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Books

Fighting back on book bans
Jackie Lay

Code Switch

Fighting back on book bans

B.A. Parker brings us around the country to see what access to books is looking like for students in Texas, librarians in Idaho and her own high school English teacher in Pennsylvania.

Fighting back on book bans

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Eve
John Russo

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Eve

Eve is an icon in hip-hop, a west Philly rapper whose flow, style and production helped define the genre in the early 2000s. She's released three incredible albums–all of which reached either gold or platinum–and stands out as the first lady of rap collective The Ruff Ryders. Eve covers it all in her new memoir, Who's that Girl?. It's about Eve's journey in hip-hop, acting, motherhood, and mental health. We talk all about it and so much more on Bullseye.

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Anne Lamott has some ideas on getting older in the United States

Anne Lamott reflects on aging. Sam Lamott/Sam Lamott hide caption

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Sam Lamott/Sam Lamott

Perspective

Consider This from NPR

Anne Lamott has some ideas on getting older in the United States

Getting older has been a punchline for as long as anyone can remember. And while there are plenty of jokes to be made about aging, it can also have some negative implications for how we see ourselves and others.

Anne Lamott has some ideas on getting older in the United States

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Hanif Abdurraqib is a 'genius.' His friends aren't impressed

Hanif Abdurraqib on Wild Card with Rachel Martin Megan Barnard/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Megan Barnard/Courtesy of the artist

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

Hanif Abdurraqib is a 'genius.' His friends aren't impressed

Hanif Abdurraqib's writing has earned him a MacArthur "genius" grant. His most recent book, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, landed a spot on Barack Obama's summer reading list. But those accolades don't matter to him as much as being a good friend and neighbor. Abdurraqib talks to Rachel about a youth spent unhoused and incarcerated, and the zen of making mixtapes.

Hanif Abdurraqib is a 'genius.' His friends aren't impressed

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(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on October 10, 2023, shows (L) SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk during his visit at the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, on June 16, 2023 and (R) the new Twitter logo rebranded as X, pictured on a screen in Paris on July 24, 2023.. The EU's digital chief Thierry Breton warned Elon Musk on October 10, 2023, that his platform X, formerly Twitter, is spreading

After buying Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk changed the company's name to X. Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images

Technology

What Musk's Twitter takeover could tell us about a possible government appointment

After buying Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk instituted sweeping changes — including rebranding the social media platform as "X." Authors Kate Conger and Ryan Mac recount the takeover in Character Limit.

What Musk's Twitter takeover could tell us about a possible government appointment

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The StraightForward Foundation helps Russian authors publish abroad. Here are the French and Russian edition covers of a book about the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, by Ilia Barabanov and Denis Korotkov.

The StraightForward Foundation helps Russian authors publish abroad. Here are the French and Russian edition covers of a book about the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, by Ilia Barabanov and Denis Korotkov. Edition Flammarion; Meduza.io hide caption

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Edition Flammarion; Meduza.io

World

In exile, Russian book publishers revive Soviet-era tactics to defy Kremlin censors

In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, writing about the war in Ukraine, the church or LGBTQ+ life could land you in jail. A new organization helps authors publish books in Russian they couldn't back home.

Russian publishers in exile release books the Kremlin would ban

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Crater Lake

Crater Lake Simon and Schuster hide caption

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Simon and Schuster

Review

Book Reviews

Rachel Kushner's new espionage thriller may be her coolest book yet

In Creation Lake, a hard-drinking American spy infiltrates a radical farming collective in a remote region of France. Kushner challenges readers to keep up with her and not to flinch.

Rachel Kushner's new espionage thriller may be her coolest book yet

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This photo shows former British Prime Minister Tony Blair speaking during the Future of Britain Conference on July 9, 2024, in London. He's standing in front of a microphone and has one arm raised. He's wearing a dark blue suit jacket and white shirt.

By the time he left 10 Downing Street in 2007, Tony Blair had gone from being Britain's most popular prime minister when he entered office to a deeply divisive leader a decade later. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images hide caption

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Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Politics

Tony Blair urges leaders to ignore 'waves of populist opinion'

Tony Blair's On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century is the political leadership guide he says he would have wanted in 1997, at the start of his 10-year tenure as British prime minister.

ON LEADERSHIP - TONY BLAIR

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Some babysitters are forever — just ask 'Señora Mimí'
Illustrations copyright © 2024 by Brittany Cicchese/Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA

Picture This

Some babysitters are forever — just ask 'Señora Mimí'

Ana is so excited that her abuela is coming to live with her — until it means saying goodbye to her babysitter. No More Señora Mimí is an ode to caregivers from Meg Medina and Brittany Cicchese.

PICTURE THIS: No More Señora Mimí

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The history of the Bronx with writer Ian Frazier

Ian Frazier's Paradise BRonx Farrar, Straus and Giroux hide caption

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Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

The history of the Bronx with writer Ian Frazier

Ian Frazier, is a writer who, for lack of a better term, does the thing. If there is a place that fascinates him he goes to that place, immerses himself in it, and writes about it. And that's exactly what he did for his new book about the Bronx called Paradise Bronx. He joins us to talk about the history of the New York borough and even tells us how he mapped out the radius in which residents can smell cookies from a local bakery. Plus, he shares what items he brings with him when he goes out to explore a city.

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The cover of the Yup'ik alphabet coloring book.

The cover of the Yup'ik alphabet coloring book. Courtesy of Nikki Corbett hide caption

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Courtesy of Nikki Corbett

Education

These Alaska moms couldn’t find a Yup’ik children’s book. So they made one themselves

Yup’ik is the most spoken Native language in Alaska, but finding Yup’ik books for young children can be almost impossible. These moms created their own – and now they’re fielding nearly 1,000 orders.

Yup'ik mom in Alaska creates her own books to teach her kids the Yup'ik language

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Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn-in during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 21, 2022.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn-in during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 21, 2022. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption

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Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Law

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson shares the poem she's kept in every one of her offices

The first Black woman appointed to the Supreme Court says Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "The Ladder of Saint Augustine," has been a guiding principle. Jackson's new memoir is Lovely One.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson shares the poem she's kept in every one of her offices

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Ketanji Brown Jackson chronicles her path to the Supreme Court

Ketanji Brown Jackson talks with All Things Considered co-host Juana Summers. Zayrha Rodriguez/NPR hide caption

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Zayrha Rodriguez/NPR

Consider This from NPR

Ketanji Brown Jackson chronicles her path to the Supreme Court

When Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson entered the national spotlight, she found praise and also criticism.

Ketanji Brown Jackson chronicles her path to the Supreme Court

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Danzy Senna is the author of Caucasia, Symptomatic and New People. Her latest novel is Colored Television.

Danzy Senna says her first novel, Caucasia, was met with acclaim. "But one of the things I kept hearing from publishers was: Don't do this again. Don't keep writing about mixed-ness. ... it's that idea that you're a predicament. You're not a world." Her latest novel is Colored Television. Dustin Snipes/Penguin Random House hide caption

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Dustin Snipes/Penguin Random House

Author Interviews

'I want to write myself into existence,' says 'Colored Television' author

Danzy Senna was born in 1970, just a few years after Loving v. Virginia legalized interracial marriage. “Just merely existing as a family was a radical statement at that time,” she says.

'I want to write myself into existence,' says 'Colored Television' author

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Algorithms don't just pick playlists. They're changing your life

Algorithms are in everything from your social media use to how many companies curate your playlists. Researcher Joy Buolamwini and writer Kyle Chayka question the extent of their influence and helpfulness. Qi Yang/Getty Images hide caption

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Qi Yang/Getty Images

Short Wave

Algorithms don't just pick playlists. They're changing your life

Humans hallucinate. Algorithms lie.

Algorithms don't just pick playlists. They're changing your life

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