Scott Simon

"Dancing In The Street" is a Motown party song made famous by Martha and the Vandellas, but the song took on a political connotation during the race riots of the 1960s.

Chigozie Obioma's latest novel is a love story, a story of exile, a mix of classical tragedy and Igbo folklore, narrated by a chi — a guardian spirit that refers to Obioma's protagonist as its host.

Mesha Maren's debut book follows a queer woman trying to restart her life and return to rural Appalachia. For the author, it's a place sometimes "difficult to love," but loved with "extra fierceness."

"I don't think Louis C.K. is funny," NPR's Scott Simon says. A comic can be edgy, but one that's not funny "is no more interesting than any other muttering blowhard who craves attention."

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the time he met U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan when he reported for jury duty. Simon says Judge Sullivan has a history of "independence and sense of duty."

Barack Obama appears on the new song, "One Last Time (44 Remix)." Originally from the Broadway hit "Hamilton," Lin-Manuel Miranda reworked the number and included the former president.

President Trump has tweeted that the interior secretary is stepping down at the end of the year. NPR's Scott Simon and Tamara Keith discuss the issue.

The un-saintly language of a Santa in England inspired this riff on a classic Christmas poem.

NPR's Scott Simon gets recommendations from the owner of Labyrinth Games in Washington, D.C., on what to play when all you need is something to get through winter's long nights.

Robin Wright explains where things stand after a bipartisan group of senators voted to pull military support from Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, and to tie the country's leader to a journalist's death.

When U.S. Navy veteran Gary Ard traveled last year to lobby against a bill before Congress, he didn't realize Saudi Arabia was paying for all of it — including rooms at the Trump International Hotel.

The gas station owner said he had found and helped the eccentric entrepreneur in the Nevada desert, and that afterward Hughes included him in his will. But the courts all ruled against him.

NPR's Scott Simon talks to French journalist Anne Nivat about the political situation in her country, where just a quarter of citizens say they approve the president's job performance.

A 7-year-old Guatemalan girl died in CBP custody this month, but the West Texas Guatemalan Consul General, who has spoken with her father, says they have no complaints about their treatment.

Scott Simon talks with Maria Ressa of the investigative website Rappler in the Philippines about being named one of Time's Persons of the Year, and the mortal dangers some journalists faced this year.

NPR's Scott Simon discusses the week in sports with ESPN's Howard Bryant, including impressive wins by the NBA's Toronto Raptors and the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers.

Rapper Sean Forbes and percussionist Evelyn Glennie tell tell NPR's Scott Simon about their performance with the Detroit Philharmonic called "The Deaf And Loud Symphonic Experience."

Renowned Iraqi conductor and cellist Karim Wasfi tells NPR's Scott Simon about his music, the challenges of his work and his commitment to his country.

Tom Barbash's new novel is set in the famed Manhattan apartment house where Lennon spent the last year of his life — and where, in this telling, he befriends a washed-up talk show host and his son.

This week Butina admitted she wasn't just a student and Russian gun rights activist, pleading guilty to a count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent. NPR's Scott Simon talks with her lawyer.