Lynn Neary
Lynn Neary is an NPR arts correspondent covering books and publishing.
Not only does she report on the business of books and explore literary trends and ideas, Neary has also met and profiled many of her favorite authors. She has wandered the streets of Baltimore with Anne Tyler and the forests of the Great Smoky Mountains with Richard Powers. She has helped readers discover great new writers like Tommy Orange, author of There, There, and has introduced them to future bestsellers like A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.
Arriving at NPR in 1982, Neary spent two years working as a newscaster on Morning Edition. For the next eight years, Neary was the host of Weekend All Things Considered. Throughout her career at NPR, she has been a frequent guest host on all of NPR's news programs including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, and Talk of the Nation.
In 1992, Neary joined the cultural desk to develop NPR's first religion beat. As religion correspondent, Neary covered the country's diverse religious landscape and the politics of the religious right.
Neary has won numerous prestigious awards including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Gold Award, an Ohio State Award, an Association of Women in Radio and Television Award, and the Gabriel award. For her reporting on the role of religion in the debate over welfare reform, Neary shared in NPR's 1996 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Award.
A graduate of Fordham University, Neary thinks she may be the envy of English majors everywhere.
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Sue Monk Kidd, the author of the best-selling The Secret Life of Bees, takes on both slavery and feminism in her novel The Invention of Wings. It's a story told by two women: Hetty, a slave, seeks her freedom, while Sarah, her reluctant owner, rebels against her family to become an abolitionist.
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When writers finish a book, they may think they've had the last word — but sometimes another writer will decide there's more to the story, or more to a background character. NPR's Lynn Neary explores the fine old literary tradition of writing new stories based on existing books.
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The patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family has been suspended indefinitely from the hit reality TV show on A&E because of his remarks about homosexuality. He made the comments to GQ magazine. The show has spawned a multi-million-dollar industry of related products and books.
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Publishers have flooded the market with books — both new and reprinted — about JFK this fall. Some hazard conspiracy theories or point out the failings of the Warren Commission. Others avoid the subject of the assassination, focusing on JFK's character and legacy. And one includes all 486 frames of the famous Zapruder film, published in their entirety for the first time. -
Joe Sacco has made a career of tackling difficult subjects through imagery. He's a journalist and cartoonist who has reported on the Middle East and Bosnia — in both written and comic form. In his latest book, The Great War, Sacco turns to history, producing a 24-foot-long depiction of the horrifying first day of the Battle of the Somme. -
When Amazon revamped its publishing wing, a lot of booksellers said enough is enough: They refused to stock Amazon Publishing's books, and Barnes & Noble followed suit. Now, with the departure of a star talent and some book releases that fell flat, many say Amazon Publishing may in trouble. -
In 1931, Harry Powers killed two women and three children at his home in Quiet Dell, W.Va. Writer Jayne Anne Phillips learned about the murders from her mother, who was a child when the deaths became a media sensation. Phillips' new novel retells the tragedy through the eyes of a young reporter. -
Alice Munro, "master of the contemporary short story," has won the Nobel Prize in Literature," the Royal Swedish Academy announced Thursday morning. In 2009, she won the Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime work.
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India's politics and history play a central role in Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland. In the Booker Prize-nominated novel, an Indian radical is killed, and his wife and brother start over in America. Lahiri tells NPR's Lynn Neary that the story was inspired by true events, but very unlike her own life.
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When most people think "NBA," they think of the National Basketball Association. This year, in an attempt to maximize coverage, the National Book Foundation is releasing "long lists" of NBA nominees in different genre categories, one day at a time for a week.
