Mar 16th, 2010 · The crime writer has more than 40 books to his name and dozens of films made from that source material. Leonard gives NPR's Noah Adams a tour of his hometown, with stops at some of the places that taught the writer about the language of crime, and his writing desk at home.
Mar 13th, 2010 · Baseball's spring training is upon us, time for exhibition match-ups, autograph signings and bullpen sessions, all leading up to Opening Day. It's also time for March Madness to begin, with Selection Sunday this weekend. Guest host Jacki Lyden talks with sports writer Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine about baseball's spring training season, controversial comments made by Los Angeles Angels' outfielder Torii Hunter, and the beginning of March Madness.
Mar 12th, 2010 · In this week's installment of the Barbershop host Michel Martin talks with freelance writer Jimi Izrael, civil rights attorney Arsalan Iftikhar, syndicated columnist Gustavo Arellano, who writes the "Ask A Mexican" column for the OC Weekly, and Zack Rosen, who is the editor-in-chief of TheNewGay. They discuss former New York Congressman Eric Massa's resignation on Monday after allegations that he groped and sexually harassed a number of young, male staffers in his office. They also discuss California State Senator Roy Ashburn, who admitted he was gay this week.
Mar 9th, 2010 · In Eric Puchner's novel Model Home, a father relocates his family from the Midwest to Southern California, but his dreams for success, and theirs, falls flat. It's the first novel by the award-winning short-story writer.
Mar 5th, 2010 · It's been nearly 50 years since a DownBeat writer called a Village Vanguard performance by the John Coltrane quartet (featuring Eric Dolphy) "anti-jazz." But what offended that writer so badly became so widely influential that today, its techniques have been widely co-opted.
Mar 5th, 2010 · When writer John D'Agata moved his mother to the suburbs of Las Vegas, he began looking at the history of the government’s plan to store nuclear waste deep in Nevada's Yucca Mountain. The resulting boo—-- About a Mountai—-- is a reporter's notebook that reads like poetry.
Mar 4th, 2010 · Keyboardist Bobby Espinosa, called by one music writer "The Jimmy Smith of East Los Angeles," died last week in Los Angeles, at age 60. Though his band El Chicano was marketed as a pop act, they were also a damn good Latin jazz band.
Mar 3rd, 2010 · After Hustvedt suffered several unexplainable seizure-like episodes that defied conventional medical diagnoses, she decided to chart her experiences — and the murky intersection between mind, brain and body — in a new book, The Shaking Woman or A History of My Nerves.