Tamahori made the New Zealand film "Once Were Warriors." It takes a front-line look at an urban Maori family plagued by poverty, violence and alcoholism. The movie recently became the top grossing film in New Zealand history. Star Rena Owen joins the conversation later in this segment.
Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker looks back at the music of Doc Pomus, who died in 1991. There's a new tribute album to him out, called "Till the Night Is Gone."
Judith Musick is the director of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, a pregnancy prevention and teenage-parent programs in Illinois, and author of the new book, "Young, Poor and Pregnant: The Psychology of Teenage Motherhood." Musick believes that impoverished adolescent girls become young mothers as an attempt to create a future and an identity.
Bass has a new gospel album, "No Ways Tired." Her R&B hit "Rescue Me" came out in 1965. She was given no credits and no royalties for the song. Soon after, disenchanted with the industry, she retired to raise a family. In recent years, she has been on a comeback while getting back to her roots as a gospel singer.
Michael Tonry is a professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota. His new book, Malign Neglect: Race Crime, and Punishment in America, discusses how our current approach to fighting crime victimizes disadvantaged black Americans. He calls for a reform of sentencing and parole policies.
Ann Charters, the biographer of Jack Kerouac, has just edited two new collections of his writings: The Portable Jack Kerouac, and Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters. In this interview,she reads from some of Kerouac's letters, and discusses how he translated his life into his work. Charters teaches at the University of Connecticut.
Ed Gillespie, co-editor of the book The Contract With America and policy and communications director of the House Republican Conference. He believes the welfare reforms outlined in the Republican agenda are accurate assessments of what is needed to correct the current welfare system.
Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new album "To Bring You My Love," from the English singer and songwriter PJ Harvey, It is being touted as her artistic -- and possibly commercial -- breakthrough.
Director of the National Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition at Tufts University, Dr. Larry Brown. He directed a recent study titled "Statement on Key Welfare Reform Issues: The Empirical Evidence." It revealed the assumptions behind the Republican "Contract With America" regarding welfare reform to be wrong. He agrees reform is necessary but must be focused on the right target.
Falk is best known for his role as a rumpled L.A. detective in the TV series "Columbo," where he garnered three Emmy awards. He currently stars in the recently released film "Roommates," detailing the relationship between a grandfather and grandson.
Fresh Air commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank. The book is a newly expanded edition of the famous text which Anne's father Otto Frank, the only survivor, published.
Mamet's new novel is a conversation between a grandmother and granddaughter preparing a traditional Passover meal. The grandmother reveals the horrific family history of living through the Polish Pogroms. Mamet also wrote Glengarry Glen Ross, Writing in Restaurants, and the screenplays for The Untouchables and Hoffa.
Hammerstein is also past president of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. He has recently helped in the making of a new PBS tribute show about his father, Oscar Hammerstein.
Fresh Air prison correspondent Wilbert Rideau is editor emeritus of the Angolite, the news magazine of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola where he is serving a life sentence. He talks about dying in prison. With longer sentences and less parole, prisoners are beginning to die in prison. Rideau recently spoke with a dying inmate, a prison nurse and a warden who handles funeral arrangements.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new CBS series "Under One Roof," starring James Earl Jones and Joe Morton. It's notable for being the first television drama focusing on an African American family.
Biographer Deirdre Bair has written acclaimed biographies of Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir. Her newest subject is writer and diarist Anais Nin. A reviewer in the Kirkus Reviews writes, "Bair's Nin emerges as the complex woman she was, a woman who inspired both wrath and passion in those whose paths crossed hers. It's called Anais Nin: A Biography.
