Infowars founder Alex Jones speaks to the media outside Waterbury Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn., on Sept. 21, 2022. Several victims' families successfully sued Jones for causing emotional and psychological harm after they lost their children in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images North America hide caption

Anthony Palmini is a voice actor for "romantasy" books like A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas and Quicksilver by Callie Hart. Keren Carrion/NPR hide caption

Understanding one of the world's oldest civilizations can't be achieved through a single film or book. But recent works of literature, journalism, music and film by Iranians are a powerful starting point. Clockwise from top left: The Seed of the Sacred Fig, For The Sun After Long Nights, Cutting Through Rocks, It Was Just an Accident, Martyr!, and Kayhan Kalhor. NEON; Pantheon; Gandom Films Production; NEON; Vintage; Julia Gunther for NPR hide caption

Tayari Jones' new novel, Kin, follows two women growing up without their mothers in the 1950s. Julie Yarbrough/Knopf hide caption

The school district removed Junot Díaz's novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao from the curriculum of a high-level English class at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., in response to a mental health crisis. Anastasia Tsioulcas/NPR hide caption

Michael Pollan is the author of A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness. Christopher Michel/Penguin Random House hide caption

Charli xcx's original soundtrack serves as a kind of secondary narrator for Emerald Fennell's adaptation of Wuthering Heights. The film arrives in a landscape where the fan cultures of pop music and romance literature have already been intertwining in striking ways. Paul Kooiker hide caption

Gisèle Pelicot poses during a photo session in Paris on February 4, 2026. Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption