Arts & Culture

Author Craig Nova's life as a reader has left him wanting to fill in the gaps in contemporary fiction. Nova notes that he's witnessed a decline in loving male characters. In his latest novel, "The Constant Heart" (Counterpoint/2012), he attempts to fill in this gap. “The Constant Heart” was recently celebrated as part of the New Yorker's "Best Books of 2012" list. Craig Nova is an author and a professor in the humanities at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He joins Host Frank Stasio live at the Triad Stage to discuss the themes behind "The Constant Heart."

The sound of American Country music owes much of it's success to an unlikely source: the 19th century Hawaiian music scene. Hawaiian music at that time was dominated by the steel guitar. During the instrument's century-long international migration, it influenced the direction of many genres.

Wangechi Mutu's life-size collages attempt to bring the Black female body to the forefront of her work. It is inspired by the complex power she's seen in women, particularly from her native Kenya. Not only are they enormous, but the figures are also mystical and powerful.

Today, Pope Francis officially became the 266th Pope for the Catholic Church, and the first representative of the New World. The 265 men who served before him were all European, but Pope Francis was born in Argentina, where he continued to serve until the church tapped him for the top job in Rome.