Mallory Yu

Author J.K. Rowling has been criticized after a series of tweets that many read as transphobic. Rowling's insistence that "sex is real" and immutable has saddened her trans and genderqueer fans.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Tracee Ellis Ross about starring in The High Note, a movie about an over-40 superstar singer navigating the music industry with her assistant, who has her own music dreams.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks to the pop superstar and former One Direction member about the creative and commercial pressure behind making his sophomore album.

Sundance is known as the largest independent film festival in the country. This year, there haven't been many big sales after the first weekend — but that doesn't mean there aren't notable projects.

Writer Shaun Hamill's debut novel Cosmology of Monsters is a compelling exploration of monstrousness, human or otherwise.

China's economic growth has been slowing down for years. Tariffs have contributed to slower growth since early 2018, when the economic standoff began, but it's hard to pinpoint how much.

Hundreds of millions have climbed out of poverty, but an equality gap has widened. Seventy years after Mao's revolution, many Chinese people reflect on their own stories of struggle and mobility.

At San Diego Comic-Con, fans strut their stuff in all kinds of costumes — some homemade, some elaborately professional. Even pets and little kids get in on the act.

On the second full day of San Diego Comic-Con, highlights include the last-ever (maybe) Game of Thrones panel and the Eisner Awards, celebrating the best work in comics. (Also, some good cosplay.)

San Diego Comic-Con kicked off Thursday, with more than 130,000 attendees expected. Big draws of the day were Lin-Manuel Miranda and Arnold Schwarzenegger — and a surprise appearance from Tom Cruise.

Sarah Kuhn's new novel, about a Japanese American girl wrestling with her identity and her place in the world during a visit to Japan, is at once universally relatable and specifically Asian American.

A lot of us stumble over conversations about sex. But people who are into kink make an art of talking about what they want or don't want. Here's their advice for making awkward talks sexy.

The kink community spends a lot of time talking about sex. So what can the rest of the world learn from those conversations?

A new book, Flash Count Diary, celebrates the emotional and creative freedom of postmenopausal intimacy. Author Darcey Steinke is here to say, sex can be better than ever after midlife.

The bill for Woodstock 50 has been announced featuring acts like Imagine Dragons, Jay-Z and Miley Cyrus. The lineup is prompting conversation online. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson weighs in.

Filmmaker Dan Reed discusses his four-hour documentary, Leaving Neverland, which features two men claiming Michael Jackson sexually abused them as children.

Writer and director Dan Gilroy brings back Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo for his newest feature, a horror-comedy set in the modern art world. Also, the male lead is named Morf.

Tillie Walden's graphic memoir, Spinning, won a prestigious Eisner Award this summer. She says she wishes she'd had a book like it when she was young and coming to terms with her sexuality.

Taneka Stotts is a powerhouse comics creator and editor, and a persistent voice for change in the industry. Her anthology, Elements: Fire won an Eisner Award at San Diego Comic-Con in July.

The director of Moonlight has made a new film: If Beale Street Could Talk, based on the James Baldwin novel. He's using it to represent black complexity, vulnerability and skin colors.