Michele Norris

Through powerful monologues, Anna Deavere Smith has tackled race riots, integration and health care. In Notes from the Field, she's using her characters to explore the school-to-prison pipeline.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is finishing a run on her latest work, "Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1,2 & 3)" at The Public Theater in New York.

NPR's Michele Norris continues her conversation with Marc Quarles for The Race Card Project. Quarles six words are: With Kids, I'm Dad; Alone: Thug.

A huge hit upon its release, the 1949 musical South Pacific still resonates with contributors to The Race Card Project — particularly a song about how prejudice is learned, not innate.

All Things Considered asks you to sit down a spell as it examines an important place in summer mythology, the front porch: its history, its role in American life and literature and its rich symbolism.

Lemony Snicket, a.k.a. Daniel Handler, gained a dedicated following of young readers with his darkly funny A Series of Unfortunate Events books. Now the Baudelaire orphans have made the big screen. Handler tells NPR's Michele Norris about his own childhood fears and adult apprehensions.

Creative cooking is not only for the restaurant chef, but for those cooking at home as well. NPR's Michele Norris speaks with Michael Lomonaco, author of Nightly Specials, a book that aims to inspire spontaneity in the kitchen.

Fables, fairy tales and novellas can do more than just entertain and delight. They also ease young people through some of life's challenges. NPR's Michele Norris asks three experts in children's literature to share their recommended reading lists.

Author James Prosek is known for detailed watercolors, of trout in particular, that capture nature in all its vibrance. NPR's Michele Norris visited Prosek's home in Connecticut to disscuss the space he's designed.