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When author Chris Abani was a boy, he was miserable at Catholic seminary and he felt like an outsider in his own family. One summer break, at home in Afikpo, he discovered James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room. The tragic, taboo love story made young Abani feel that at last he'd found someone who understood how out of place he felt in his own life.

Is that a cross? A ship with a figurehead? It's only human to wonder what the future will hold, especially on the threshold of a new year. In one German tradition, fortune-seekers drop molten lead into cold water — then it's anyone's guess what the strange shapes portend.

In laid-back Key West, most people get around by bike. So NPR's Petra Mayer had to learn.

Stories that titillate, amuse or arouse flash-in-the-pan outrage may be more widely read and shared than solid information. Celebrity and scandals have always attracted media attention, but in the Internet age, the balance is shifting more toward entertainment.

Poet Federico Garcia Lorca's life was cut short during the Spanish Civil War, but he left behind a rich legacy of poetry and drama. Reviewer Juan Vidal says the best poetry in translation to come out this year is a new collection of Lorca's verse, translated by writers who were deeply influenced by him.

New Years' resolutions, whether they're about family, money or health, are often forgotten in a matter of weeks. Now a social entrepreneur is encouraging people to keep their promises all year long. Host Michel Martin speaks with Alex Sheen, the founder of the group, Because I Said I Would.

South Sudan is the world's newest nation, but observers say it could be heading toward civil war, or even genocide.

How do you set a resolution when you've already accomplished so much? These women have innovated and inspired, but they still have hopes for improvement in 2014.

It may come as no surprise that since Ask Me Another tapes in a bar, we are no strangers to the bottom of a glass. (With responsibility, of course.) On the seventh day of Christmas, Ask Me Another gave to me: cocktail recipes inspired by the show's games, contestants and guests.

Cartooning was his passion as a kid, and he enrolled in the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture to become better at drawing backgrounds. Now, some call Ingels a "starchitect," because his challenging designs are getting built.