Petra Mayer

Our famous Summer Reader Poll lurches to life, dripping grave-dirt and bits of glowing green, ready to hear all about your favorite horror novels and stories. What sends a shiver down your spine?

The Swedish Academy — the body that awards Nobel Prizes — has announced that the literature prize will not be given this year. The decision follows a spate of infighting and allegations of sexual misconduct against the husband of an Academy member.

American author Ursula K. Le Guin has died at age 88. She was one of the most influential authors of the 20th century, known primarily for her science fiction and fantasy novels and stories.

Author Ursula K. Le Guin has died at age 88. She was a prolific writer of science fiction and fantasy who brought feminism into her work and raised the genres into literature.

NPR launches its 2017 Book Concierge on Tuesday, pulling together a year's worth of favorite reads from staff and critics. NPR Books editor Petra Mayer talks about some of this year's selections.

If all the world's a stage, and men and women merely players, there must be somewhere to stash the scenery and change your costumes. What's it like in the wings at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre?

Faith "Zephyr" Herbert is one of Valiant Comics breakout stars. The plus-sized superheroine fights crime in the streets of Los Angeles — and now, she's up against an AI trying to damage time itself.

The 13th Doctor in the long-running British sci-fi series Doctor Who will be played by Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to take the role. The move is long overdue for some and an outrage for others.

In a list of 100 favorite comics and graphic novels, inevitably some people's favorites will get left out — some because they don't stand the test of time, some because there's just no room.

We asked readers to name their favorite comics and graphic novels, and we got thousands of answers. Now, with the help of our expert panel, we've curated a list to keep you flipping pages all summer.

While we prep our awesome reader poll of great comics and graphic novels for all ages and tastes, we thought we'd introduce you to the panel of expert judges who helped curate the final list of 100.

In honor of our big summer reader poll of favorite comics and graphic novels, we've asked a few very cool cartoonists to tell us — or really, draw for us — what comics mean to them.

Our famous summer reader poll is back, and this year we're all about comics and graphic novels! Whether it's your childhood favorite or the webcomic you binged last week, we want to know about it.

When Ruthanna Emrys first read H.P. Lovecraft's classic tale "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," her sympathies were squarely with the monsters — and that sympathy was the seed of her new book, Winter Tide.

Scott Westerfeld's new graphic novel was inspired by photos of Chernobyl; it's the story of two sisters living on the outskirts of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. after a mysterious incident destroys the city.

Author Paula Hawkins was down on her luck when her 2015 book The Girl on the Train became a smash hit. Now she's grappling with success and preparing to launch her followup, Into the Water.

Prolific sci-fi author John Scalzi boots up a new universe in The Collapsing Empire. It's set in a future where far-flung humanity's ability to travel and communicate between planets is under threat.

Author Neil Gaiman first encountered the Norse gods in the pages of old Marvel Comics reprints, when he was 6 years old. Now, he's written his own versions of these ancient tales of gods and monsters.

Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale landed on top of Amazon's best-seller lists this week, following other classics like 1984 and It Can't Happen Here. She has some thoughts on our next great dystopia.

Margaret Atwood's feminist classic, The Handmaid's Tale, is the latest dystopian novel to hit the Amazon bestseller lists, following 1984 and It Can't Happen Here.