'Twice Born' tells a tale of discovery through biography

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published November 19, 2025 at 11:48 AM EST

The cover of "Twice Born" and author Hester Kaplan. (Courtesy of Catapult and Rupert Whiteley)

Hester Kaplan felt as though she never knew her father, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning biographer Justin Kaplan. But as she writes in her new memoir “Twice Born: Finding My Father in the Margins of Biography,” she began to discover who he was after his death, through reading his acclaimed biography of Mark Twain.

Kaplan joins host Tiziana Dearing to talk about the book.

Book excerpt: ‘Twice Born’

By Hester Kaplan

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

Donate

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Donate