Literature

Here’s a dozen books from 2023 you should read, critics say

By Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport, Alison Thoet

As the year comes to a close, we’re sitting down with book critics to discuss some of the best books released in 2023. NPR’s Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan and New York Times books editor Gilbert Cruz share their…

WATCH: Norwegian writer Jon Fosse awarded 2023 Nobel Prize in literature

By David Keyton, Mike Corder, Associated Press

One of his country’s most-performed dramatists, Fosse, 64, has written some 40 plays as well as novels, short stories, children’s books, poetry and essays.

8 books to read this summer

By Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport, Alison Thoet

A roundup of favorite books to read this summer from NPR book critic Maureen Corrigan and New York Times books editor Gilbert Cruz.

Acclaimed novelist Cormac McCarthy dies at 89

By Associated Press

McCarthy, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who in prose both dense and brittle took readers from the southern Appalachians to the desert Southwest in such novels as “The Road,” “Blood Meridian” and “All the Pretty Horses,” died Tuesday.

GOP lawmakers pass new standards to ban books from Texas schools

By Associated Press

Critics say the standards set in the Texas bill are too vague, will snag books that are not inappropriate, and that materials dealing with LGBTQ+ subject matter are more likely to be targeted for bans.

Nobel-winning writer Kenzaburo Oe dead at 88

By Mary Yamaguchi, Associated Press

The Swedish Academy cited the author in 1994 for his works of fiction, in which “poetic force creates an imagined world where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today.”…

12 books to read from 2022

By Jeffrey Brown, Alison Thoet, Anne Azzi Davenport

Maureen Corrigan, book critic for NPR's Fresh Air, and New York Times books editor Gilbert Cruz share some of their favorite books of the year.

Financial sanctions for organization that targeted author Salman Rushdie

By Fatima Hussein, Associated Press

The U.S. is imposing financial penalties on an Iranian-based organization that put a bounty on the head of British-American author Salman Rushdie, who was violently attacked in August at a literary event.

WATCH: Annie Ernaux, French author of deeply personal works, wins Nobel Prize in literature

Ernaux has mined her own biography to explore life in France since the 1940s, illuminating murky corners of memory, family and society.

Coalition of librarians, teachers and publishers forms to fight book bans

By Associated Press

The American Library Association, the American Federation of Teachers and more than a dozen other organizations have formed a coalition to fight the nationwide wave of book bans and challenges.