Episodios

  • 'Us, After' and 'A Haunted Girl' tackle mental health
    Aug 23 2024
    Warning: this episode contains mention of suicide and mental illness. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

    Today's episode is about two books that focus on mental health challenges. First, Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with Rachel Zimmerman about Us, After, a memoir that details the grief and growth Zimmerman underwent when she had to pick herself and her children back up after her husband took his own life. Then, Robin speaks with dad daughter duo Ethan and Naomi Sacks about A Haunted Girl, a graphic novel that depicts a young girl's struggles with anxiety and depression through a supernatural lens.

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    22 m
  • Gabino Iglesias' 'House of Bone and Rain' is a tale of vengeance in Puerto Rico
    Aug 22 2024
    Bram Stoker Award-winning author, Gabino Iglesias, knows what it's like for grief and anger to turn deadly. That's what he explores in his new novel, House of Bone and Rain, which follows six close friends who vow to avenge the murder of one of their own mothers as a hurricane approaches. In today's episode, Iglesias, who's a frequent book critic for NPR, speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about what it's like to be part of a brotherhood so deep, you consider each other to be "ride or die" friends – but why maybe there really shouldn't be any need for the latter.

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    8 m
  • 'Drawn Testimony' is a courtroom sketch artist's memoir spanning 40 years
    Aug 21 2024
    Courtroom sketch artist Jane Rosenberg has worked on some of the biggest trials of the last 40 years, drawing the likes of Martha Stewart, Jeffrey Epstein, and most recently, Donald Trump. Her new memoir, Drawn Testimony, examines her unique role in the news cycle, where art and criminal justice collide. In today's episode, Rosenberg speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about how she got into this line of work, why mobsters are fun to draw and which high-profile defendant asked her to add more hair to his portrait.

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    8 m
  • Rufaro Faith Mazarura's 'Let the Games Begin' is a rom-com set in the Olympic village
    Aug 20 2024
    The fictional Olympics at the heart of Rufaro Faith Mazarura's novel, Let the Games Begin, kick off in Athens. And in the middle of one of the most important athletic competitions in the world, star runner Zeke and Olympic organizing committee intern Olivia are thrown together against all odds in what becomes a whirlwind romance. In today's episode, the author speaks with The Indicator's Wailin Wong about why the Olympics are such a good backdrop for a rom-com, why there was a dearth of these stories, and how the International Olympic Committee's copyright rules impacted her writing.

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    13 m
  • 'We Were Illegal' examines Texas history through multiple generations of one family
    Aug 19 2024
    After she worked on a book about refugee resettlement in the U.S., writer Jessica Goudeau says she realized she knew very little about how her own family arrived in Texas. Her new book, We Were Illegal, looks at multiple generations of her family and how their lives reflected a history of racism, slavery and violence in her home state. In today's episode, Goudeau speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about how family secrets and the language we use to talk about our lineage contributes to the mythmaking of America, and why she wanted to put those difficult conversations out in the open.

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    12 m
  • Two books revisit the cultural impacts of Tina Turner, Duke Ellington and more
    Aug 16 2024
    Today's episode highlights two books that revisit the cultural contributions of some pretty big names. First, Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes speaks with Deborah Paredez about American Diva, which reclaims the word 'diva' to celebrate the singularity of women like Serena Williams and Celia Cruz. Then, NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Larry Tye about The Jazzmen, which traces the role that Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie played in the civil rights movement.

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    18 m
  • Sheetal Sheth pens a children's book about Raksha Bandhan in 'Raashi's Rakhis'
    Aug 15 2024
    The Hindu holiday Raksha Bandhan is just around the corner – and in a new children's book called Raashi's Rakhis, actor and activist Sheetal Sheth writes about an empowered little girl, Raashi, who asks some pretty big questions about the gender roles prescribed to one of her favorite celebrations. In today's episode, Sheth speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about how she questioned her own parents as a first-generation Indian American, why she wanted to write from a place of inclusivity, and how she navigates some of the backlash she's gotten for doing so.

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    11 m
  • In 'Bringing Ben Home,' Barbara Bradley Hagerty examines a wrongful conviction
    Aug 14 2024
    In 1987, a Black 22-year-old named Ben Spencer was convicted of murdering a white man in Texas. In 2021, he was cleared of those charges and released from prison. A new book by former NPR reporter Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Bringing Ben Home, dives into what went wrong within the Texas legal system for Spencer to serve so much time in prison for a crime he has always said he did not commit. In today's episode, Bradley Hagerty speaks with NPR's Ailsa Chang about her own investigation into the case and the kind of criminal justice reform she says is necessary to prevent this from happening again.

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    9 m