Terry Gross

Singer Susannah McCorkle performs a tribute to composer Irving Berlin. McCorkle will perform tributes to Berlin each week at this time throughout the month.

Poet W.S.Merwin. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1970 work, The Carriers of Ladders. His books of poetry include The Song of Roland, The Compass Flower and, his latest collection, The Rain in the Trees.

Composer William Bolcom. He is best known for his humorous and accomplished piano accompaniment of his wife, the singer Joan Morris, in their performances of American popular songs. His own compositions include the vast choral cantata "Songs of Innocence and Experience," that sets the poems of William Blake to music. He won this year's Pulitzer Prize in Music. Bolcom is also renown for his ragtime compositions, especially his work "Graceful Ghost."

Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone reviews the Broadway play "M Butterfly."

Writer and actress Lulla Rosenfeld. She's written a book on Yiddish Theatre and her grandfather, Jacob Adler, one of its most renowned actors.

Guest film critic Michael Sragow, film critic for The San Francisco Examiner. Sragow will review the Australian film "High Tide" about the reunion of an estranged mother and daughter.

Exiled South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. In the 60's, Masekela was probably best known for his instrumental hit, "Grazing In The Grass." More recently, Masekela performed with Paul Simon during his the Graceland tour.

Susan Baur, author of Hypochondria: Woeful Imaginings, a book that examines how hypochondria develops, how hypochondriacs stay that way, and how they have been viewed over time.

New York Times television critic Peter Boyer. His new book, Who Killed CBS? The Undoing of America's Number One News Network, explores the recent turmoil within the news division of CBS, and how it has effected the entire corporation. He reports on the ill-fated reign of CBS News President Van Gordon Sauter, the tenure of Dan Rather as anchor of the CBS Evening News and the takeover of CBS by New York investor Laurence Tisch.

Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe. Achebe is one of Africa's foremost writers. His earlier works include Things Fall Apart, A Man of the People and Arrow of God. His latest work, his first novel in 25 years, is titled Anthills of the Savannah.