Caryl Phillips, author of five novels, a work of nonfiction and many scripts for film, theater, radio and television. His new novel,"Crossing the River" (Knopf), tells stories of slavery and the relationships forged by and among some of its perpetrators and victims. Phillips takes liberties with time in following the lives of three African children sold into slavery by their desperate father -- one freed and sent back to Africa as a missionary, one searching for her lost husband and child in the American wild west and one, a World War II GI stationed in Yorkshire, England.
Gregory Alan-WIilliams, Emmy Award winning actor, author and playwright. He has written "A Gathering of Heroes, Reflections on Rage and Responsibility," a memoir of the Los Angeles Riots (Academy Chicago Publishers). On April 29, 1992, Alan-WIilliams, an African American, heard that violence had erupted in South Central L.A. and chose to walk into the heart of the riot. He ended up risking his own life to rescue a Japanese American man who was being brutally beaten by some in the angry crowd.
An in-studio concert and interview with singer/songwriter, guitarist Richard Thompson. He first became known for his work with "Fairport Convention." He's since gone solo and is known for his dark songs which blend elements of British folk ballads and the blues. His latest album is "Mirror Blue," (Capitol). There's also a retrospective collection of his work released last year, "Watching the Dark: The History of Richard Thompson," (on Rykodisc.)
Academy Award winning writer-producer-director James Brooks. Brooks will discuss his new movie, "I'll Do Anything," a romantic comedy about a struggling but talented Hollywood character actor, played by Nick Nolte.
Actress Julie Kavner. In her first professional role, she played Brenda Morgenstern, the insecure younger sister of the title character, in the television series "Rhoda." She landed an Emmy award for that role. Also on television, she co-starred in "The Tracey Ullman Show" and now can be heard as the unforgettable voice of Marge on the animated sitcom, "The Simpsons," for which she also won an Emmy. She starred in the movie "This Is My Life," co-starred in "Awakenings," and appeared in 5 Woody Allen movies.
Television critic David Bianculli reviews the new CBS telemovie "I Spy Returns," which re-pairs stars Bill Cosby and Robert Culp from the old "I Spy" series. Bianculli tells us how the telemovie stacks up against its competition, the regular lineup of NBC sitcoms.
Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophonist, is one of the jazz world's greatest improvisational artists. At the tender age of 23, he played with Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. After successfully battling a heroin addiction in the early 1950s, he joined the Clifford Brown-Max Roach quintet. He also began a critically-acclaimed solo career. Now in his sixties, he feels obligated to carry on the vision of his own mentors to today's rising stars. His latest album, "Old Flames" (Milestone), focuses on jazz standards and features Sonny backed by a brass section.
Beverly and Dereck Joubert, wildlife documentary producers. This husband and wife team lives in northern Botswana, seven hours from the nearest village. Working and living out of a four-wheel drive vehicle, they have captured the family relationships of the last free-roaming elephants left in Africa. Their latest wildlife film, "Reflections on Elephants," contains ground-breaking footage of lions attacking an elephant calf. Previously, such attacks were thought to be only mythical. The documentary premieres on PBS this Wednesday at 8:00 PM ET.
Drummer and drum historian Max Weinberg. For over a decade, Weinberg was the drummer for Bruce Springstein's E Street Band. Now he leads the 7-piece band on Late Night With Conan O'Brien on NBC. Weinberg co-authored The Big Beat: Conversations with Rock's Great Drummers (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1984). Now, he has produced and annotated a three-volume compilation of music performed by his favorite rock 'n roll drummers of the 50's, 60's and 70's. (Max Weinberg Presents: Let There Be Drums, Vols. 1-3. on the Rhino label.
William Taubman is a political science professor at Amherst College. He is a frequent visitor to Russia and is currently working on a biography of Nikita Krushchev. Taubman talks to Terry about the status of the reform movement in Russia, the legacy of Communism and the mood of the Russian people.
David Garrow is a Pulitzer Prize winning author for his biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., "Bearing the Cross." His newest book is a history of the struggle for birth control rights during the 1920s and 30s and how that paved the way for the abortion rights struggle. Along the way, Garrow examines how these rights are tied in with issues of privacy and sexuality. Garrow found that the arguments used in the birth control rights struggle were the same ones used in the struggle for abortion rights.
Writer Shirlee Taylor Haizlip. Her book "The Sweeter the Juice: a Family Memoir in Black and White, (Simon & Schuster), chronicles her exploration of six generations of her multiracial family tree. Haizlip is a light-skinned African-American. Her father was a prominent black Baptist minister in Connecticut. Her mother was the descendant of an Irish immigrant and a mulatto slave.
Singer/Songwriter Elvis Costello. In the late 1970s he burst out of Britain's pop-music scene with a sound and attitude never seen before. He was the angry young-man with a fresh sound. He's known for making connections between different musical communities. He's collaborated with Paul McCartney, Ruben Blades, Aimee Mann of "'til Tuesday," David Was of "Was (Not Was)," and T. Bone Burnett.
Robert Olen Butler is the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction for "A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain," (Henry Holt & Co.) a collection of 15 first-person stories by Vietnamese immigrants living in Louisiana. Butler has written seven novels in all, several of them dealing with the Vietnamese experience, in Vietnam and in America. Butler's latest book is "They Whisper," (Henry Holt), about intimacy between a man and a woman.
TV critic, David Bianculli, reviews new prime-time cartoon series, "The Critic," created by a team of three writer-producers from "The Simpsons." "The Critic" is about New York film reviewer and single father, Jay Sherman.
Author and former British prisoner, Belfast-born Gerry Conlon. In his memoir, "In the Name of the Father," he tells the story of his wrongful conviction and fifteen-year imprisonment by the British Government for the 1974 terrorist bombings of two pubs near London. He was in prison with his father, Giuseppe, who was also falsely convicted as a co-conspirator in the bombings.
Film director Jim Sheridan. An Academy Award nominee for Best Director of "My Left Foot," he directed, produced and co-authored the screenplay for the new film, "In the Name of the Father," starring Daniel Day-Lewis. It's based on Gerry Conlon's memoir of the same name.
