, but the American public hardly knew who he was. A new book about the confessed terrorist details what led him to declare war on America and how he was finally captured.

Publishers initially passed on Lionel Shriver's satire on terrorism, The New Republic. The manuscript languished in a drawer until now, but can a work written 13 years ago remain relevant today?

Bitter debates about the national debt date back to the earliest days of the Republic, economist Simon Johnson says. Back then, the nation's failure to borrow was the problem. In White House Burning, Johnson and co-author James Kwack explore the meaning of the national debt and prospects for managing it.

James Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of British Sky Broadcasting. News Corp has long sought control of the profitable broadcaster. But the involvement of News Corp executives in the tabloid phone-hacking scandals has called into question the company's fitness to run BSkyB.

After prevailing in a grueling Lego build-off by replicating a Picasso sculpture, 23-year-old Andrew Johnson of Illinois is the newest — and youngest — person to earn the title master model builder. Which means he'll get paid to build things with Legos.

Julie Zetlin is the United States' top-ranked rhythmic gymnast; she has already qualified to compete in London. And while she wants a medal from the Summer Olympics, she also wants Americans to take her sport seriously.

The romantic comedy Shanghai Calling tells a fish-out-of-water story about a New York attorney on assignment in China. Frank Langfitt went to the Shanghai premiere and spoke with Chinese-American director Daniel Hsia about the film and the growing number of American professionals in China.