Search results for

The anthology of African-American nature poetry features work by contemporary writers, and writers like 18th century poet Phillis Wheatley. Camille T. Dungy, the editor of the collection, says the poems offer a different view of the natural world.

The actor, who proudly calls himself a graduate of the "University of the Universal," has written a small book aimed at graduates. In A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future, Fox shares some lessons from his own life.

From the soaring voice of a young soprano on the rise to the turbulent sounds of the Berlin Philharmonic in full cry, NPR Music's Tom Huizenga and Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz spin new classical recordings from young musicians and composers.

If you've ever hummed "Camptown Races" or "Oh! Susanna," then you're familiar with 19th century songwriter Stephen Foster. But the lyrics in Foster's songs often contained condescending racial ideas. Music historian Ken Emerson, the author of a Foster biography, has annotated many of the songwriter's lyrics in a new book, Stephen Foster & Co.

A toxic asset like one purchased by NPR's Planet Money is the subject of a lawsuit. A New Jersey carpenters union invested $100,000 in a mortgage-backed bond now worth $5,000. It wants payback.

The former poet laureate reflects on his brother's passing in the new poem "August Notebook: A Death." The elegy is included in Hass' new collection, The Apple Trees at Olema, which includes material from his first five works — as well as new poems on the art of storytelling and personal relations in a violent world.

Ideas that writer Jeff Goodell used to regard as bad science fiction — like launching particles into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight — are now being taken seriously because of global warming concerns. Goodell examines the science behind tinkering with the Earth's climate in his new book, How to Cool the Planet.

Librarian Nancy Pearl shares the work of a few of her best-loved poets. They include a former nun who wrote about Marilyn Monroe, a man who was left paralyzed after a bicycle accident, and writers who — despite the sometimes rigid requirements of their chosen form — find surprising, inventive ways to use words.

Author Yoko Ogawa's Hotel Iris, published in Japanese in 1996, is the latest of her books to be translated into English. Critic Maureen Corrigan says the story, about a 17-year-old girl who begins an intense, sometimes violent affair with a tenant of her mother's rundown hotel, is decadent and profoundly sad.

In middle age, most of us get forgetful and easily distracted. But new research finds that our minds improve in some ways as we age: We're better at seeing the big picture and comprehending complexity. Writer Barbara Strauch details how the middle-aged brain grows and changes in The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain.