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.
-
Nesmith rose to fame as one of the Pre-Fab Four — but he had a long and influential career after the Monkees. He helped invent the format that became MTV, and produced the cult film Repo Man. -
Books We Love (formerly known as NPR's Book Concierge) is back with a new name and 360+ new books handpicked just for you by NPR staff and trusted critics. -
Shortages of paper and cardboard — plus issues with warehouse and shipping capacity — are causing havoc in the publishing industry right before the holiday shopping season kicks into gear.
-
The longlist nominees for this year's National Book Awards are being announced over the course of the next few days — we'll have them all right here in a continuously updated post. -
Chuck Close, who was known for his giant photorealist portraits of friends and colleagues in the art world, has died at the age of 81. Late in life, Close faced accusations of sexual harassment. -
Way back in 2011, we polled our readers about their favorite science fiction and fantasy books and made a list of their 100 favorites. There were some notable omissions. It's time to fix that. -
Earlier in the summer, we asked you to vote for your favorite science fiction and fantasy reads of the past decade — so here are 50 fabulous reads, curated by our expert judges and you, the readers. -
August can sometimes be a stretch of the doldrums when it comes to publishing — but this month there are so many fascinating books on the horizon, we added an extra to our usual list of five. -
No costumed crowds are thronging the streets of San Diego this weekend: For the second year in a row, Comic-Con is online only. But organizers are hoping for a small in-person show in November. -
This month brings a great selection of books, from a reimagining of King Arthur to a study of loneliness that might be just what you need as you start to recover from pandemic-induced isolation.
