Petra Mayer
Petra Mayer died on November 13, 2021. She has been remembered by friends and colleagues, including all of us at NPR. The Petra Mayer Memorial Fund for Internships has been created in her honor.
Petra Mayer (she/her) was an editor (and the resident nerd) at NPR Books, focusing on fiction, and particularly genre fiction. She brought to the job passion, speed-reading skills, and a truly impressive collection of Doctor Who doodads. You could also hear her on the air and on the occasional episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour.
Prior to her role at NPR Books, she was an associate producer and director for All Things Considered on the weekends. She handled all of the show's books coverage, and she was also the person to ask if you wanted to know how much snow falls outside NPR's Washington headquarters on a Saturday, how to belly dance, or what pro wrestling looks like up close and personal.
Mayer originally came to NPR as an engineering assistant in 1994, while still attending Amherst College. After three years spending summers honing her soldering skills in the maintenance shop, she made the jump to Boston's WBUR as a newswriter in 1997. Mayer returned to NPR in 2000 after a roundabout journey that included a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a two-year stint as an audio archivist and producer at the Prague headquarters of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She still knows how to solder.
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Legend says that if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, England will fall. Luckily, ravenmaster Chris Skaife is there to care for them, and he's got a new book about these extraordinary birds. -
Writer, critic and musician Juan Vidal grew up largely fatherless, falling in and out of trouble — but he found fellowship, poetry, and eventually guidance in the words of his favorite rappers. -
ElfQuest is a comics industry institution — this saga of, yes, elves on a quest has been running since 1978. But now, creators Wendy and Richard Pini have brought the quest to an end. -
Tangier Island, in the Chesapeake Bay, has been home to a small, self-reliant community of watermen for centuries — and now climate change is threatening to swamp the island and its way of life. -
Critic and author Jason Heller's new book traces the considerable influence of David Bowie on the science-fiction inflected music of the 1970s, from "Space Oddity" to the glittery glory of Funkadelic. -
Trick or treat! A few years ago, we celebrated Frankenstein's 200th birthday by dedicating our annual reader poll to horror stories. This Halloween, check out our list of 100 spine-tingling tales.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
