Arts & Culture

A Novel Endeavor From Molly Ringwald

Credit Fergus Greer / HarperCollins

Molly Ringwald made her name as one of the "Brat Pack" of actors who appeared in John Hughes' teen films in the '80s. She starred in The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, among others.

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Originally published on Sat August 18, 2012 8:58 am

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Most people know Molly Ringwald from her star turns in John Hughes' signature teen comic dramas from the 1980s, including Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.

And Ringwald is still acting — she currently plays the mother in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager. But she's also turned her hand to writing. Her new book — and first novel — is called When It Happens to You.

5:31 am

Sat August 18, 2012

Marjane Satrapi: 'A Real Love Story Has To Finish Bad'

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Credit Patricia Khan / Sony Pictures Classics

Nasser Ali (Mathieu Amalric) is a man who wills himself to die in the film adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel Chicken with Plums.

Credit Maria Ortiz / Random House

Satrapi previously adapted her memoir, Persepolis, into an animated film, also in collaboration with Vincent Paronnaud.

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Originally published on Sat August 18, 2012 8:58 am

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When we first meet Nasser Ali, the protagonist of Chicken with Plums, he's a mess. He loves his children, but doesn't support them. He has never really loved his wife — though he likes a dish she makes, chicken with plums. He was an accomplished violinist, but his wife shatters his violin to hurt him; she believes his instrument is the only thing that he truly loves.

As Nasser Ali peels back his life, in 1958 Tehran, we begin to learn about the broken heart that's beneath his sadness, madness and flights of genius.

3:13 pm

Fri August 17, 2012

3 Celebrity Friendships That Weren't Meant To Be

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Credit Evening Standard/Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon prepare to take off for a U.S. tour on Aug. 13, 1965. Fourteen days later, they'd find themselves in a much-anticipated but very awkward meeting with Elvis Presley.

Credit Jonathan Player /

Craig Brown has been a columnist for London's Private Eye since 1989.

By editor

Originally published on Sun September 2, 2012 10:32 am

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Years ago, when NPR's Susan Stamberg was working for the wife of an American ambassador in New Delhi, she answered the door to the ambassador's home to find the maharajah of Jaipur standing outside.

"Your highness," she said, "what gorgeous pearls you're wearing."

"Oh, thank you," the maharaja replied. "On Tuesdays I wear pearls; on Wednesdays it's emeralds; Thursday, rubies."

2:19 pm

Fri August 17, 2012

This Week's 5 Must-Read Stories From NPR Books

Credit iStockphoto.com

By Petra Mayer

1. The Healing Power Of Stories

Cambodian author Vaddey Ratner was just a child when the Khmer Rouge came banging on the doors of her aristocratic family's compound in Phnom Penh. She's fictionalized that experience — and the years of hardship that followed — in her new novel, In the Shadow of the Banyan.

She survived — and so does her heroine, Raami — in part because she remembered the poems and stories her father loved.

12:12 pm

Fri August 17, 2012

Donald Ray Pollock On Finding Fiction Late In Life

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Credit Courtesy Donald Ray Pollock

Donald Ray Pollock dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to work in a meatpacking plant. He then spent 32 years working in a paper mill before quitting to pursue his dream of becoming a writer.

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This interview was originally broadcast on July 26, 2011. Donald Ray Pollock's The Devil All the Time is now out in paperback.

Knockemstiff, Ohio, is a tiny hamlet in southern Ohio. In the 1950s, Knockemstiff had three stores, a bar and a population of about 450 people. Most of those people, says fiction writer Donald Ray Pollock, were "connected by blood through one godforsaken calamity or another."

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