Biography 'American Pope' follows Leo XIV's life from Chicago to Vatican City

Today’s episode features memoirs by two men whose incarceration became international headlines. Evan Gershkovich is an American journalist who spent 16 months in a Russian prison. Two years after his release, his new memoir This Cursed Beautiful Land details the time he spent listening, observing and writing while detained. Gershkovich spoke with Morning Edition’s Leila Fadel about adjusting to life after his release. Then, Mahmoud Khalil describes his detention by ICE as a combined Palestine, First Amendment and immigration case. He spoke with Fadel about his new memoir No Land to Stand On.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In American Pope: Leo XIV’s Road from the South Side of Chicago to Vatican City, NPR host Scott Detrow and religion editor Daniel Burke chronicle Pope Leo XIV’s path to leading the Catholic Church as the first American to take the position in its 2,000 year history. Reported across Peru, Chicago and Rome, the biography paints a picture of the pope, as told by his friends, confidants, family, classmates, fellow clergy and Vatican insiders. Detrow and Burke discuss the Pope’s upbringing and more in today’s episode with Weekend Edition’s Scott Simon.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Natalie Baszile’s new book, Friends and Family, follows the friendship of two mothers: Babs, a Black woman, and Nora, a white woman with an adopted Black son. When the police are called on their kids while they’re home alone, the two women are left to grapple with their tightly-held beliefs on race, identity and how to best protect their kids. In today’s episode, Baszile joins All Things Considered’s Juana Summers to talk about how the book’s questions of race, class and allyship strike personally for the author.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Over the past few months, some industry insiders have warned that rogue AI could escape its human creators, resulting in dangerous – and perhaps existential – consequences. But in his new book, Kevin Roose reminds readers that billionaire tech executives behind the technology have been fighting about this possibility for a decade or more. The AGI Chronicles follows the all-out sprint to create artificial general intelligence, despite its risks. In today’s episode, Kevin Roose, host of the new NPR podcast Machine Gods, speaks with Here & Now’s Peter O’Dowd about the quasi-religious pursuit of this technology.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Bonnie Garmus’ 2022 novel Lessons in Chemistry was a smash hit, selling more than 8 million copies worldwide. Her new novel Peck & Peck is set in the ‘80s and centers around Batter Gray, a young man who lands a job in the copy room of a prestigious poetry magazine. But soon, Batter becomes embroiled in personal and editorial conflicts. In today’s episode, Garmus joins NPR’s Elissa Nadworny for a conversation about poetry, reading aloud and why Peck & Peck is a novel about being misunderstood.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Spooky season is year-round, and so are our episodes about scary stories. First up, NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Jeanette Winterson about The Night Side of the River, a collection of ghost stories that weaves in the liminal spaces — Metaverses, one might say — created through technology to coexist with the dead. Then, NPR's Juana Summers asks Desiree Evans and Saraciea Fennell about The Black Girl Survives in This One, an anthology of horror stories by Black writers that contend with the genre's relationship to race.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

With stories like “The Lottery” and The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson was one of the great horror authors of the 20th century. In 2012, Ruth Franklin wrote a biography of the writer called Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life. In today’s episode, we revisit a conversation between Franklin and NPR’s Linda Wertheimer. They talk about Jackson’s childhood, domestic life, and her unique ability to see "extraordinary evil” under the surface of ordinary life.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In his latest novel, George Saunders continues to explore his interest in death and the afterlife. Vigil tells the story of an oil tycoon and climate change denier named K.J. Boone who’s visited by a series of ghosts in his final hours. In today’s episode, NPR’s Scott Detrow asks Saunders about similarities between this novel and A Christmas Carol. They also discuss the author’s Substack, his experience in the oil industry, and the role of storytelling in this political moment.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror is a collection of scary stories curated by horror filmmaker Jordan Peele. In today's episode, Peele speaks with NPR's Brittany Luse about the Black horror stories in this collection and the unique motif of eyes in this genre, including in his own 2017 film Get Out.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Salman Rushdie lived for decades under a death sentence and survived a knife attack three years ago. His latest book The Eleventh Hour is his first work of fiction since that near-death experience. These short stories and novellas center around the end of life, what might come after, and the idea of personal legacy. In today’s episode, Rushdie joins Here & Now’s Scott Tong for a conversation that touches on mortality, changes to the author’s writing process, and his first ghost story.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy