May 26th, 2008 · For our series In Character, we've asked listeners to tell us about their own favorite characters by submitting essays to the In Character blog. An 11-year-old who's been in foster care for the past four years wrote about his affinity for the protagonist of A Dog's Life: Autobiography of a Stray.
May 18th, 2008 · Jacki Lyden speaks with Rabih Alameddine about his new book The Hakawati. As the protagonist sits by the bedside of his dying father, the reader is pulled into an otherworldly web of stories, inspired by Arab legend, Greek myths and the Bible.
May 12th, 2008 · He's the protagonist — you can't quite say "hero," unless you add "tragic" in front — of August Wilson's play Fences. James Earl Jones, who first played the part, helps explain why he's unforgettable.
Feb 18th, 2008 · Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Kenya for a day of talks with political protagonists and leaders. She's delivering a message from President Bush: Stop the violence and return to democracy. Bush is in Tanzania on the second leg of a five-nation African tour that is focusing on U.S. humanitarian efforts on the continent. Rice's trip to Kenya girds former U.N. chief Kofi Annan's mediation efforts there.
Nov 4th, 2007 · In his first novel set in America, critically acclaimed author Ha Jin explores the meaning of the American dream in A Free Life. In the aftermath of Tiananmen Square, his protagonist dreams of being a poet, but soon finds himself swamped in mortgage payments and obligations in suburban Atlanta.
Jun 7th, 2007 · The opening riffs from The Clutters' "Surrender" represent a perfect cross between The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" and the theme song from School of Rock. Which, to channel the film's protagonist, means that the song pretty obviously rules.
Mar 17th, 2007 · Scott Simon talks with first time novelist Ruth Downie about her book, Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire. The protagonist is a put upon Roman doctor stationed in Britannia.
Feb 7th, 2007 · A baboon with "an unsettling mastery of human speech" is the chief protagonist in Mr. Thundermug, the first book by author Cornelius Medvei. The idea for a story about a talking baboon sprang from a dream that one of Medvei's friends described to him.