Karen Grigsby Bates
Karen Grigsby Bates is the Senior Correspondent for Code Switch, a podcast that reports on race and ethnicity. A veteran NPR reporter, Bates covered race for the network for several years before becoming a founding member of the Code Switch team. She is especially interested in stories about the hidden history of race in America—and in the intersection of race and culture. She oversees much of Code Switch's coverage of books by and about people of color, as well as issues of race in the publishing industry. Bates is the co-author of a best-selling etiquette book (Basic Black: Home Training for Modern Times) and two mystery novels; she is also a contributor to several anthologies of essays. She lives in Los Angeles and reports from NPR West.
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The South and West may become the Rust Belts of the 21st century, according to a new study from the Mortgage Bankers Association. It says the economies in these regions — in places like California and Florida — may never fully recover from the burst of the housing bubble. -
The protagonist of Naomi Hirahara's novels isn't a seasoned police detective or a private investigator — he's a gruff, 72-year-old gardener who lives in the hills above Pasadena, Calif. The Mas Arai character was inspired by Hirahara's father and guides readers into the hidden corners of L.A.'s Japanese-American communities. -
The prolific and perennially controversial celebrity biographer takes a look at the life of a talk show host who doesn't much like to be talked about. Not surprisingly, Kelley's latest bio is entirely unauthorized. -
Elsie Washington, who died last month, is hailed as the Barack Obama of romance writers. Colleagues say she showed that publishing novels with worldly black characters was possible. She established a precedent that influenced the genre over the past 20 years.
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The new film Angels & Demons revolves around a group whose name has become synonymous with shadows and global conspiracy: the Illuminati. But how big — and how bad — are they really? -
What business did a young black woman in the Northeast have indulging a fascination with the slave-owning heroine of Gone With the Wind? NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates explains the complicated business of Scarlett fever. -
On Sunday night, the Golden Globes will become the biggest, high-profile casualty of the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike. The cost to Los Angeles' economy in lost business from the cancelled ceremonies and after-parties is estimated at $80 million.
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No new talks are planned on the screenwriters strike, but a new survey shows that the public supports the screenwriters.
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With the arrest of James Seale Wednesday on kidnapping charges related to the murders of Charles Moore and Henry Dee in 1964, a decades-old case is closer to resolution. Charles Moore's brother, who was 20 years old at the time of the murders, played a key role in finding Seale.
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If you're still crossing items off your holiday gift list, remember this: You don't have to worry about the right fit or color, if you pick a book. Karen Grigsby Bates found plenty of titles worth adding to your shopping list, in categories ranging from novels to cookbooks.
