Search results for

Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho is a household name in most parts of the world. His new novel, Eleven Minutes, was a global best seller last year -- everywhere but the United States. Now Coelho is setting his sights on the American literary market, which remains stubbornly indifferent to foreign best sellers. NPR's Martin Kaste reports.

Alan Cheuse reviews All That is Gone by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, translated by Willem Samuels, a collection of short fiction dramatizing aspects of 20th century Indonesia that only remain in memory. Published by Hyperion, February 2004.

June Lockhart was a TV staple in the 1950s and '60s, playing Timmy's mom on Lassie and Maureen Robinson on Lost in Space. The actress, who recently helped open a lunchbox exhibit at the Smithsonian, takes a fun look back at those shows — and describes more recent interests: NASA and C-SPAN.

Adrienne Young is a Nashville musician who makes old-fashioned songs sound new. From sparse banjo to traditional country-band backing, her brand of folk music is winning fans across generations. NPR's Melissa Block talks with Young about her debut album, Plow to the End of the Row.

NPR's Cheryl Corley speaks with Alexandra Patsavas, music supervisor of the television show The O.C.. The program has become a showcase for new music that's fallen under the mainstream radar.

New Orleans, where roughly one-third of residents can barely read, has become the latest of several U.S. cities to use the book A Lesson Before Dying in a campaign to fight illiteracy and promote reading. Set in 1948, the novel addresses literacy, poverty and race relations in the segregated South. NPR's Bob Edwards speaks with author Ernest Gaines.

Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory dies at age 85 after a long illness. McGrory won a Pulitzer Prize for her commentary during the Watergate scandal. Hear NPR's Bob Edwrds and Post columnist David Broder.

An exhibit in San Francisco celebrates all things Art Deco, including furniture, fashion, jewelry, architecture and industrial design from the early 20th century. NPR's Susan Stamberg reports. See photos from the show.

It's been seven years since detective Jane Tennison last applied her world-weary determination to solving a case on Masterpiece Theatre's Prime Suspect. But on April 18, acclaimed British actress Helen Mirren revives Tennison's character, returning to PBS in Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness. Mirren speaks with NPR's Lynn Neary.

Each year since 1992, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression in Charlottesville, Va., has presented its Jefferson Muzzles award to people and organizations who have stood in the way of free speech. NPR's Bob Edwards speaks with center director Robert O'Neil about "winners" of the 2004 award, being announced today.

Singer Hayley Westenra is fresh from success on the international classical charts, and hoping to win new fans in the U.S. NPR Senior Correspondent Juan Williams talks with the 17-year-old New Zealand soprano about her voice and her new album, Pure.

Jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall's latest CD is called The Girl In The Other Room. The release is a departure from her past work, bypassing interpretations of jazz standards in favor of songs written by Krall and her husband, Elvis Costello. Tom Moon has a review of the album, released March 27 by Verve records.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum's new exhibit, "Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race," takes a chilling look at the Nazi use of eugenics and its applications. The term "eugenics" comes from the Greek word meaning "well-born." In the 20th century, it came to mean something far more sinister: a scientific movement to create a more perfect race. NPR's Christopher Joyce reports.

The new film The Girl Next Door appears to be a typical teen comedy with an adult twist: what happens when a stunning former porn star moves in next door to a lucky high school senior. Some critics find its attempt to make the world of pornography seem mainstream disturbing. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with writer Gilbert Sorrentino about Hubert Selby, Jr., author of Last Exit to Brooklyn, who died Monday. Sorrentino grew up with Selby, says he made literature out of a kind of language that few writers dared use before. He was not the rough hewn person characterized in his prose. His inspiration was growing up on the streets.

Coffee and Cigarettes, from iconoclast director Jim Jarmusch, is the culmination of years of filming vignettes centering on coffee shops. The movie features a variety of performers, from Tom Waits to Iggy Pop and Steven Wright. NPR's Bob Mondello has a review.

A new movie is selling out theaters in Iran but angering some of the country's religious leaders. Government censors delayed the release of The Lizard, and some leading clerics want it banned altogether. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and journalist Roxana Saberi.

Composer Stephen Schwartz has provided the music and lyrics for Broadway hits from Godspell to his latest, Wicked. He discusses the patchwork of artistic influences, from Beethoven to Sting, that have influenced his popular, emotionally powerful style. NPR's Neva Grant reports.

In the latest episode of the series "What Are You Listening To?" California teenager Lexi Sanborn helps us travel to distant lands, picking eclectic music from Japan and Germany.

Country legend Loretta Lynn joins forces with rocker Jack White for a soulful new CD, Van Lear Rose. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and Lynn.

The latest romance in Hollywood is between filmmakers and Los Angeles public schools. Location scouts say school campuses are among their favorite settings for movies, TV shows, music videos and commercials. And schools strapped for cash are grateful for their lucrative cameos. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports.

The body of actor and writer Spalding Gray was pulled out of New York's East River Sunday, two months after he was first reported missing. He was 62. Best known for a 1987 movie based on his monologue Swimming to Cambodia, Gray inspired a whole generation of performers with his groundbreaking confessional, humorous and disarming storytelling. NPR's Bob Edwards has a remembrance.

The new documentary Mayor of the Sunset Strip looks at the life of Los Angeles disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer, who helped introduce such artists as David Bowie, the Sex Pistols and Nirvana. Director George Hickenlooper considers his subject the personification of America's obsession with fame. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

Author Ben Macintyre's book tells the true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker who 150 years ago became the first American to visit Afghanistan.

The Motion Picture Association of America is considering whether to sue individuals who illegally download movies online, much the way the music industry went after those who pilfer music. Faster technology allows for faster downloads of large computer files such as movies. NPR's Kim Masters reports.