Terry Gross

Spiegelman edits the underground comics magazine Raw. He is best known for graphic novel Maus, about his father's experiences in Nazi concentration camps, which was widely celebrated. Raw recently featured a new chapters in that story.

Conway grew up in Australia and was home-schooled until college. Her new memoir, The Road from Coorain, looks at how her academic pursuits eventually led her to become Smith College's first woman president.

Bob Elliott was half of the comedy team Bob and Ray; his son Chris appears regularly on the Late Show with David Letterman. They've written a joint memoir called Daddy's Boy, in which Chris recounts a childhood memory, and Bob offers his rebuttal.

Cooper says his new novel Closer -- which features explicit depictions of sex acts -- is meant to disturb, but not shock or arouse. While honing in on the experiences of gay men, Cooper sidesteps the issue of AIDS; he says sexuality generates enough anxiety on its own.

Before starting his anarchic, avant-garde band the Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa wrote chamber music and played in lounge bands. His new memoir explains how he went from a freelance guitarist to an unwitting rock star.

Lopez has a new collection of essays called Crossing Open Ground, which offers what he hopes is a non-judgemental view of environmental change and different interactions with animals and the natural world.

Lewitzky is based in Los Angeles where, early in her career, she danced in a number of motion pictures. Her choreography for the stage conveys simplicity of movement, divorced from any suggestion of narrative. Lewitzky performed until the age of 62.

Playwright John O'Keefe has a new one-man show called Shimmer, about his adolescence. He joins Fresh Air to perform a short excerpt.

Apelfeld is a Holocaust survivor; his family was sent to a concentration camp, despite their being non-practicing Jews. This history informs much of Apelfeld's work, including his new novel, For Every Sin.

Staples' new album, Time Waits for No One, was produced by Prince. Early in life, she was discouraged from singing secular music, and later co-founded the gospel group The Staples Singers with members of her family.