When Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro went on the BBC program Desert Island Discs, he spoke about how much he loves the music of jazz singer Stacey Kent. In today's episode, Ishiguro and Kent tell NPR's Juana Summers how that mention led them to meet and embark on an artistic endeavor together – a new songbook called The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain, featuring lyrics by Ishiguro set to music composed by Kent's partner, Jim Tomlinson. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
There are millions of different insect species in the world. All of them fill some niche in the ecosystem in which they live.
However, some species are more important than others. In particular, insect species that are members of the family Apidae, or what you probably know as bees.
Bees are some of the most important pollinators in the world. They are responsible for a large amount of plant reproduction worldwide.
Learn more about bees, what they are and their importance on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Writer and filmmaker Miranda July says the popular imagination sort of drops off once a woman gets married and has kids. Her new novel All Fours turns that on its head – it's a story about an artist in her 40s who departs from her husband and child on a road trip that takes her to some very unexpected places. In today's episode, July speaks to NPR's Brittany Luse about the interviews she conducted with women going through perimenopause and menopause for this book, and the whisper network with her friends that fueled her protagonist's deep desire for something new.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
When Dick Goodwin reached his 80s, he asked his wife – historian Doris Kearns Goodwin – to finally open and sift through the hundreds of boxes he'd kept from his time as a presidential aide and speechwriter to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson and as advisor to Robert Kennedy. What resulted is An Unfinished Love Story, a new book by Kearns Goodwin with a personal lens to the history of the 1960s. In today's episode, she speaks to NPR's Steve Inskeep about what she found in her husband's archives and what she learned revisiting that time period. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
In 1428, a young girl from the village of Domrémy, France, audaciously set out to meet the heir apparent to the French throne, the Dauphin, and told him what he had to do to defeat the English occupying her country.
She claimed that she was told what to do by God.
Against all odds, the Dauphin took her advice, and it worked. After a series of military victories, the Dauphin was crowned king, and the young girl went on to become one of the greatest heroes in French history.
Learn more about Joan of Arc, her incredible story, and how it changed French history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Today's episode is about two massive stars: Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Selleck. First, Goldberg speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about her new memoir, Bits and Pieces, which touches on her relationship with her mother, the way she navigated beauty standards growing up, and what it means to grapple with grief over time. Then, Selleck joins NPR's Scott Simon to discuss You Never Know, his initial reluctance to take on his role in Magnum P.I. and his thoughts on being labeled a "mustachioed hunk." To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday