Terry Gross

Fisher wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of her novel, Postcards From the Edge, directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Meryl Streep and Shirley McLaine. Best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars trilogy, Fisher also has a new novel called, Surrender the Pink. She is the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.

Film critic Stephen Schiff has no taste for the high school movies that proliferated in the 1980s. But he likes films that celebrate youthful energy and rebellion against authority, like Pump Up the Volume. The movie, about a teenage radio DJ, features an excellent performance by star Christian Slater.

The white anti-apartheid activist and African National Congress member survived a car bomb explosion, though the blast left him severely injured. Sachs later left South Africa for Mozambique, then England. His new memoir about the experience is called Running to Maputo.

Greg Ford and Hal Willner produced of a new album of live, orchestral performances of the composer's music, which helped defined the the classic Warner Bros. cartoons.

Coyote was a member of the Digger, a San Francisco-based guerrilla theater collective. After a brief stint as a stockbroker, he's now a movie actor, appearing in Jagged Edge, E.T., and Outrageous Fortune. He wrote the introduction to a new edition of Emmett Grogan's autobiography, Ringolevio, about the 1960s counterculture.

Music journalist Charles Shaar Murray is the author of Crosstown Traffic, about how fans and critics have defined the groundbreaking African American guitarist in relation to white culture. The tension between black musicians and white audiences continues today, particularly with the rise of rap music.

Journalist James Traub writes about the Wedtech company in his new book, Too Good To Be True. The Bronx-based, minority-led defense firm bribed politicians in order to earn government contracts with the support of the Reagan administration.

Tucker wrote Brown's memoir, The Godfather of Soul, which was recently reprinted. He joins Fresh Air to talk about Brown's rise as a soul singer, the evolution of his stage persona, and his recent conviction and imprisonment, a punishment which Tucker believes is too severe based on the charges.

Rather than spend minutes setting up elaborate jokes, Wright comedian delivers one-liners in a deadpan, stoic manner. He has a new HBO comedy special coming up, and also appears in movies. Wright won an Academy Award for the short the Appointments of Dennis Jennings.

Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Tim Weiner reports on national security issues. In 1988, he won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles on secret Pentagon spending on advanced weaponry and defense technology. Weiner argues that the lack of transparency is unconstitutional -- a point he argues in his new book, "Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget."