Terry Gross

Hemphill is the author of two books of poetry, "Earth Life" and "Conditions," and a collection of prose and poetry called "Ceremonies." He's also the editor of "Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men." He reads an excerpt from his poem "Vital Signs," published in the collection "Life Sentences: Writers, Artists, and AIDS," edited by Thomas Avena.

Trinidad's latest book is "Answer Song." He and Dennis Cooper are co-editing a volume of selected poems by Tim Dlugos called "Powerless."

Jeff Moss was one of the original creators and writers of "Sesame Street." He created Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch, and wrote such songs as "Rubber Ducky" and "People in Your Neighborhood." He has won 13 Emmy's, four Grammy's, and an Oscar nomination for his work on "Sesame Street" and with the Muppets. Moss is also the author of four books for children, the newest of which is "Hieronymus White: A Bird Who Believed That He Always Was Right."

The former New Yorker writer reviewed movies for the magazine for 25 years, and is the author of 13 books about the cinema, including a National Book Award winner. Her newest book is a collection of more than 275 of her reviews, called "For Keeps: Thirty Years at the Movies."

Panter is well known in the punk-rock scene, and was a founding member and writer of "Pee-Wee's Playhouse." She is a member of the punk band Honk if Yer Horny. In 1992, Panter co-founded The Bohemian Women's Political Alliance, a feminist organization of "the teenagers who dressed in black, the bad girls who climbed out of [their] bedroom windows at dark and caught taxis home at dawn."

Cartoonist Art Spiegelman, author of "Maus," for which he won a Pulitzer Prize, and "Maus II." The two book-length comics are accounts of Spiegelman's s parents' experiences in the Holocaust. He is also co-founder and editor of "Raw," a magazine of avant-garde comics. He has now illustrated "The Wild Party: The Lost Classic by Joseph Moncure March."

Writer and professor Michael Eric Dyson wrote "Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X." The book explores the different sides of Malcolm X and how his influence is felt today. Dyson is also the author of "Reflecting Black," and a professor of Communications Studies at the University of North Carolina.

Journalist James Traub has written "City on a Hill: Testing the American Dream at City College." This is an exploration of the "open admissions policy" that was implemented at the College in 1970, and the effects this policy has had on the school. Traub examined remedial classes and struggling students, and talked to administrators and professors including Leonard Jeffries, the controversial Chair of the Black Studies Department.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Junior," Ivan Reitman's new comedy in which Arnold Schwarzenegger gets pregnant.

Actress Lauren Bacall is a legend, though she doesn't like to think of herself as such. She's been a star of stage and screen for fifty years, was married to Humphrey Bogart, and won the National Book Award for her 1978 autobiography "By Myself." Her new book, "Now," is about the experiences that have shaped her life. (TIHS IS AN EXTENDED VERSION OF THE INTERVIEW BROADCAST 10/18/94)