NYT Books

Marcus Chown’s “A Crack in Everything” is a journey through space and time with the people studying one of the most enigmatic objects in the universe.

A new ecosystem of publishers, bookstores, literary magazines and festivals is promoting African writers and changing the stories told about the region.

As a cookbook author, TV personality and mentor, she sought to burst the chicken-fried stereotype of the South. Sometimes her life was as messy as her kitchen.

“The first album I ever bought was ‘Hunky Dory,’” said the actress and author, “and all those songs, every single one, is amazing.”

Mavis Gallant wrote short stories full of brutal humor that examined the hell of other people.

In “Farewell to Manzanar,” she wrote about the years she and her family were imprisoned in a camp for Japanese Americans. It became the basis for a TV movie.

By day, he helped run an autism center he opened in a suburb of Paris. In the evening, he delighted audiences as a clown named Buffo. In between, he wrote novels.

In a new collection about New York City, the writer turns his gimlet eye on its icons, its architecture, its hot spots — and its suits. “Clothes matter — especially when you get old,” he says.

In “The Harder I Fight the More I Love You,” the singer and songwriter outlines the personal and professional challenges that have shaped her career.

The travel writer and essayist discusses his new book, “Aflame,” about his stays at a California monastery.