In 2009, Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for her novel Wolf Hall. Mantel died in September, and in this episode we hear former NPR host Liane Hansen's interview with Mantel just after she won the prize. In the novel, Mantel examines the reign of England's King Henry VIII through the life and relationships of his trusted advisor Thomas Cromwell – and the author says it's important not only to look at what happened in the past, but also to consider how it felt.
Every year parts of the planet are hit by devastating typhoons and hurricanes. They can cause billions of dollars of damage and can take hundreds if not thousands of lives.
But why do these storms exist? What causes their distinctive spiral shape with an eye in the middle? And why do they only appear in certain parts of the world at certain times of the year?
And while we’re at it, what is the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon anyway?
Learn more about hurricanes and typhoons and how they can become so deadly on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Prop Fest 2022 breaks down all the statewide propositions on your ballot. We're tackling Propositions 26 and 27 in one episode because they overlap in some ways. Propositions 26 and 27 will affect the way sports betting, and some other forms of gambling, are handled in the state of California.
Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts
This story was reported by Guy Marzorati. Prop Fest is made by the Bay Curious team, Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Amanda Font and Brendan Willard, in collaboration with The Bay team, Ericka Cruz Guevarra, Alan Montecillo, and Maria Esquinca. Our Social Video Intern is Darren Tu. Additional support from Kyana Moghadam, Jen Chien, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan.
The two books in today's episode point up how authors write and empathize with characters that aren't exactly likable. First we hear from Anthony Doerr who spoke to NPR correspondent Arun Rath about his Pulitzer-Prize winning novel All The Light We Cannot See. Doer talks about how we can better understand the moral choices people make by tuning into untold stories. Then, Scott Simon of NPR's Weekend Edition interviews author Yiyun Li about her new novel The Book of Goose. It's a story of two ruthless French girls who write a book that alters their lives.
Prop Fest 2022 breaks down all the statewide propositions on your ballot. Proposition 1 would solidify abortion and reproductive rights into the state constitution. If you thought abortion was already protected in California, you’re not wrong. But today we’ll learn why the California lawmakers who placed this on our ballot want to take things a step further, and we’ll dig into the details that have opponents concerned.
Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts
This story was reported by April Dembosky. Prop Fest is made by the Bay Curious team, Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Amanda Font and Brendan Willard, in collaboration with The Bay team, Ericka Cruz Guevarra, Alan Montecillo, and Maria Esquinca. Our Social Video Intern is Darren Tu. Additional support from Kyana Moghadam, Jen Chien, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan.
Born in 1815, Ada Byron was the only legitimate child of the famous poet Lord Byron.
Unlike her famous father, Ada did not pursue a literary career. Guided by her mother, she took a diametrically different path studying math and logic.
At the age of 17, she had a chance encounter with Charles Babbage, who was designing the world’s first mechanical computer. It was the beginning of a groundbreaking collaboration that would only be understood over a century later.
Learn more about Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
For a long time, Chicagoans were scared of Dunning. The very name “Dunning” gave them chills. People were afraid they would end up in that place. Today, the Chicago neighborhood, out on the city’s Far Northwest Side, looks like a middle-class suburb. You’d never know there was once an asylum there. On this episode we revisit the history of the Cook County Infirmary, later known as Chicago State Hospital but to most, simply “Dunning.”
