Annalisa Quinn
Annalisa Quinn is a contributing writer, reporter, and literary critic for NPR. She created NPR's Book News column and covers literature and culture for NPR.
Quinn studied English and Classics at Georgetown University and holds an M.Phil in Classical Greek from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Cambridge Trust scholar.
-
Also: What "immigrant fiction" means; Wild author Cheryl Strayed on finding her half-sister; the best books coming out this week.
-
A dispute over the title This Town has sparked a mini-controversy worthy of Mark Leibovich's book about ego and excess in Washington, D.C.
-
Also: A new short story by Stieg Larsson; Sherman Alexie's mullet; Rebecca Mead on Jane Austen. -
Japanese crime writer Natsuo Kirino's latest veers into myth and legend: The Goddess Chronicle retells Japan's creation story with a feminist perspective. Reviewer Annalisa Quinn says it's a dark and lovely tale, unfortunately marred by stiff, awkward writing.
-
No fiction? No problem! Annalisa Quinn shares five summer reads that look at art in a few stranger-than-fiction ways. Classic mythology and Spider-Man? An antlered hat with feathers? Have your Dutch minimalist-inspired cake and eat it too! -
The author was handpicked by Margaret Thatcher to write her authorized biography. Though he clearly admires Thatcher, reviewer Annalisa Quinn says that the book is no hagiography — it is staggeringly thorough, and the storytelling is vivid and interesting.
-
Also: Donald Hall's life in beards, Kenn Nesbitt to be the next Children's Poet Laureate.
-
Also: A comic book for the blind; Salvador Dali's great, trippy Alice in Wonderland illustrations.
-
Literary enfant terrible Tao Lin's latest novel, Taipei, follows protagonist Paul — who closely resembles Lin himself — on his drugged wanderings around New York and Taipei. Reviewer Annalisa Quinn says Lin "refuses, almost sadistically, to entertain the reader."
-
Also: Orhan Pamuk on the protests in Turkey; Adam Johnson on Kim Jong Il's sushi chef.
