Terry Gross

Author Robert Stone. Stone's been widely hailed as a brilliant writer. his first novel, "A Hall of Mirrors," won a William Faulkner Award. He earned a PEN/Faulkner Award for "A Flag For Sunrise," and the national Book Award for "Dog Soldiers." His new novel, "Outerbridge Reach," is the story of one man's search for himself during a solo sailing voyage. (It's published by Ticknor and Fields). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Author Allen Kurzweil. Kurzweil's new book, "A Case of Curiosities," is a comic novel about the life of a 18th Century watchmaker living in France in the days before the Revolution. (It's published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Composer Alan Menken. With his partner, the late lyricist Howard Ashman, Menken wrote the music for the Disney movies "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid." The pair also collaborated on the Broadway musical "Little Shop of Horrors." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane).

Dorothy Beam. Her son Joe Beam died of AIDS three years ago. He was a writer who was in the process of editing his second anthology of Black gay writing. Dorothy helped finish the work her son started, along with editor Essex Hemphill. The collection is "Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men," (published by Alyson Publications). Joseph Beam's first anthology is "In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Mystery writer Sara Paretsky. Paretsky's just written the seventh in her series of mysteries starring tough-nails female private eye V.I. Warshawski. (Published by Delacorte Press). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Journalist Hedrick Smith. Smith has spent years covering the Soviet Union, as a reporter for the New York Times, as an author, and as a TV documentary producer and correspondent. He's just returned from the former Soviet Union, and his latest report, "After Gorbachev's U.S.S.R." airs this week on the public television documentary series, "Frontline." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Author Robert Olen Butler. Butler's first novel, "The Alleys of Eden," has been called one of the finest books ever written about Americans in Vietnam. Butler has a new collection of stories, called "A Good Scent From A Strange Mountain." (It's published by Henry Holt). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Author Norma Field. Field teaches Japanese literature at the University Chicago and was born to a Japanese mother and an American father. Her new book, "In the Realm Of A Dying Emperor," tells the true stories of three Japanese who went against the ultra-conformist Japanese society, and the condemnation they suffered. (It's published by Pantheon). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Journalist Nan Robertson. Robertson spent more than three decades at the New York Times. Her new book, "The Girls In the Balcony," is a look back at the sexual inequality that for many years was part of working life at the Times, and throughout journalism in general. (It's published by Random House). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new comedy "Wayne's World."