Terry Gross

Former senator and Republican leader Bob Dole has written a new memoir about his experience in World War II. Late in the war in Italy, Dole was injured; he nearly died, and spent years in recovery. He was left with a paralyzed right arm. His new book is 'One Soldier's Story.'

Film directors Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez are the team behind the new film Sin City, based on Miller's graphic novel series of the same name. Miller's Sin City series garnered numerous awards, including the Harvey and the Eisner Awards.

Ian McEwan is the author of the best-selling novel Atonement. His latest novel, Saturday, takes place during one single day of a neurosurgeon's life. It is set in a post-9/11 world.

Colbert is the senior correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Colbert started his comic career with Second City in Chicago. He wrote and performed sketches on The Dana Carvey Show. He is also the voice of Ace for Saturday Night Lives's animated shorts Ace & Gary: The Ambiguously Gay Duo. This interview was originally broadcast on Jan. 24, 2005.

Writer Frank Conroy died April 6, at 69. He had colon cancer. He was the longtime director of the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop. His 1967 memoir, Stop-Time, became a classic. In 1993, he published his first and only novel, Body & Soul. His other books were a collection of short stories, Midair, and his last book, the nonfiction Time and Tide: A Walk Through Nantucket. Conroy also worked as a jazz pianist in Greenwich Village and Nantucket for many years. (Originally aired Sept. 29, 1993)

Lewis Black is a playwright, stand-up comic, actor, and a commentator on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He's been described as having the mouth of a shock-jock and the heart of a liberal. His new book is entitled Nothing's Sacred.

Author Saul Bellow died April 5 at the age of 89. His short stories and novels garnered him three National Book Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, a Presidential Award and a Nobel Prize. His books include The Adventures of Augie March, Henderson the Rain King, Herzog and Humbolt's Gift. (Originally aired Oct. 4, 1989.)

We talk with Brad Bird, who wrote and directed the Academy Award-winning film The Incredibles, about a suburban family with superpowers. The mix of average characters and extraordinary abilities has turned the animated characters into celebrities.

Actress, activist, and former fitness guru Jane Fonda has been in the spotlight since her childhood. Now she's written a candid new memoir, My Life So Far, offering details of her relationship with her father, her ex-husbands, her films, and her part in the 1960s anti-war movement.

Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's American Life In Poetry is a free weekly column providing a brief poem and description as a way to bring verse to the masses. Monday, Kooser won a Pulitzer Prize.