Shields went to speech therapy the same time he attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Like the author himself, the protagonist of his new novel, Dead Languages, has a stutter. Shields' writing explores the gap between his mastery of written language and his difficulties speaking.
Johnson was part of the 1950s Beat community and had a relationship with Jack Kerouac. Her experience in the literary counterculture - and the peripheral place of women within it -- has influenced much of her work, including her memoir Minor Characters and her new novel, In the Night Cafe.
The blues and rock guitar player's career was put on hold when he was arrested and imprisoned for charges that may have been racially motivated. Rock historian Ed Ward reflects on some of Berry's post-prison work, which never matched his earlier success.
O'Neil worked at NBC and CBS before starting his own independent network. He joins Fresh Air to discuss how football teams and networks have coordinated before games, the pros and cons of instant replays, and his new book, The Game Behind the Game.
Book critic John Leonard reviews Tolstaya's new book, On the Golden Porch. The author is descended from Leo and Alexander Tolstoy, and has garnered comparisons to Chekov. But Leonard says Tolstaya most reminds him of John Cheever for the way she captures sadness on the page.
The book Geek Love is about carnival performers who intentionally take drugs during pregnancy in order to give birth to deformed children. Author Katherine Dunn says she used deformity as a metaphor to make a larger point about body image and disability.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new made-for-TV movie about a murder investigation on a space colony. It's enjoyable enough -- but even with a scantily clad star and improbable plot, it's no Barbarella.
Bassist Eberhad Weber's new album, on the ECM label, is airy, effects-laden, and often devoid of blues-inflected harmony. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says it's the kind of thing he usually hates -- but he still likes Weber's music.
At 65, Kuhn was forced to retire from her job solely because of her age. In 1969, she founded the Gray Panthers, which advocated for the rights and dignity of older people. Early on, the group also participated in the anti-war movement. Kuhn joins Fresh Air to talk about aging and the different expectations placed on people of her generation.
Anderson was a street performer and con artist before he was cast in the first season of Cheers. That part eventually led to his role in the show Night Court. Anderson has a new book called Games You Can't Lose: A Guide for Suckers.
Critic Ken Tucker says the new video Bugs & Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons is a delightful reminder of the wry ways Americans dealt with their emotions during World War II.
Ken Tucker says Petty's first album without his backing band, Full Moon Fever, makes him proud to be an American -- it's a fine, mainstream rock album.
Each of Grafton's detective novels begin with a letter of the alphabet. Her newest book is called "F" Is for Fugitive. She says that, in order to bring authenticity to her stories, she studied up on forensics, visited a morgue, and learned to fire a gun.
The Italian film director died last week at the age of 67. Film critic Stephen Schiff says that Leone's movies had a unique symbolism and vision of the American West that only an outsider could have imagined.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says that some composers elevate film scores, including Bernard Hermann, who wrote the music for several Alfred Hitchcock movies. A new collection of those compositions is now out on CD.
Band leader and composer Mercer Ellington is the son of Duke Ellington, and leads the Duke Ellington Band. As a young man, Mercer Ellington played trombone, French horn and trumpet in his father's ensemble. Two recent Mercer Ellington albums have won wide acclaim: "Digital Duke" and "For Ellington," performed by the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Maureen Corrigan has regularly read the Sunday New York Times wedding announcements. She says the kind of information that's printed -- and the kinds of couples who are highlighted might say as much about the paper's editorial slant as much as it does the current state of marriage.
Tom Goodkind, Bruce Paskow, and Lauren Agnelli are veterans of the New York punk scene. Their new band, the Washington Squares, plays traditional folk songs with a rock edge.
Book critic John Leonard reviews David Grossman's novel See Under: Love, about Holocaust survivors. Leonard says he's still not sure if the fantastic plot and inventive structure work -- or if the ambitious book is indeed a masterpiece.
