New York (State)--New York--Brooklyn

The author says his life -- and writing -- has been defined by struggle. He didn't read a novel until he was in his twenties. His first, controversial work, Last Exit to Brooklyn, documented its protagonist's violent, working class life. It's now being made into a film.

The author's new book, about a fifteen year old girl's longing for adventure, takes the form of a memoir -- but the story is invented. Schwartz joins Fresh Air to talk about her protagonist's sexuality and the boundless power of fiction.

Unlike other film critics, Stephen Schiff isn't so troubled by the ambiguous ending of Spike Lee's third movie. Schiff admires the way Do the Right Thing smartly grapples with race relations, but he's frustrated by how inconsistent the characters are, a directorial flaw that serves the sometimes twisting plot.

Author Hubert Selby, Junior. His first novel, "Last Exit to Brooklyn," was published in 1957. It's just been made into a movie, and Selby was an advisor and plays a small part in the film, which opened this week. Selby teaches at the University of Southern California, and is working on a new novel.

Hubert Selby's controversial, now-classic novel has been turned into a new movie, directed by Uli Edel. Selby served as a consultant on-set. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the people who inspired his writing.

George is one of this country's most prominent chroniclers of black music and culture. He was the black music editor at "Billboard" for seven years and is a regular columnist for the "Village Voice." His new book "Buppies, B-Boys, Baps and Bohos: Notes on Post-Soul Black Culture," is a collection of his writings about the last two decades in Black urban culture. George also edited the book, "Stop the Violence," a collaboration of top rappers working to end black-on-black violence.

Writer Hubert Selby, Jr. Thirty-four years ago, his collection of stories, "Last Exit To Brooklyn," (Grove Press) shocked readers with its salty language and explicit portrayal of prostitutes, thugs, ex-cons, and striking dock workers along the Brooklyn waterfront. Selby has several new books out: "The Willow Tree" and "Reading the Apocalypse in Bed: Six Radical Plays" (Marion Boyars Publishers). And there's a new book about Selby, entitled "Understanding Hubert Selby, Jr." by James R.

Schiavelli just written a memoir about growing up in Brooklyn, New York. It's called "Bruculinu, America: Remembrances of Sicilian-American Brooklyn, Told in Stories and Recipes." (Houghton Mifflin) Schiavelli is a character actor who's been in the films "Ghost," "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "The People Vs. Larry Flynt."

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Motherless Brooklyn" (Doubleday) by Jonathan Lethem, a mystery novel set in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

His new semi-autobiographical novel, The Fortress of Solitude, tells the story of Dylan Ebdus, a white kid growing up in an African-American and Latino neighborhood in New York. His last novel, Motherless Brooklyn, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. His other books include Girl in Landscape and Amnesia Moon.