Terry Gross

In the memoir, The Beauty of Dusk, Frank Bruni chronicles the changes to his vision and the adaptations he's had to make in his work, personal life and attitude. The book also profiles a number of other people who've survived and thrived in ways that Bruni says are profoundly instructive.

The MacArthur "genius" grant winner talks about what he learned from his piano teachers, and his failures, frustrations and pivotal moments as an artist. Denk's new memoir is Every Good Boy Does Fine.

Hurt, who died March 13, won an Oscar for his performance as a drag queen sharing a prison cell with a political dissident in the 1985 film Kiss of the Spider Woman. Originally broadcast in 2010.