Given that approximately half of humanity menstruates at some point in their lives, Aida Salazar says it's a real testament to the patriarchy that women feel shame or embarrassment about their periods.

Salazar wanted better for her daughter's generation, so she wrote The Moon Within, a coming of age novel written in verse. The story centers around Celi Rivera, an 11-year-old girl growing up in Oakland, who is mortified that her mother wants to celebrate her first period with a moon ceremony.

Andrew Ridker, still in his twenties, has uncorked a lively, tragicomic debut novel, a probe into questions that never get old: What constitutes a good, moral life, and how do you pull it off in this world?

Ruth E. Carter recently won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for her work on the movie Black Panther, so we've invited her to play a game called "I hate Mondays" — three questions about Garfield, a very grumpy, inexplicably beloved, orange panther (of sorts).

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Let's meet Arthur Dubois. He's 72 years old, a grandfather, a resident of the great city of Chicago and a hip-hop artist.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARTHUR DUBOIS SONG)

British author Helen Oyeyemi wants you to know that you're never too old for fairy tales. She's made a career out of writing books that draw on the folklore that we all read as children — her 2011 novel Mr. Fox drew on the British fairy tale of the same name, while her 2014 book Boy, Snow, Bird found its inspiration in the story of Snow White.

To celebrate the release of his third studio album, Gary Clark Jr. performed music from This Land live on KCRW. A lot has changed in Gary's personal life and political outlook since his last album in 2015 — including marriage, two kids and two presidents — all of which has clearly informed this latest release and makes it his most intimate to date.