Terry Gross

Johnson was part of the 1950s Beat community and had a relationship with Jack Kerouac. Her experience in the literary counterculture - and the peripheral place of women within it -- has influenced much of her work, including her memoir Minor Characters and her new novel, In the Night Cafe.

The holiday has been a perpetual cause of stress for children since it was established by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. Guest commentator Ilene Segalove reflects on the anxiety she felt over the years deciding on the perfect gift for her own mother, only to realize that something simple, homemade, and from the heart was best.

Shields went to speech therapy the same time he attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Like the author himself, the protagonist of his new novel, Dead Languages, has a stutter. Shields' writing explores the gap between his mastery of written language and his difficulties speaking.

O'Neil worked at NBC and CBS before starting his own independent network. He joins Fresh Air to discuss how football teams and networks have coordinated before games, the pros and cons of instant replays, and his new book, The Game Behind the Game.

The book Geek Love is about carnival performers who intentionally take drugs during pregnancy in order to give birth to deformed children. Author Katherine Dunn says she used deformity as a metaphor to make a larger point about body image and disability.

Pianist and singer Marcia Ball joins Fresh Air to sing two love songs.

Anderson was a street performer and con artist before he was cast in the first season of Cheers. That part eventually led to his role in the show Night Court. Anderson has a new book called Games You Can't Lose: A Guide for Suckers.

At 65, Kuhn was forced to retire from her job solely because of her age. In 1969, she founded the Gray Panthers, which advocated for the rights and dignity of older people. Early on, the group also participated in the anti-war movement. Kuhn joins Fresh Air to talk about aging and the different expectations placed on people of her generation.

Each of Grafton's detective novels begin with a letter of the alphabet. Her newest book is called "F" Is for Fugitive. She says that, in order to bring authenticity to her stories, she studied up on forensics, visited a morgue, and learned to fire a gun.

The Italian film director died last week at the age of 67. Film critic Stephen Schiff says that Leone's movies had a unique symbolism and vision of the American West that only an outsider could have imagined.