The Bookshelf

The presumption of innocence is a cornerstone of our judicial system. You are innocent until proven guilty. But in Concord native Meredith Tate's new novel for young adults, accused criminals have the presumption of guilt. At a time when our nation is gripped by conversations about due process and the court of public opinion, a young adult novel about what it means to be accused of and punished for a crime feels particularly relevant. The novel is called The Freedom Trials . NHPR's Peter Biello

Speculative fiction is all about the world that could be. It takes cues from science fiction and fantasy. From H.G. Wells to Margaret Atwood, authors have been following the trajectory of technology and cultural trends, turning their fictions into predictions and in some cases warnings. On Monday, Dartmouth College is hosting the first Neukom Literary Arts Awards ceremony , which celebrates new works of so-called ‘spec-fic.’ Dan Rockmore is director of the Neukom Institute for Computational

Concord-resident Virginia MacGregor's latest novel, Before I Was Yours, is the story of a young Kenyan boy, Jonah, who is brought to England under mysterious circumstances by a friend of his mother's. He's abandoned at the airport and, after a stint in foster care, starts living with two would-be adoptive parents who are desperate for a child. But Jonah, as polite and well-behaved as he is, comes with his own set of complications, prompting the adoptive parents to question their ability to be

On a recent morning, in the hazy heat, poet Mark DeCarteret opened up Water Street Books in Exeter, where he works, as what he calls "book clerk extraordinare." "Alice who works here has got quite the skill with the sign-making," he says, pointing to a sandwich board on which someone has drawn a bird. "So she came up with that for the book launch." The board advertises DeCarteret's newest collection of poetry, For Lack of a Calling. It's set to launch here on Thursday, September 6th. The sign is

In his first novel, Edinburgh , Dartmouth college professor Alexander Chee wrote about a difficult subject: child sexual abuse. "Part of the reason why I wrote it was because I hadn't seen anything that really dealt with the rage that people feel afterwards, and I wanted to show that in some way," he says. The novel's protagonist was a Korean American boy who, like Chee, was sexually abused. The novel was well-reviewed, but Chee says the most meaningful response to his novel came from a man

Before his death last month, former poet laureate Donald Hall was preparing to publish his final book, a collection of short essays on life as he approached his 90th birthday, a birthday that he knew he would not reach. The book came out just weeks after his death and features Hall's reflections on the challenges of growing older, his encounters with famous poets, his life with his beloved wife, poet Jane Kenyon, and the way in which he spent much of his career, exploring death. His new book is

It has been a hot week in New Hampshire but the heat has not kept poet hope Jordan Hope from her daily walk on a hiking trail in Canterbury between I-93 and the Merrimack River. All Things Considered host Peter Biello spoke with the poet about her new collection The Day She Decided to Feed Crows . Hope Jordan’s Top Five Reading Recommendations 1. M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A by A. Van Jordan. These poems tell the story of MacNolia Cox, the first African American to reach the final round of the national

This week on The Bookshelf from NHPR , a conversation with Daniel Palmer about his new book, The First Family . In the new novel by Hollis resident Daniel Palmer, Lee Blackwood is a family doctor struggling to keep his practice alive when he receives a call from the office of the president of the United States. The president needs his help. The president’s son has come down with an ailment that the White House doctor can’t, or won’t, diagnose correctly and soon it becomes clear that someone may

This week on The Bookshelf from NHPR , a conversation with Matt W. Miller about his new book, The Wounded for the Water . Daily life can be stressful. There's work, family, social obligations. Bills need to be paid, the dog needs to be walked. There are birthdays to remember, funerals to attend. For poet Matt W. Miller, these little and other big stressful moments add up to the sensation of drowning. In his new book, The Wounded for the Water , he explores this kind of metaphorical drowning in

This week on The Bookshelf from NHPR, novelist Elisabeth Hyde discusses her new novel, Go Ask Fannie. In this novel, Murray Blair and his three adult children are gathering at his home in northern New Hampshire. His kids bicker almost non-stop, and the drama that the youngest, Lizzie, carries is enough to drive all of them to worry and judge. Underneath all their interactions is the hum of the memory of an accident that killed their mother and wife, Lillian, and brother three decades earlier.