Irving Stone On Writing Biographical Novels.

Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews John Edgar Wideman's new book, Fanon (a Novel), which mixes fiction, biography and memoir in an effort to capture the life and mind of psychiatrist and revolutionary Frantz Fanon.

Thomas Keneally recently won the prestigious Booker prize for his novel "Schindler's List." The novel tells the story of German Industrialist Oskar Schindler who, in World War II, created "benign" work and concentration camps. The Australian novelist has published several novels, including "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith," which has been made into a film.

Have you ever wondered about the personal life of the man who developed the theory of evolution? On today's Fresh Air, the conservationist Randal Keynes — Charles Darwin's great-great grandson — talks about the man behind the science: his relationship with his wife, Emma, and how they handled the death of their daughter. In 2002, Keynes wrote a book on the subject called Annie's Box, which shares personal letters and diaries documenting how Darwin cared for his daughter in the last months of her life. The book is the basis for the new film Creation.