NPR Books

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with author Dolen Perkins-Valdez about her novel "Happy Land." The book is inspired by the true story of a secret community of formerly enslaved people in the Appalachians.

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with author Jennifer Weiner about why writing books centering plus-size women has always been an important part of her career.

When we worry about the declining rates of literacy and a lack of reading skills, it's often about children. But how often are adults reading these days? And what are we reading? A new NPR/Ipsos poll finds out.

Organized pressure groups, not individual parents, are leading the fight to remove books from shelves, according to a new report from the American Library Association.

Two teenage boys struggle with their friendship and their futures in the new novel-in-verse "When We Ride." NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with author Rex Ogle about it.

The children's book author best known for her Oliver and Amanda Pig series has died at 87. Van Leeuwen wrote nearly 60 books, some of which sold millions of copies.

NPR's Scott Simon talks to Lucy Caldwell about her novel, "These Days." It's set during the days - and nights - of the Belfast Blitz, when Germany bombed the Irish city during WWII.

NPR's Scott Simon asks New Yorker contributor John Kenney about his comic new novel "I See You've Called in Dead." It's centered on a newswire obituary writer.

NPR speaks with writer Kiese Laymon about his new children's book "City Summer, Country Summer," in which three Black boys form a deep connection during one transformative summer in the South.

A famed graphic novelist returns! A Southern-gothic crime-thriller inspired by The Godfather! An extremely in depth biography of Mark Twain! And more!