Terry Gross

Journalist Soledad Santiago and her children were homeless fourteen years ago. From there she went on to become a journalist and she headed the press office for New York State Controller Ned Regan. She talks to Terry about her life, about raising children in a dangerous urban environment, and the difficult choices she's had to make. Her new novel is called "Room 9." (Perfect Crime Press).

First amendment lawyer Matin Garbus He recently defended Peter Matthiessen's controversial book, "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse," against two separate libel suits. Garbus is currently helping to draft a new constitution for Czechoslovakia. He talks with Terry about that.

The late songwriter Doc Pomus co-wrote such hits as "This Magic Moment," "Save The Last Dance for Me," "Teenager in Love," and "His Latest Flame." We remember Pomus with three interviews:

1) Music critic Peter Guralnick (Gurr-AL-nick), a friend and admirer of Pomus. Guralnick wrote "Searching For Robert Johnson," a book that examined the life of blues musician Robert Johnson. And he's currently working on a biography of Elvis Presley.

Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson. He shot all of Spike Lee's films. He's now making his debut as a film director with the movie, "Juice," for which he also wrote the script.

A concert and interview with singer/songwriter/guitarist Jules Shear. He was with the "Funky Kings," and later, "Jules & The Polar Bears." The songs he has written have been recorded by The Bangles, Cyndi Lauper, and many others. He has a new album out this month, "The Great Puzzle." (on Polydor).

Playwright, lyricist, and novelist Joe Keenan. His new book, "Putting On the Ritz," follows the further misadventures of the Broadway characters he first created in the book "Blue Heaven." (It's published by Viking).

Larry David, the co creator, executive producer, and on of the writers of the comedy series "Seinfeld." David's also the basis for the character "George," Jerry Seinfeld's neurotic best friend. He was a writer for Saturday Night Live and the short lived ABC late night series, "Fridays."

Columnist Cynthia Heimel ("HIGH-mel") tells us what the new year holds for her. Heimel writes about the perils of being a single woman in the 90s for both The Village Voice and Playboy. There's a recent collection of her columns, titled "If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet?" (It's published by Atlantic).

Writer Maxine Hong Kingston shares her thoughts at the end of the year. Her novel, "Tripmaster Monkey," was a huge critical success in 1989. This year, Kingston lost the only copy of the manuscript for her new novel when her house in Oakland, California burned down earlier this year.

Film critic Stephen Schiff runs down his picks for the best movies of 1991, and he discusses the trends in movies this year.