Author Interviews NPR interviews with top authors and the NPR Book Tour, a weekly feature and podcast where leading authors read and discuss their writing. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Author Interviews

"When I first started being in Bikini Kill, I thought of myself as a feminist performance artist who was in a punk band," Kathleen Hanna says. Rachel Bright/Ecco hide caption

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Rachel Bright/Ecco

Kathleen Hanna on life as a 'Rebel Girl,' and the joy of expressing anger in public

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Author Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses 'The Sympathizer' and his escape from Vietnam

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Author Daniel A. Olivas poses next to the cover of his recent book, Chicano Frankenstein Author headshot via publisher hide caption

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Author headshot via publisher

In 'Chicano Frankenstein,' the undead are the new underpaid labor force

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Brittney Griner warms up before a game against the New York Liberty at Barclays Center on July 05, 2023. Dustin Satloff/Getty Images hide caption

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Dustin Satloff/Getty Images

Brittney Griner shares her experience behind bars in Russia

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Griner competes for Team USA on Aug. 8, 2021, during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Griner won gold medals in both Tokyo and in Rio de Janeiro. Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images

Brittney Griner reflects on 'Coming Home' after nearly 300 days in a Russian prison

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"The primary way plants communicate with each other is through a language, so to speak, of chemical gasses," journalist Zoë Schlanger says. Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images

Plants can communicate and respond to touch. Does that mean they're intelligent?

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Brittney Griner on the court in September 2023. Ethan Miller/Getty Images hide caption

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Ethan Miller/Getty Images

'I did not feel like a human': Brittney Griner tells NPR about detention in Russia

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In 'The Unexpected,' Emily Oster tackles the emotional toll of difficult pregnancies

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Author Ava Chin poses next to the cover of her recent book, Mott Street: A Chinese American Family's Story of Exclusion and Homecoming Author headshot via Tommy Kha hide caption

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Author headshot via Tommy Kha

English actress Judi Dench at a dress rehearsal of 'Hamlet', making her London debut as Ophelia in 1957. Bob Haswell/Getty Images hide caption

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Bob Haswell/Getty Images

Judi Dench reflects on a career built around Shakespeare

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Left: An Ebony Fashion Fair Model. Right: A hand holds up a copy of Ebony magazine in front of a Chicago skyline. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)/ (Photo By Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images) hide caption

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(Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)/ (Photo By Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Novelist John Green says OCD is like an 'invasive weed' inside his mind

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Simon Schuster

Barbara Walters forged a path for women in journalism, but not without paying a price

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Keary Hines, Prairie View, Texas. Ivan McClellan hide caption

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Ivan McClellan

A photographer documented Black cowboys across the U.S. for a new book

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A sample of pages from chapter 9 of the book, which profiles poet and essayist Louise Glück. Penguin Press hide caption

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Penguin Press

In a collection of 40+ interviews, author Adam Moss tries to find the key to creation

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After decades creating and publishing recipes, cookbook author Joan Nathan has released what she said is likely her final book, a cookbook and memoir called "My Life in Recipes." Michael Zamora/NPR hide caption

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Michael Zamora/NPR

After years of documenting Jewish food traditions, Joan Nathan focuses on her family's

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A voter leaves a voting booth in Concord, N.H., the during primary election on Jan. 23, 2024. Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

How the Founding Fathers' concept of 'Minority Rule' is alive and well today

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Amy Tan, author of The Backyard Bird Chronicles. Kim Newmoney/Penguin Randomhouse hide caption

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Kim Newmoney/Penguin Randomhouse

Amy Tan's bird obsession led to a new book — and keeping mealworms in her fridge

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Crown Books for Young Readers

George Takei 'Lost Freedom' some 80 years ago – now he's written that story for kids

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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Salman Rushdie (April 8, 2024). Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

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Nickolai Hammar/NPR