Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror is a collection of scary stories curated by horror filmmaker Jordan Peele. In today's episode, Peele speaks with NPR's Brittany Luse about the Black horror stories in this collection and the unique motif of eyes in this genre, including in his own 2017 film Get Out.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

As this year's United Nations Climate Summit wraps up, today's episode examines what people often get wrong about climate change. David Wallace-Wells' 2019 book The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming outlines three major misunderstandings: the speed, scope, and severity of climate change. Here, Wallace-Wells speaks with NPR's Rachel Martin back in 2019 about the worst-case scenario for human life in 2050 and the optimistic outcome we could expect if we take immediate action.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, two teenagers form a tight bond at their Quaker high school in Manhattan. That's the premise for Idlewild, the debut novel by James Frankie Thomas. But while the girls share an intense common interest in gay culture and fan fiction, their friendship blows up in unexpected ways — something they must reckon with years later. In today's episode, Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes speaks with Thomas about his take on the prep school novel and discovering some giant truths about himself while trying to understand the lives of his characters.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Today's episode finds two renowned authors who found solace in writing characters navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. First, NPR's Leila Fadel spoke with Sigrid Nunez about The Vulnerables, which follows a woman, a parrot, and a Gen Z college student unexpectedly taking care of another during lockdown in New York. Then, Michael Cunningham tells NPR's Scott Simon about Day, which chronicles three days — spread out over three years — in the life of a Brooklyn family, and how isolation and companionship changes them over that time.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista traces the aftermath of the Philippines' war on drugs. After Rodrigo Duterte was elected in 2016, thousands of people were killed in extrajudicial killings. In today's episode, NPR's Juana Summers listens to journalist Evangelista reflect on her country's news coverage during this time and the importance of language in honoring humanity.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

TV writer and producer, Norman Lear, died this week. He was 101 years old. In today's episode, we revisit Lear's 2014 interview with NPR's Arun Rath about his memoir, Even This I Get to Experience. From Lear's upbringing with a father incarcerated for white collar crime to his struggle to get All In the Family on air, the two discussed some of the biggest challenges Lear overcame on the path to becoming a television visionary.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The New Naturals follows a couple's journey from grieving their infant daughter to an underground utopia. In today's episode, literature professor Gabriel Bump tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe how his own personal loss led to the emotional stream of consciousness and acceptance of societal change in the novel.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

When former Wyoming representative Liz Cheney criticized Donald Trump's presidency, she says she didn't know the Republican party would turn on her. But after losing her leadership role in the party and her bid for reelection, Cheney had to reassess. Her new book, Oath and Honor, opens up about the House investigation into the January 6 attack, and her colleagues' ambivalence on impeaching Trump. In today's episode, Cheney tells NPR's Leila Fadel why she thinks it's important to talk about Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election, and how it can still pose a threat to democracy in 2024.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Today's episode is a true story that takes place in Jerusalem. In 2012, a bus collided with a semi trailer. Six Palestinian kindergarteners and a teacher burned to death. Abed Salama,, who is the father of one of the children, has to navigate physical and bureaucratic barriers as he searches for his son. In A Day In The Life of Abed Salama, author Nathan Thrall revisits the journey and the vivid people, both Palestinian and Jewish, Salama encountered. Thrall and Salama speak with NPR's Leila Fadel about the emotional odyssey and the book's new reception after the Hamas attack on Israel in October.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Donal Ryan's novel, The Queen of Dirt Island, centers its women characters. He tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly that making the men peripheral wasn't his goal – "it just kind of happened." In today's episode, he explains how a childhood spent listening to his grandmother, sister and neighbors in his mom's kitchen inspired the voices in the book, and why he wrote with a strict word count in mind for each chapter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy