fiction

Lucky Boy

The novel ‘Lucky Boy’ and a timely story of immigration and motherhood

Shanthi Sekaran’s novel, a Global Nation Book Club pick, delves into privilege, motherhood and immigration, legal and not.

The novel ‘Lucky Boy’ and a timely story of immigration and motherhood

Gary Shteyngart’s Super Funny Scary Future

Gary Shteyngart’s Super Funny Scary Future

Lois Lowry: The End of “The Giver”

Lois Lowry: The End of “The Giver”

Junot Diaz: How a Book Transforms Its Author

Junot Diaz: How a Book Transforms Its Author
Ken Liu

Ken Liu's fiction draws on Chinese radio, Greek myths and American sci-fi

Ken Liu's fiction draws on Chinese radio, Greek myths and American sci-fi

How to Make Your Skeleton Scary, with Jack Handey

Jack Handey offers deep thoughts on how to make your skeleton as scary as possible — all the better to frighten future grave robbers.

How to Make Your Skeleton Scary, with Jack Handey
Author Marlon James

The judges for this book prize came to a unanimous decision in under two hours

Author Marlon James' "A Brief History of Seven Killings" is intricately crafted, with more than 75 characters, and intense. And he's the first Jamaican author to win the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

The judges for this book prize came to a unanimous decision in under two hours

Playlist: Radio Plays

A playlist of fiction produced for radio, from a piece of original writing inspired by the Large Hadron Collider to Miranda July reading one of her own short stories. 

Playlist: Radio Plays

Jonathan Galassi Gets in Touch with His Muse

Jonathan Galassi’s first novel, “Muse,” is about the once-glamorous world of literary publishing. As the publisher of Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, it’s a world Galassi knows well.

Jonathan Galassi Gets in Touch with His Muse
Ari Páll Kristinsson is in charge of language planning at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, the Icelandic government's language research agency.

Will Icelanders one day ditch their language for English?

The holy trinity of Icelandic identity is, according to a popular poem, land, nation and tongue. Remove one, and the others will collapse. So, will the Icelandic nation survive if, as some predict, the Icelandic language dies out?

Will Icelanders one day ditch their language for English?

Aleksandar Hemon: The Accordion

Sarajevo native Aleksandar Hemon reimagines the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, where one of his relatives was standing on the sidelines holding his new accordion.

Aleksandar Hemon: The Accordion
Jennifer Egan

Acclaimed author Jennifer Egan says her books help her lead a 'double life'

Novelist Jennifer Egan thrives on the alternate worlds she can inhabit as a fiction writer. She's also found an alternate way of publishing her work: one tweet — 140 characters — at a time.

Acclaimed author Jennifer Egan says her books help her lead a 'double life'

Alice McDermott Is Not Interested in Irish-Americans

“Friends and strangers come up to me on the street,” Alice McDermott tells Kurt Andersen, “and say, ‘Oh, you’re writing another novel. Is this another one about Irish-Americans where ...

Alice McDermott Is Not Interested in Irish-Americans

American Icons: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin to promote the abolitionist cause. So how did Uncle Tom become the byword for a race traitor — a “shuffling, kowtowing, sniveling coward”...

American Icons: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Special Guest: Paul Theroux

Special Guest: Paul Theroux