Terry Gross

The New Yorker called Trevor "probably the greatest living writer of short stories in the English language." Besides his eight volumes of short stories, he has written eleven novels, several plays for stage and for radio and television. In 1994 his memoir, "Excursions in the Real World" was published by Knopf. He writes about his family and childhood in Ireland. His latest book is "After Rain" published by Viking. It's a collection of short stories many which appeared in The New Yorker.

Brinkley will retire this week. He is host of ABC's "This Week with David Brinkley." He is also getting attention this week for calling President Clinton a "bore" who "doesn't have a creative bone in his body." In this archive show, Brinkley highlights his half century of journalism. His book, Washington Goes to War, was a surprise best-seller in 1988. It told the story of Washington in the early 40s, and how both the government and town itself were transformed by the responsibilities thrust on them as a result of the war.

Munro has a new collection called "Selected Stories." Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Paris Review. She's written seven previous short story collections, and has received Canada's highest literary prize three times.

Film director Anthony Minghella. He made his film debut with the highly acclaimed, "Truly, Madly, Deeply." His latest project is the film version of the novel "The English Patient," by Michael Ondaatje which won England's prestigious Booker Prize in 1992.

Berube is a professor of English at the University of Illinois and is the author of the new book, "Life As We Know It: A Father, a Family, and an Exceptional Child." It's about the birth of his son in 1991, Jamie, who has Down syndrome, and how that has affected his family's life. Berube writes in the introduction, "individual humans like James are compelling us daily to determine what kind of 'individuality' we will value, on what terms, and why."

Commentator Gerald Early reflects on the black community and historically black colleges and universities.

Satirist and columnist Harry Shearer. He is one of the creators of and performers in the mock-rock group Spinal Tap, and he is also the host of the syndicated NPR radio program, "Le Show" and a weekly commentator on ABC TV's World News Now. Shearer will give some of his impressions of the 1996 electoral campaign.

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration conditionally approved the sale of RU486, the French abortion pill, in the United States. The drug won't be available widely until mid-next year. Dr. Elizabeth Newhall works in a clinic in Portland, Oregon, where they have been testing the drug with their patients.

Nationally syndicated columnist and author Roger Simon. He's covered every presidential election for the past twenty years. He'll give us his impression of this year's election, the day after. Simon wrote the book "Road Show" about the 1988 presidential election. He's currently working on a book about this year's campaign which will be out next year.

Two guests discuss their work in Hollywood.