Terry Gross

We pay tribute to Frank Zappa who died over the weekend with an excerpt of Terry's 1989 interview with him. (Rebroadcast of 1/17/1989)

Movie critic Steven Schiff reviews "A Dangerous Woman" starring Deborah Winger. (PARTIAL REVIEW)

Writer Elaine Marcus Starkman. Starkman's new book, "Learning to Sit in Silence: A Journal of Caretaking" (Papeir-Mache), is a fictionalized journal of caring for her elderly mother-in-law. Starkman explores the love, guilt, and anger that accompanies aging and death for so many. Starkman has also written "The Best Time" and "Love Scene." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Novelist Albert French. He found inspiration for his first novel, "Billy" (Viking), in the true story of an 11-yr-old getting the electric chair in the 1930's. "Billy," is the story of the "legal lynching" of a ten year old boy in the deep south who inadvertently kills a white girl. French writes in "Delta" dialect, epitomizing racial hatred in America. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Readings from the PEN American Center's benefit for Bosnian Writers, "An Evening For Sarajevo", held last night in New York City. Fifteen American writers read from their work to raise money for the writers of Sarajevo for food and supplies; writers in the besieged city are fighting to keep their literary culture vital and undiminished in a time of war.

Bosnian Journalist Zlatko Dizdarevic, an editor of the only daily newspaper in Sarajevo which has continued to publish during the war, and the author of "Sarajevo Under Siege: A War Journal," (Fromm International). He read last night at the PEN American Center's benefit, "An Evening For Sarajevo".

Doctor Marcus Conant. In the early 1980's Dr. Conant was among the first doctors in San Francisco to treat AIDS cases. Now Dr. Conant heads the largest private AIDS medical practice in San Francisco. After his 1985 study on how condoms block transmission of the AIDS virus, condoms became a household word. Dr. Conant is the director of AIDS Clinical Research Center and the co-director of the Kaposi's Sarcoma Clinic at the University of California at San Francisco.

Banjo player Tony Trischka. He's been called the "premier banjo madman of our time." Trischka incorporates jazz and rock and roll into his style, with bluegrass at the heart of his music. TTrischka's new album, "World Turning" (Rounder Records), is a "loose history of the banjo" with everything from an African banjo tune to banjo Dixieland style. He has a number of albums out on the Rounder label.

Former homeless man and writer Lars Eighner. He's written an account of his time on the streets with his dog, "Travels with Lizbeth: Three Years on the Road and on the Streets," (St, Martin's Press).

Former president of Harvard Derek Bok. In his new book, "The Cost of Talent: How Executives and Professionals Are Paid and How It Affects America" (Free Press), BOK argues that the rich shouldn't be so much richer. He says that huge salary gaps result in social and economic losses, "jeopardiz[ing] democracy by weakening faith in the economic system". Bok was the president of Harvard University from 1971 to 1991. He has written five other books.