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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We thought you might need a laugh right about now, so this year's summer reader poll celebrates all the books (and one short story, and a few uncategorizable gems) that make you laugh out loud. -
San Diego Comic-Con kicked off Thursday, with more than 130,000 attendees expected. Big draws of the day were Lin-Manuel Miranda and Arnold Schwarzenegger — and a surprise appearance from Tom Cruise. -
The Association for Library Service to Children has voted to rename its Laura Ingalls Wilder award for children's literature, after complaints about Wilder's portrayal of Native Americans.
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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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The Book Concierge is back and bigger than ever! Explore more than 300 standout titles picked by NPR staff and critics. -
NPR Books editor Petra Mayer was in the Manhattan neighborhood on Saturday when she saw what looked like a pressure cooker on the sidewalk. Suddenly she found herself at the heart of the night's news. -
The latest book in J.K. Rowling's series, really a script for a play, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," went on sale at midnight. We check in with fans who lined up, wands in hand, to get a copy.
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The PEN/Allen award is given annually to big-name authors who embody the organization's mission "to oppose repression in any form." Rowling is a frequent target — and vocal opponent — of censorship. -
Matt de la Peña becomes the first Hispanic author to win the Newbery award for children's literature, while the Caldecott picture-book prize went to a book about the real-life Winnie the Pooh.
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James is the first Jamaican author to win the prestigious literary award, for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. It's based on a real 1976 assassination attempt on reggae star Bob Marley.
