NPR's Book of the Day

After writing his Pulitzer Prize-winning books The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, author Colson Whitehead needed a change of pace. So for his next novel, Harlem Shuffle, he decided to tackle topics near and dear to his heart: heists and New York real estate. In today's episode, Morning Edition host Noel King talks to Whitehead about his book's protagonist, a furniture retailer named Ray Carney, and what draws him to a double life of crime.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

For people with autism, simply existing in a neurotypical world can be exhausting. Many learn early on to employ certain strategies to fit in with others, a tactic often referred to as masking. Social psychologist Devon Price, author of Unmasking Autism, spoke to Eric Garcia on Life Kit about the freedom that comes from doing the opposite: unmasking. Price says neurodivergent people can find greater self-acceptance by getting in touch with the person they were before they started trying to fit in. Price and Garcia, who both have autism, talk about how unmasking means progress for disability justice.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In 2017, Danica Roem became the first openly transgender woman in office when she was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. In her new memoir, Burn the Page, she writes about the experiences that got her to that moment, the women who inspired her, and the ways in which she reclaimed her own narrative. In an interview on All Things Considered, Roem told Juana Summers that she wrote about things other politicians might try to bury to take control of her own narrative. She says her motto "be vulnerable enough to be visible" has empowered and liberated her in her career.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Who made you the person you are? Today, we bring you two interviews from Black female authors who explore the impact that musicians, writers, and actresses had on their own artistic careers. First, Margo Jefferson, Pulitzer prize culture critic and celebrated memoirist, speaks to Ari Shapiro on All Things Considered about mixing memoir and criticism in her book to show both power and vulnerability. Then, Danyel Smith talks to Juana Summers on It's Been a Minute, about the history of Black women in music and how she hopes to give them the respect they deserve.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

New Yorker magazine cartoonist Liana Fink grew up in a Jewish household; she went to synagogue, attended Hebrew day school, and observed Shabbat. But noticing a drift between her religious practice and her interest in its traditional stories put her on a path to reclaim her faith on her own terms. The result is 'Let There Be Light,' a graphic novel that retells the Book of Genesis starring a woman as God. In an interview on Weekend Edition Sunday, Fink told Scott Simon that reimagining God as a woman through her characteristic humorous style has helped her reconnect with her faith and religion.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

According to Nina Jankowicz, a fellow at the Wilson Center known for her research on online disinformation, women face a disproportionate amount of attacks online. These range from physical insults to threats of violence, and they're forcing women – especially younger ones – to censor themselves out of fear of physical or emotional retribution. In her new book, How to Be a Woman Online, she offers practical advice for those who, lacking institutional help, have to address these matters solely on their own.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Janelle Monáe's Afrofuturistic pop album 'Dirty Computer' was nominated for a Grammy in 2019. Now, Monáe brings the sci-fi world into literature through her latest collection of short stories The Memory Librarian. In an interview with Ayesha Rascoe on Weekend Edition Sunday, Monáe spoke about the nightmare that sparked this idea and how it prompted her to reclaim her full identity as a Black, queer woman. In a radical approach to love and community, Monáe hopes to help people feel free to be themselves, especially those whose stories are often marginalized or erased.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

After more than a dozen novels and collections of short stories, Irish writer ColmTóibín recently published his first book of poetry. His new collection, Vinegar Hill, examines a wide range of subjects: from mortality, religion, and the current political climate, to the power of poetry in life's most important moments. To celebrate Poetry Month, Tóibín read some of his poems to Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday, and said that he wanted to write without the usual adornments of poetry. In a way, he hopes the simplicity of his writing will have more expression and power.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Today is Earth Day, a good occasion as any to reflect on the emergencies the planet currently faces. First, Harriet A. Washington, author of A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind, talks to NPR's Sarah McCammon about the long-term damage environmental issues can have on brain development—particularly for people of color. Next, the author David Wallace-Wells talks to NPR's Rachel Martin about his book The Uninhabitable Earth, which is a lot more hopeful than the title might suggest. He runs through the worst-case scenarios climate change could wreak, and why every effort we make against further global warming matters.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Percival Everett's page-turning new detective novel is at once gruesome and screamingly funny. A racial allegory rooted in southern history, the book features two big-city special detectives with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation who are sent to investigate a small town crime. The murders are hideous in detail, the language is rough, there are racial epithets of all kinds, and somehow the politically incendiary humor is real. Everett talks with NPR's Scott Simon about how — and why — he blended these styles.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy