Search results for

Librarian Nancy Pearl shares the work of a few of her best-loved poets. They include a former nun who wrote about Marilyn Monroe, a man who was left paralyzed after a bicycle accident, and writers who — despite the sometimes rigid requirements of their chosen form — find surprising, inventive ways to use words.

Last year, Mark Wheat of The Current proclaimed the album dead. So instead of creating a list of top 10 full-length records, he's documenting the year in music with the perfect 10-song mixtape playlist.

Many younger artists are making a strong case to be the future of the genre — and the future looks bright. All but three musicians on Shaunna Morrison Machosky's Top 10 list are under the age of 40, and they all brush aside any notion of jazz being in a rut.

The beauty and history of Venice play a starring role in Verdi's opera. It's a drama the composer admitted was "gloomy," yet it still contains some of his most vivid and stirring music. The performance is from the Vienna Konzerthaus.

The death toll from tornadoes that tore through the South continues to rise Wednesday, as authorities prepare to go door-to-door to search for victims. Fay Graves, who manages a McDonald's restaurant in Jackson, Tenn., describes the destruction.

One of the best years for kids' music in recent memory includes releases from artists with feet firmly in both kid-friendly and adult-oriented worlds. Old favorites went in new directions, while emerging artists gave a glimpse of the future of a genre as diverse and unpredictable as kids themselves.

As it winds its way to the South China Sea, the Mekong River runs along Myanmar's remote and often troubled Shan state. The repressive military government in Yangon controls parts of the state, while ethnic militias and warlords rule the others.

A petition before the Food and Drug Administration could change the way parents care for children with colds. Many pediatricians cite a lack of evidence that cough medicines are safe or effective for young people.

As has become customary in the past few years, NPR Music producer Lars Gotrich's near-OCD list-making habit revealed a certain strain of outer sound that pervaded his headphones in 2009.

Though critical consensus formed around some sonically beautiful records, Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson is far more likely to dwell on albums and songs that exude a fair bit earned insight, even ache. Thompson's Top 10 may be the equivalent of a single teardrop in a vast sea of year-end reflection, but the music is pretty glorious.

The judge in the Lewis Libby case reluctantly releases recordings of Libby's grand jury testimony. The prosecution says the recordings capture Libby lying under oath about his role in the leak of a CIA agent's identity.

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal have advanced to a May 6 runoff in France's presidential elections. With most of the votes counted, Sarkozy took in more than 31 percent, with Segolene second at just under 26 percent.