Terry Gross

Host of ABC'S "Nightline" Ted Koppel. Today is the 20th anniversary of the show (first aired March 24th, 1980). Koppel has won every major broadcasting award, including 30 Emmys. He’s interviewed over ten-thousand people. He was born in Lancashire, England, and started his career as a desk assistant and reporter for WMCA Radio in New York City. Terry originally talked to him when his memoir was published. It's called "Nightline: History in the Making and the Making of Television" (Times Books, by Ted Koppel and Kyle Gibson). (Originally aired 5/30/96)

Actress Joan Cusack. She has received two best supporting actress Oscar nominations -- in 1988 for her role in Working Girl, and in 1997 for her role in In and Out. Her other movies include Broadcast News, Addams Family Values, Grosse Pointe Blank, Arlington Road, The Cradle Will Rock and Runaway Bride. She stars with her brother John Cusack in the new film High Fidelity, based on the novel by Nick Hornby. (High Fidelity opens March 31st)

Writer Ted Heller. His new book is “Slab Rat.” Heller was responsible for the famous “Separated at Birth” feature in Spy Magazine, a concept that has lived on long after the publication. His new book is a satire about a magazine staffer who will do just about anything to get ahead. Heller has also worked at a number of magazines, including Details, Premiere and Vanity Fair.

Writer Ernesto Quinonez His debut novel, “Bodega Dreams” (Vintage books), is set in Spanish Harlem. Like his narrator, Quinonez is half Ecuadorean, half-Puerto Rican. A reviewer in the Kirkus Reviews writes of the book, “Edgy, street-smart. . . An admirable debut, brimming with energy and refreshingly devoid of genre clichés.”

Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim turns 70 on this day, Wednesday, March 22nd. We commemorate the occasion with 1988 interview with him. He discusses his work on “West Side Story” (for which he wrote lyrics), “Gypsy” (lyrics), and his own musical “Sweeney Todd.” Sondheim learned his craft from Oscar Hammerstein, who was a neighbor and surrogate father to him. Sondheim’s other musicals include “Company,” “Follies,” and “Sunday in the Park with George.” (REBROADCAST from 11/10/88).

Tens of thousands of African-American men, women, and children were lynched by mobs in the United States between 1882 and 1968. Some of these lynchings were photographed, and the photos were saved as souvenirs, and were even sometimes used as postcards. Antique dealer James Allen came across these disturbing images and began to collect them. His collection is currently on display at the New York Historical Society. The book about Allen’s collection, called “Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America” (Twin Palms Publishers) was published earlier this year.

We listen back to interviews with historian Philip Dray, author of At the Hands of Persons Unknown, and James Allen, who collected postcard "souvenirs" of lynchings for Without Sanctuary.

Lennard Davis talks about his new memoir “My Sense of Silence: Memoirs of a Childhood With Deafness” (University of Illinois Press), about Davis's experiences, growing up a hearing child with deaf parents. He'll talk about his complex and sometimes difficult relationship with his deaf, working-class Jewish immigrant parents. DAVIS is a professor and Graduate Director of the English Department at State University of New York, Binghamton. He has written several books and published essays in The Nation, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and other publications.

British writer Nick Hornby. His novel High-Fidelity has been made into a new film starring John Cusack as a 36-year old obsessed record-collector who's just lost his girlfriend -- a casualty of his devotion to music. The movie opens March 31st. (REBROADCAST from 9/26/95)

This month composer and jazz musician Ornette Coleman celebrates his 70th birthday. We’ll hear from him and his son Denardo Coleman. In 1959 Coleman changed the course of jazz with the start of "free jazz" and the formation of The Ornette Coleman Quartet. We will also hear from members of Coleman’s original Quartet: bassist Charlie Haden and the late trumpeter Don Cherry. REBROADCAST from 7/11/9 (from interviews aired: 11/26/1985, 9/12/1990, and 10/24/1995)