NPR Staff

NPR Music editor and reviewer Stephen Thompson reflects on the year through the lens of music and shares the songs that impressed him most.

Shirley Jackson is probably best known for the creepy short story "The Lottery." But a new biography, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, paints a much more complete picture of the writer.

NPR's Ari Shapiro checks back in with Flint, Mich., resident Jeneyah McDonald, who says not much has improved in the year since the city declared a state of emergency over lead-tainted water.

In a wide-ranging interview, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly asks CIA director John Brennan about the incoming Trump administration, Russian interference in the U.S. election and the future of Syria.

Sixty years ago on Christmas Eve, Judy Charest met Harold Hogue and his co-worker, Jack Knox, because the two men were in the right place at the right time.

The New York a cappella group called the Maccabeats rewrote songs from the hit musical Hamilton to tell the origin story of Hanukkah.

John Brennan told NPR some retaliation techniques are "beneath this country's greatness." On the war in Syria, Brennan said he does not believe the violence will end, despite the fall of Aleppo.

In a year marked by turmoil and tragedy, the Goats and Soda team has picked some of the stories that inspired us, gave us hope, made us grin.

At the VETS Peer to Peer Outreach Center in Watertown, N.Y., veterans come to socialize and connect. Veterans Tim Cryster and Dave Robertson lead a team that helps their peers find support.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's latest, Certain Dark Things is a vampire story set in modern-day Mexico. She recalls being a child in Mexico and hearing tales of vampire witches from her great grandmother.

Donald Trump should deal with how to handle his business holdings before he takes office, Newt Gingrich says. The former House speaker suggests that a panel of experts monitor business conflicts.

Victorians used a lot of different color palettes, and even put Santa in blue and green robes. Thanks to Coca-Cola, things got a lot more uniform after 1931.

From an undeliverable prenatal email address to an F2 tornado, every Christmas tree ornament tells a story.

Bonet grew up in a house full of musical instruments, but she didn't commit to becoming a songwriter and performer until her mid-20s. She joins NPR to talk about her journey back.

The director's new film follows a pair of Portuguese Jesuit priests in Japan. He says he's been trying to make it since the late 1980s.

A team of scientists at the University of Toronto has taught a computer to compose and perform its own Christmas song — one perhaps destined to be on a Westworld soundtrack.

NPR Music remembers musicians — singers, songwriters, instrumentalists — and other visionaries we lost in 2016. Explore and celebrate their musical legacies.

Pastry chef Aggie Chin talks with NPR's Ailsa Chang about sweet treats to prepare for your holiday party. This week, it's pear upside down spice cake.

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with University of Michigan professor Alex Stern, who has completed a database of the thousands of people recommended for sterilization when California had eugenics laws.

For the past several years, a dive bar in the District has drawn crowds of eager millennials to see Granny and the Boys, a funk act led by Alice "Granny" Donahue.