Terry Gross

British rock star Elvis Costello. Since he debuted in 1979 with My Aim is True Costello has been one of the most prolific and influential rock acts. His music has been praised for the wit and intelligence of his lyrics, and the inventiveness of the music. Rhino Records is currently reissuing his entire catalog

Sylvia Nasar is the author of A Beautiful Mind, the biography of mathematical genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash, who also suffered from schizophrenia. The book won a National Book Critics Circle Award, and inspired the movie of the same name. Nasar is a former economics correspondent for The New York Times. She is currently the Knight Professor of Journalism at Columbia University.

Journalist Barton Gellman of The Washington Post will discuss the Clinton and Bush adminstrationsefforts to track down Osama bin Laden and his network prior to Sept. 11. Gellman wrote a two-part series about it that ran in the Post Dec. 19 and 20, 2001. A third installment was later published Jan 20, 2002.

Last year, Journalist David Cay Johnston won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the U.S. tax code. He writes about tax inequities, tax loopholes and the IRS for The New York Times. He will talk about how Enron and other large corporations get away with not paying taxes, and how the current economy and the war against terrorism will effect the proposed tax cuts.

Michael Patrick King is the executive producer of hit HBO comedy series, Sex and the City. Now in its fourth season, the show just won its third Golden Globe award for "Best Television Series-Musical or Comedy." The show also received last year's Emmy for "Best Comedy Series." He has also written for the television series, Murphy Brown, and acted as a consultant for the hit series, Will and Grace.

Author Philip Dray is the author of the book, At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America. Dray chronicles lynching. He looks at the perpetrators, the groups and individuals who courageously took a stand against it (the NAACP, Ida Wells, and W.E.B. Du Bois) and the legacy it left behind. Dray researched his book at the Tuskegee Institute where records about lynchings have been kept from 1882. He is also the co-author of We Are not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney's song lyrics include "When I'm 64," "Yesterday", "Fool on the Hill," "Paperback Writer" and many more. They are collected along with his poems in a recent volume, Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics 1965-1999. His latest album is called Driving Rain.

Milt Bearden spent 30 years in the CIA. He ran the CIA covert operations in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion, and helped train the Afghan freedom fighters. Bearden also was station chief in Pakistan, Moscow, and Khartoum. He received the CIA highest honor, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal. Since the Sept. 11th attacks, Bearden has been a frequent commentator on TV and in print. He is also the author of the novel, The Black Tulip: A Novel of War in Afghanistan (paperback, Random House).

Terry Gross interviews journalist, novelist and satirist Carl Hiaasen. Mystery writer Tony Hillerman once called Hiaasen "the Mark Twain of the crime novel." His latest novel is Basket Case. Hiaasen, the author of eight novels, also writes a twice-weekly column for The Miami Herald. He got his start at the Herald 25 years ago as an investigative reporter going after unscrupulous developers and narco-traders, which helped him hone his skills for writing crime novels.

Australian actress Cate Blanchett. In her latest film Charlotte Gray she plays a courier behind enemy lines during World War II, directed by Australian director Gillian Armstrong. She also in three films out now: The Shipping News, Bandits and The Lord of the Rings. Blanchett was nominated for an Academy Award for her starring role in Elizabeth. Her other films include Pushing Tin, Oscar and Lucinda, The Talented Mr Ripley, and The Gift.