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NPR's Michel Martin travels to Chad, which has been inundated with refugees fleeing from neighboring Sudan.

Lowry's father didn't have Alzheimer's but as he began to forget his past, the author says, she began to imagine a book about eliminating painful memories. The Giver has just been adapted into a film.

With his new novel, author Yann Martel joins the genre that anthropologist Barbara J. King calls "chimpanzee fiction" — and through an ape's eyes shows us new possibilities.

"I'm a little bit drawn to what is forbidden," Talese adds, and he draws readers along with him in his latest book, The Voyeur's Motel, based on the journals of an innkeeper who spied on his guests.

Ottessa Moshfegh's bizarrely fascinating new novel follows a young woman in Manhattan who decides to sleep her life away with a combination of pills, waking occasionally for bad bodega coffee.

Nearly 60 people in the Bogle family have been incarcerated. In a new book, journalist Fox Butterfield chronicles the Bogles' history to show how crime runs in families — and disentangle it from race.

For a new word to enter the dictionary, it must meet three criteria: widespread use, sustained use and meaningful use. Merriam-Webster lexicographer Kory Stamper explains the process in Word by Word.

Lawrence P. Jackson's biography tracks the writer's course from prison to published novelist. Critic Maureen Corrigan says Himes' life story is well worth reading.

Law enforcement has been on alert for outbursts of gun violence over the weekend and holiday, but early statistics from big cities suggest the overall murder rate may finally be going down.

Humorist Art Buchwald has died at the age of 81. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and columnist, suffering a debilitating kidney failure, took himself off dialysis last February, left his hospice and survived another 11 months — long enough for a final book.

Securities executive Harry Markopolos says it took him only about five minutes to spot a giant investment fraud that he says federal regulators couldn't detect. Markopolos testified before Congress Wednesday on an alleged pyramid scam operated by Bernard Madoff that cost investors more than $50 billion.

Bernard Madoff has gone from a $7 million penthouse to a tiny jail cell in Manhattan. Madoff pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday, but implicated no one but himself. Investigators continue to pore over records, trying to figure out, among other things, who helped Madoff engineer the $64 billion fraud that may be the largest in U.S. history. Madoff will be sentenced on June 16.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has had a cancerous tumor removed from her pancreas. The 75-year-old justice is expected to remain in the hospital for seven to 10 days. She was treated for colon cancer in 1999.

President Obama and China's President Hu Jintao meet in London Wednesday on the eve of this week's Group of 20 summit. It's Obama's first trip overseas as president. For Hu, it's an opportunity to play a leading role on the world stage. In recent years China and other emerging market countries have become increasingly important players in the global economy.

Rising global food prices are often blamed on China's increasing consumption. But some economists, who note the country's high export rates, say it's not that simple. One factor: More wealth has brought an appetite for more meat.

Tuesday's presidential primaries in Texas and Ohio could seal the nomination for the Republican front-runner, Sen. John McCain. They could make or break Sen. Hillary Clinton's bid to take the Democratic nomination away from Sen. Barack Obama.

Two large mines important for America's green energy transition are being fought in federal court by Native Americans who say the developments would destroy sacred, religious sites.

Mikala Jones, a Hawaii surfer known for shooting awe-inspiring photos and videos from the inside of massive, curling waves, has died after a surfing accident in Indonesia. He was 44.

Before Barack Obama picked Joe Biden as his running mate, there was intense speculation who the vice presidential candidate would be. Eric Holder, co-chair of the committee that selected Biden, says the Delaware senator was always on Obama's list.

President Obama met Monday with the nation's biggest bankers, hoping to jawbone them into providing more small-business loans. Previous administration efforts to boost credit have not yet paid off, and cash-starved business owners are growing impatient.

Centuries later, doubts persist that William Shakespeare penned the works that bear his name. Skeptics include not only scholars but also famous folks, ranging from Orson Welles to Mark Twain.

Now that the Senate has passed the economic bailout plan, the bill has to go back before the House. But the bill carries many more tax cuts that conservative Democrats may have a hard time passing. Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chair of the Democratic caucus, says the momentum is moving from "no" to "yes."

The House is expected to vote again on the $700 billion bailout bill by Friday. House Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri, who is representing House Republicans in the negotiation, says three things have happened that could now sway GOP lawmakers who earlier rejected the measure.

Encouraged by their doctors, many people in recent years have taken tests to find out if they're at risk of disease. Now they worry the Republican health bills could make them vulnerable.

Federal and state laws are designed to protect the privacy of patients' health information. But sometimes leaving parents of adult children out of the loop can complicate the patient's recovery.