Robin Wall Kimmerer is an unlikely literary star. A botanist by training—a specialist in moss—she spent much of her career at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry. But, when she was well established in her academic work, having “done the things you need to do to get tenure,” she launched into a different kind of wr ... Show More
Jun 16
The Sports Journalist Pablo Torre Has a Pulitzer, but Still Feels Like the “Turd” in the Pool
The sports journalist Pablo Torre recently won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting for an investigation on his podcast, “Pablo Torre Finds Out.” Torre talks with David Remnick about the challenge of investigative reporting in professional sports—where leagues, owners, pla ... Show More
21m 1s
Jun 12
Rachel Goldberg-Polin on Losing a Son in Gaza
When Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s son, Hersh, was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023, she became a prominent spokesperson for the families of Israeli hostages. Throughout Hersh’s captivity, and then after his murder, Goldberg-Polin, who was born in Chicago and emigrated to Isra ... Show More
39m 9s
Jun 9
Seeing the Dark Side of the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II Mission
In April, the four crew members of NASA’s Artemis II mission were the first humans to ever glimpse something that cannot be seen from Earth—the so-called dark side of the moon. The mission’s commander, the former Navy captain Reid Wiseman, is fifty years old, which also makes him ... Show More
24m 17s
Dec 2021
'A Snake Falls To Earth' tackles real life issues in a fantastical world
Author Darcie Little Badger has her protagonists, Nina and a cottonmouth snake named Oli, tackle big, real world problems in her new Young Adult novel, A Snake Falls To Earth. She told NPR's Leila Fadel that young people are feeling climate anxiety acutely, so it was important to ... Show More
9m 12s
Jun 2016
Sarah Wald, “The Nature of California: Race, Citizenship, and Farming since the Dust Bowl” (U. of Washington Press, 2016)
The California farmlands have long served as a popular symbol of America’s natural abundance and endless opportunity. Yet, from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and Carlos Bulosan’s America is in the Heart to Helena Maria Viramontes’s Under the Feet of Jesus, many novels, pla ... Show More
58m 47s
<p>Chang-rae Lee’s new novel, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/books/review/chang-rae-lee-my-year-abroad.html" target="_blank">“My Year Abroad,”</a> is his sixth. On this week’s podcast, Lee says that his readers might be surprised by it.</p><p>“It’s kind of a crazy bo ... Show More