Terry Gross

Film director Robert Altman died Monday night at age 81. We play back a 1990 interview with Altman, whose work includes M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye, Nashville and this year's A Prairie Home Companion. This interview originally aired on Dec. 20, 1990.

The news parody publication The Onion has released a new compilation of articles, Homeland Insecurity: Complete News Archives Volume 17. Editors Joe Garden and Joe Randazzo talk about the project and poking fun at current events.

Kiran Desai's novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize. Her mother, Anita, has been short-listed for the prize three times. Her books include Fire on the Mountain, Clear Light of Day and In Custody. Kiran was born in New Delhi and moved to the United States as a teenager.