NPR Staff

It took Queen Latifah more than 20 years to bring the life of pioneering blues singer Bessie Smith to the screen. "Inhabiting her has inhabited me," she says.

Chris Harrison's new book is an amusing romance novel — and a ripe excuse for us to ask some lingering questions about the reality show juggernaut that's made him famous.

After the Republican presidential candidates finish their first debate this summer, many will head to Atlanta for a summit hosted by Erick Erickson, conservative activist and editor-in-chief of RedState.com.

This year, Erickson's RedState Gathering is scheduled for the same weekend as the Iowa Straw Poll.

Jeb Bush has already indicated ...

The U.S. is less Christian than it used to be, and fewer Americans choose to be a part of any religion, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.

Of the more than 35,000 people surveyed, 70 percent say they are Christian — but the number of ...

Banks makes her directorial debut with Pitch Perfect 2; she talks to NPR's Audie Cornish about breaking into directing, the true meaning of a cappella, and how the Barden Bellas are really Rocky.

The band just released Choose Your Weapon, a follow-up to Hiatus Kaiyote's Grammy-nominated debut. The Melbourne group makes sweet sounds that ring fresh and progressive.

Thirteen-year-old Nicholas Heyward Jr. was playing with a toy gun in the stairwell of the housing complex where he lived in Brooklyn when a police officer shot and killed him in 1994.

Henry Folger once spent nearly a year's salary on a William Shakespeare first folio. In The Millionaire and the Bard, Andrea Mays chronicles his obsession with collecting the playwright's work.

Think local Nebraska food, and Omaha's famous steaks may come to mind. The Great Plains are indeed an agricultural powerhouse when it comes to commodities like feed corn, soybeans, beef and pork.

But as food journalist Summer Miller tells Meghna Chakrabarti of NPR's Here & Now, there's much more ...

Comics creator Noelle Stevenson has written for Boom! Studios and Marvel's new female Thor. Her webcomic Nimona, about a young shapeshifter with a streak of villainy, has just been released as a book.

Naomi Novik is best known for the Temeraire series — rousing adventure tales of a man and his dragon, set in an alternate-universe version of the Napoleonic Wars where France and England battle it out across land, sea and sky with the help of dragons.

But the Dragon in her ...

"You can learn so much from [Jerry Garcia]. Doesn't matter what instrument you play," the Grateful Dead drummer says. He has a new memoir out called Deal.

The competitive California school district has seen four students take their own lives since October. One junior talks about reactions to the deaths, pressures students face and hopes for the future.

The author famous for the cult classic House of Leaves is writing a novel about a little girl who finds a kitten. The book is planned to be epic — 27 volumes total. Volume 1 is more than 800 pages.

Imagine you're on the highway. You glance into the cab of the 18-wheeler next to you — and there's no driver. That day might be getting closer.

Automaker Daimler unveiled a truck last week that drives itself, called the Freightliner Inspiration. But the truck is not yet entirely autonomous.

"You ...

This weekend, the Class of 2015 graduated from Howard University, a historically black college located about a mile from NPR's headquarters. The new graduates include two of the students who have spent the last semester talking with NPR's Weekend Edition about their college experience.

Leighton Watson and Kevin Peterman are ...

Two years ago, one of the worst tornadoes on record hit the town of Moore, Okla. And you might say to yourself, well, doesn't this always happen there? It's called Tornado Alley for a reason.

And that's pretty much how the residents of Moore think about tornadoes. They're just part ...

Keith Jarrett hit a milestone this past week: The famed jazz pianist turned 70 years old, and he's decided to mark the occasion with two new releases. One offers his take on two important classical works; the other, Creation, documents how his creative process plays out in front ...

Being a parent changes you in many ways — including when it comes to what you're willing to eat.

Parents eat their kids' leftovers — yes, it's true. And this can mean leftover scraps on their baby's tray ... or bits and pieces hanging off bibs and mouths. Hey, it ...

When Lecrae gets into something, he goes all in. The hip-hop artist is a devout Christian, and his lyrics deal with issues of faith, family and social justice.

"I consider what I do soul music," Lecrae says. "It music that is concerned with the soul."

But the church doesn't always ...