Terry Gross

Ballard's novels often deal with the changes affected by modern science and technology. His novel "Crash" relates these changes to sexually-deviant behavior. The book has been made into a movie by filmmaker David Cronenberg and won an award at the 1996 Cannes Film Festiival. Ballard also wrote the books "Empire of the Sun" and "Concrete Island," among others.

Commentator Gerald Early tells us why he was unsatisfied with "When We Were Kings" the Oscar-award winning documentary about the classic showdown between Muhammad Ali and George Forman in 1974 in Zaire.

A live on stage conversation between film critic Roger Ebert and film director Martin Scorsese, held at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio in February. They discuss the scope of Scorsese's career.

Hasy won the National Book Critics Circle award for poetry for his book "Sun Under Wood" (Ecco). He's written several books of poetry including "Praise" and "Human Wishes," and edited "The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson & Issa." (The Ecco Press).

McCourt recently won the National Book Critics Circle Award for his memoir "Angela's Ashes" (Scribner) which is still on the bestseller list. Last October he talked with Terry Gross about the book. It recounts his experiences growing up desperately poor in Ireland. McCourt lives in New York. (This interview is REBROADCAST from 10/24/96.)

Cronenberg directed the films "M. Butterfly," "The Fly," "Dead Ringers," and "Naked Lunch," all of which tell a story of sexually deviant behavior. In his new movie "Crash" he continues the theme, combining sex and car wrecks, and explores its place in an age of modern technology.

Ballard's novel "Crash" is the basis for Cronenberg's new film of the same name. Ballard is also the author of "Empire of the Sun" (which was made into a film by Steven Spielberg), and "Concrete Island." He's written over 20 novels.

Screenwriter John Gregory Dunne. He and his wife, writer Joan Didion, have been working in film for 25 years. Their latest project was the screenplay for "Up Close and Personal" the movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford, based very losely on the Jessica Savitch story. In Dunne's new book "Monster: Living off the Big Screen" (Random House) he chronicles their eight year odyssey with the project.

Foreign editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Zucchino. In his new book "Myth of the Welfare Queen," he turns his attention to his own town, Philadelphia, where he follows the lives of two welfare mothers, Odessa Williams and Cheri Honkala. One reviewer writes, "David Zucchino has shattered unequivocally the stereotype of women receiving welfare."

Athlete and freelance journalist Anna Seaton Huntington. She won the women's pair rowing bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics and was a member of the 1995 women's team in the America's Cup competition. In her new book "Making Waves," she writes of her experience training for and competing in a traditionally male-dominated sport of sailing.