The lost essay of Langston Hughes

Plus: a new Adrian McKinty thriller, social workers in libraries and this week's critics' picks [Langston Hughes]( Jack Delano/Library of Congress In a short essay, the celebrated poet Langston Hughes recounts an experience he had outside Savannah, Ga., in which he encountered a young person escaping from a chain gang. It was the summer of 1927 and Hughes was traveling by car with his friend and fellow writer, Zora Neale Hurston. "That night, a strange thing happened," Hughes writes. "After sundown, in the evening dusk, as we were nearing the city of Savannah, we noticed a dark figure waving at us frantically from the swamps at the side of the road." That essay hadn’t been seen for decades: It was the foreword to the Soviet edition of a book, and was published only in Russian. The person who discovered it, Steven Hoelscher, appears on All Things Considered to [talk about the lost Langston Hughes work he found](. [The Chain by Adrian McKinty]( The day that Adrian McKinty and his family were evicted, he saw his daughters looking at him on the sidewalk outside what used to be their home, and he knew he'd do anything for them — even give up writing. So that’s what he did for a while, even after establishing himself as a critically acclaimed crime novelist. But with a little help from some friends, [he found a way to keep going](. His new book, The Chain, is a thriller about a crime ring that preys on parents by kidnapping their children. In other words, [reviewer Paddy Hirsch writes]( it’s a “thunderous ride in the darkest, most fearful reaches of a parent’s mind” — which must sound familiar to Adrian McKinty. [David Perez]( Tonya Garcia/Long Branch Free Public Library David Perez says he's the only social worker in the state of New Jersey employed permanently by a public library. A U.S. Army veteran who bounced from job to job after the service, before finally settling on the social work program at Monmouth University, he was surprised when his advisers suggested he intern at the local library. But he gets it now. "Anyone can come right in here, and you don't need to be of any class, you don't need money," he says. "You can take advantage of all of the services that we offer." He may be alone in New Jersey, but he’s not alone: about [three dozen public libraries in the U.S. have hired social workers]( since 2009, and that number is only growing. Finally this week: Critic Michael Schaub [reviews The Nickel Boys,]( the latest novel from Colson Whitehead, which he says offers “a perfect ending to a perfect novel.” Comics correspondent Etelka Lehoczky [reviews They Called Us Enemy]( George Takei’s graphic novel about his childhood years in a World War II Japanese internment camp. And critic Jason Sheehan [reviews This Is How You Lose the Time War]( an epistolary novel with time-travelling, genocide and a love story, collaboratively written by Max Gladstone and (NPR Books contributor!) Amal El-Mohtar. [The Nickel Boys cover]( [They Called Us Enemy cover]( [This Is How You Lose The Time War cover]( Happy reading! --------------------------------------------------------------- What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [books@npr.org](mailto:books@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. Looking for more great content? [Check out all of our newsletter offerings]( — including Music, Pop Culture, Code Switch and more! [Facebook]( [Twitter]( You received this message because you're subscribed to our Books emails. | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002 [NPR]