Category: DailyShorts

We've moved past the shortest day of the year – Dec. 21 – and, now, the days are getting longer. For more than 40 years, people have read and performed Susan Cooper's poem "The Shortest Day" to commemorate the winter solstice. In 2019, that poem was turned into a children's book, illustrated by Carson Ellis. In their collaboration, the two hoped to convey a story about light's triumph over darkness year after year. In today's episode, Cooper and Ellis join NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation about how the project came together, including the inspiration they took from their communication via letters – and from Pieter Brugel's paintings.

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Some of the most beautiful things in the world of mathematics are fractals. 

Fractals are unique geometric objects that are both easy to comprehend and have complicated mathematics. 

Moreover, fractals are not just a theoretical mathematical construction. Fractals can be found everywhere in nature, including trees, beaches, and even your own body. 

Learn more about fractals, what they are, and how they work in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. 

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Small Things Like These is a novella by Claire Keegan that centers around Bill Furlong, an Irish coal merchant who discovers exploitation at a local convent. The story is based on the real-life history of the Magdalene Laundries, workhouses where Irish girls and women were forced into unpaid labor. Keegan's book, originally published in 2021, was adapted to film in the fall of 2024. In today's episode, we revisit a conversation between Keegan and Here & Now's Deborah Becker. They discuss the author's interest in the novella form and why she chose to write a women-centered story with a male protagonist.

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In July 2017, the International Olympic Committee did something unprecedented. It awarded not one, but two cities Olympic games at the same time.

The 2024 games to Paris and the 2028 games to Los Angeles. 

However, this decision wasn’t a stroke of genius. It was an act of desperation. 

That is because no one really wants to host an Olympics anymore.

Learn more about the economics and politics of hosting the Olympic games and how it has radically changed over time on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Twenty-five years into the new millennium, Y2K aesthetics and millennial nostalgia are still alive and well in Colette Shade's new book, Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was), where she examines the impact of the era on everything from pop culture to politics. In today's episode, Shade talks with NPR's Andrew Limbong about the economic consequences of the era and some of the 2000s cultural artifacts that are still around today.

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