John Powers
John Powers is the pop culture and critic-at-large on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He previously served for six years as the film critic.
Powers spent the last 25 years as a critic and columnist, first for LA Weekly, then Vogue. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Harper's BAZAAR, The Nation, Gourmet, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
A former professor at Georgetown University, Powers is the author of Sore Winners, a study of American culture during President George W. Bush's administration. His latest book, WKW: The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai (co-written with Wong Kar Wai), is an April 2016 release by Rizzoli.
He lives in Pasadena, California, with his wife, filmmaker Sandi Tan.
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The first volume of Kaoru Takamura's 1997 eccentric crime thriller has just been translated into English. Inspired by a real-life case, Lady Joker reveals its world in rich, polyphonic detail.
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The Man Who Sold His Skin centers on a Syrian man who, desperate to reach Belgium, allows an artist to tattoo a visa on his back. The film has been nominated for the Best International Feature Oscar. -
Four middle-aged high school teachers test the theory that life is better with a constant infusion of alcohol. It's a provocative premise that wraps up in an exuberantly Hollywood ending.
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This four-part TV series isn't merely unfolding a crime story —it offers a metaphor for the troubled soul of Northern Ireland, two decades after the Troubles supposedly ended.
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Mick Herron's brilliantly plotted series follows a group of maladroit MI5 agents who've somehow blown it with the agency. The latest installment is a timely novel set in a post-Brexit U.K.
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Lee Isaac Chung's semi-autobiographical film centers on a South Korean family trying to make it as farmers in rural Arkansas. Minariproves that a small story can feel bigger than a blockbuster.
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As with COVID-19, AIDS had its deniers and its conspiracy theorists. A new five-part series centers on five young adults sharing an apartment in London at the onset of that epidemic.
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Danish poet Tove Ditlevsen took her own life in 1976. A newly translated version of her three-part memoir traces the sometimes amusing, sometimes painful turns of her unconventional life.
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Corpses pile up, but there are no human footsteps surrounding the dead bodies — only animal footprints. This strange, darkly funny film mixes feminism, social justice and ecology.
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Eley Williams tells the story of two word-mad characters who work for the same dictionary publisher 120 years apart. This novel is perfect for anyone who loves puns, crosswords and witty writing.
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A new PBS Masterpiece psychological thriller stars Glenda Jackson as a woman desperately trying to solve two mysteries — even as her own grasp of reality is slipping away.
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From Lovers RocktoThe Good Lord Bird, the titles on John Powers' year-end list didn't simply distract; they also delved into enduring questions of freedom, dignity and survival.
