American Icons: ‘Walden’

Jesmyn Ward reflects on Katrina

Meet the teacher who got Kurt Andersen excited about books

Persecuted Chinese writer escapes to the U.S.

How to keep kids safe in a toxic world

William Wells Brown may be the most famous 19th century African American writer you’ve never heard of

A never-published Steinbeck work is set to finally have its day

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

Maya Angelou was a poet and activist, but she got her start as a Calypso star

Maya Angelou was a poet and activist, but she got her start as a Calypso star

A long-time friend recalls the laughter and joy that epitomized Maya Angelou

A long-time friend recalls the laughter and joy that epitomized Maya Angelou

Rewriting the black American family

A novelist finds ‘the Mexican girl’ from Jack Kerouac’s book On the Road

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and Robert Frost took the fork to stardom

Pulitzer-winning author Oscar Hijuelos is remembered fondly by a critic

Salinger left five unseen manuscripts to be published after his death

Renata Adler Is Back in the Spotlight

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men plays critical role in Texas death penalty

Refugees and undocumented immigrants find common ground on soccer pitch

Immigrant author discusses winding road from Caribbean to pages of The New Yorker

Classic book ‘Of Mice and Men’ under scrutiny in Turkey

One Billion Rising aims to end violence against women

Big crowd turns out for protest performance of Vagina Monologues in Michigan

Author Samuel R. Delany on the evolution of sci-fi

Science in fiction and nonfiction

Toni Morrison

Censoring Mark Twain

Climate change and third-world economies

The Democratic Nominee

Interview with Sapphire, the author of ‘Push’

Foreign policy and the presidential campaign

From suburbia to surreal — the lives of writers

Sandra Cisneros looks back

Philip Roth on “Indignation”

American Icons: The House of Mirth

Music Heard on Air for June 17, 2013

Immigration, Race and Hair, Through Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s Eyes

Re-upholstering Sigmund Freud’s Couch and Remembering One Poet Who Made a Dent in it

Pipeline Proselytizing and Eminent Domain

Applying for Jobs? Try Inventing a Job Instead

Finding Common Ground on the Soccer Field

Calls to Censor ‘Of Mice and Men’ in Turkey

American Icons: Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Inaugural Poetry and The Takeaway’s #PrezPoem Challenge

They’re Made Out of Meat

The Language of Landscape

America’s New Chief Poet

Jesmyn Ward: Waiting for Katrina

Jennifer Egan, One Tweet At A Time

‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’ Revisited with Alvin Hall

The Art of American Cartography

Thomas Kinkade and the Democratization of Art

New Pew Survey Examines How Latinos Identify Themselves

Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander on their ‘New American Haggadah’

Reflections on the Life and Legacy of Adrienne Rich

‘The Bonfire of the Vanities,’ 25 Years Later

Jacqueline Woodson: Beneath a Meth Moon

Celebrating Langston Hughes and a Personal Connection

Aha Moment: Jonathan Safran Foer on Joseph Cornell