New Hampshire

NHPR Reads: May 2024

Published

2 years ago

May 16, 2024

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! This month serves as a time to celebrate the culture, history, and achievements of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the nation. We hope you enjoy this list of a few of the NHPR staff’s favorite texts by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. If you have a favorite that didn’t make it onto this list, let us know! Our inbox, voices@nhpr.org, is always open. – Zoë

Asian American Is Not a Color: Conversations On Race, Affirmative Action, And Family by Oiyan Poon

Part memoir, part review of Supreme Court rulings that have defined race relations in America (as well as Asian Americans’ positionality within the Black/White binary), and a personal as well as academic deep dive into the issue of affirmative action, Oiyan explores all this by addressing her daughter’s many questions, including her precocious questions when she was just three years old: are we White? No. Are we Black? No. Then what are we? Asian American. But Asian American isn’t a color! Wise words Te Te! Wise words indeed… – Felix Poon

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

A heartbreaking story of family ties and family tragedies, a brilliant examination of the pressures children can face and the escape valves they create for themselves. Secrets abound, as do struggles for genuine connection and identity. It’s beautiful, and gut-wrenching. – Sara Plourde

Bestiary by K-Ming Chang

An NPR review of Bestiary says “Chang’s facility for making even mundane or traumatic events beautiful with words is a reminder that stories are, among other things, some of our very best survival tools.” And stories abound here, with elements of beasts and magic, amid the all too real issues of familial abuse and separation, which Chang handles deftly. – Sara Plourde

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Privilege in the publishing industry is put on notice in this debut satire in which a white author steals a manuscript from her dead Asian friend and publishes it as her own work. Yellowface asks us to consider who gets to tell our stories – and who gets to profit off the telling of those stories. – Sara Plourde

Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

For those who prioritize beautiful language, pick up this poetry collection. Vuong shares with us an intimate look into familial grief and the depth of a mothers love. – Zoë Kay

Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar

This is such a stunning debut novel. I laughed, I cried ( a lot), I contemplated my own life and the human experience. I truly can not recommend this book enough. The plot does center around death and addiction, but somehow manages to leave the reader feeling hopeful. – Zoë Kay

Franny Choi poetry, and Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang – Sarah Gibson

This is a very unoriginal suggestion but if you, like me, didn’t read the bestseller Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner when it first came out, I highly recommend you jump on the bandwagon (pun not intended!). Michelle is the lead singer of Japanese Breakfast, and her memoir about food, family, identity and grief is so compelling. I finished it in two days! – Lauren Chooljian

The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan

It’s an epic read that is by turns devastating and full of hope. If you’re already a Tan fan (The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter’s Daughter are also excellent) you know you’re in for lots of deep mother/daughter feels, too.

Also Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. I read most of this novel in one night when I had pregnancy insomnia because it totally sucked me in! – Katie Colaneri

Everything Asian by Sung J. Woo

My friend Sung emigrated from South Korea to New Jersey as a young man. So has the protagonist of this novel. The funny moments and the sad ones will be familiar to anyone who’s no more than a remove or two away from the immigrant experience – which is most of us. And anybody who’s ever cringed at their parents’ behavior will see their teen years brought to life in this slyly serious picaresque. – Jim Schachter

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston. This work is considered a classic in the genre of memoir, first published in 1976. The author explores myth, memory, and the immigrant experience of her Chinese family as they settle in California. – Angela Menendez

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo – Jackie Harris

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei – Julia Furukawa

In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri

This is probably the best book about language learning I’ve ever read! It is a memoir about Lahiri – one of the most accomplished writers in the English language – leaving behind English and starting to write in Italian in her 40s. Lahiri originally wrote the book in Italian and it was translated into English by Ann Goldstein (Elena Ferrante’s translator, for any fans of the Neapolitan Quartet!). It is an amazing meditation on both the power and limits of language. – Kate Dario

The I.Q. series by Joe Ide – the books are just great. – Rebecca Lavoie

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

Yes, I’m throwing a romance novel on this list. It’s a modern rom-com! (And definitely for adults.) But I loved the construct, the framing device, and the East Coast-West Coast vibe of it all. If you enjoy books by the likes of Emily Henry, want to get a glimpse inside the workings of a TV writers room, and are curious about how a grown-up can maybe break from the stifling expectations of her parents, you may just love this book! – Rebecca Lavoie

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New Hampshire

New photo released in unsolved 1997 homicide of a N.H. woman

Published

11 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

New photo released in unsolved 1997 homicide of a N.H. woman

Local News

“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” said the family of the victim.

A new photo has been released of the victim in a nearly 30-year-long unsolved murder case, in the hope of finding any new potential witnesses in the cold case, New Hampshire officials said.

“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” the family of Rosalie Miller said in a press release. “We miss her and want to give her peace.”

Miller was last seen on December 8, 1996 at her apartment in Manchester. At the time of her disappearance, Miller had plans on meeting friends in the Auburn, New Hampshire area, officials said.

Her body was found on January 20, 1997 in a partially wooded spot on a residential lot along the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn, officials said in the release.

The autopsy report declared Miller’s death a homicide by asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, N.H. officials wrote.

As part of a new effort to garner public help with the case, an “uncirculated” photo of Miller, 36, is being distributed “in hopes it may jog the memory of someone who saw or spoke with her in the winter of 1996,” Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall announced on behalf of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit in a joint press release.

Investigators are especially hoping to talk to anyone who was in contact with Miller in December of 1996 or anyone “who may have seen her in the vicinity of the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn during that time,” officials said in the release.

The newly released photo of Rosalie Miller, 36, who was strangled to death nearly 30 years ago. – Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall

“We are releasing this new photograph today because we believe someone out there has information, perhaps a detail they thought was insignificant at the time, that could be the key to solving this case and bringing justice for Rosalie and those who loved her,” Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, New Hampshire Cold Case Unit Chief said in the release.

The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit encourages anyone with any amount of information to contact the group at [email protected] or (603) 271-2663.

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New Hampshire

Former president of NH-based charity sentenced after stealing $350K

Published

23 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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Former president of NH-based charity sentenced after stealing 0K

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New Hampshire

Mass. man struck by car, seriously injured on I-93 in Londonderry, NH

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Mass. man struck by car, seriously injured on I-93 in Londonderry, NH

A Massachusetts man was flown to the hospital after he was struck by a car when he stepped out of his vehicle in the breakdown lane of Interstate 93 in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on Saturday morning.

State police say 40-year-old Felix Matos Medina, of Lawrence, had stopped on the right side of I-93 south at Exit 5 just before 11 a.m. to investigate a possible mechanical issue. He was struck shortly after he stepped out of his vehicle by a Chevrolet Malibu and sustained serious injuries.

Medina was taken by medical helicopter to Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Mass., police said. There was no immediate update on his condition.

I-93 southbound was closed near Exit 5 for about 30 minutes to facilitate the medical helicopter’s landing. One lane remained closed for several hours to accommodate crash reconstruction and on-scene investigation.

The driver who struck Medina, identified as David Jodoin, stopped at the scene and is cooperating with investigators, according to police. No charges have been filed at this time, but all aspects of the crash remain under investigation at this time.

Anyone with information that may assist the investigation is asked to contact Trooper Evan Puopolo at 603-451-9784.

State police are also reminding all New Hampshire drivers that Sherrill’s Law requires motorists approaching a stopped vehicle displaying warning signals to slow down and give plenty of space. Drivers are also required to move out of partially or wholly blocked lanes when it’s safe to do so.

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