Biography & Memoir

Actress and playwright Anna Deveare Smith. She’s best known for her one-woman plays based on hundreds of interviews she did with diverse people who experienced a crisis in their community. They include “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” about the Rodney King verdict, and “Fires in the Mirror” about the Crown Heights disturbances. Her most recent show “House Arrest” took her to Washington D.C.to interview politicians and pundits, and it involves a community not in crisis. Deveare Smith has also written a new memoir, “Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines” (Random House).

Former theater critic Frank Rich. He’s just published his memoir “Ghost Light,” (Random House). In it he examines the influence of his childhood on his adult career: his parents’ divorce and an early curiosity for theater. He was chief drama critic for the New York Times from 1980-1983 and has been an op-ed columnist for that paper since 1994. He lives in New York City.

The host of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, Scott Simon. He's written a new memoir, "Home & Away: Memoir of a Fan"

Church leader and gospel singer Reverend Al Green. He’s just published a new biography called “Down by the River” (Harper Entertainment) detailing the trip from R&B stardom to Reverend. Presiding over his own Pentecostal church in Memphis for the last 20 years, Green recently returned to the recording studio to record a set of gospel songs. A popular culture icon, he’s had cameo roles in movies and TV shows. He lives in Memphis, Tenn.

Journalist and novelist George Packer. Packer grew up in a family with a very strong liberal tradition; his grandfather was a populist congressman from Alabama in the early part of the century. His father was a Jewish Kennedy-era liberal who was a professor at Stanford. His new book, the Blood of the Liberals (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), is a memoir about his family’s liberalism and Packer’s own coming to terms with it. He looks at the history of liberalism in America, and the clashes it caused in his own family.

Novelist Stephen King. Last year, the prolific and popular horror writer experienced something that could have come out of one of his books: he was struck by a car while walking along a rural road in Maine and nearly killed. Six operations and a long recovery followed. Five weeks after the accident King started writing again, and published over the internet only, the novella, “The Plant.” His new book is “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” (Scribner).

Poet and memoirist Mary Karr. Author of the best selling Liar’s Club, she has just published a new book chronicling her teen age years entitled “Cherry” (Penguin Putnam, 2000). In a follow up to what critics call “a hard scrabble childhood,” she returns to East Texas to detail her adolescence. Karr relates anecdotes of rebellion, self doubt and sexual coming of age. The recipient of several literary awards such as the Pushcart Prize and the Bunting Award, she has published two volumes of poetry. She is the Peck Professor of English Literature at Syracuse University.

Former presidential speechwriter Michael Waldman. His new book is called “POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words that Defined the Clinton Presidency.” (Simon and Schuster) From 1993 to 1999, Waldman was a special assistant and then chief speechwriter to Bill Clinton. During that time, he worked closely with the president to write or edit nearly two thousand speeches, including four State of the Union addresses and two inaugural addresses. Previously a public-interest lawyer and writer, Waldman is the author of “Who Robbed America?

Gossip columnist Liz Smith. She’s just written a memoir called “Natural Blonde” (Hyperion) about her dealings with the rich and famous throughout her career. Smith boasts that she’s the highest paid print journalist in the world. He bylined column has appeared daily since 1976 and is syndicated to millions of readers in over 70 newspapers. She was recently named a “Living Landmark” by the Landmarks Conservancy of New York.

Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain. His book, “Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir” (Harper Perennial) is now out in paperback. He’ll discuss his years as a POW, his bid for the presidency, and his endorsement of George W. Bush.

Former White House adviser David Gergen. He worked with Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. Gergen left politics and become a regular analyst on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer and Nightline. He is also Editor-at-large at U.S. News & World Report. His new book is “Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership” (Simon & Schuster).

Working cop and writer Richard Rosenthal. For 20 years, Rosenthal was a detective for the New York Police Department where he dealt with homicide, narcotics, and armed robbery. Now he is the chief of Police in a small village on Cape Cod. He’ll talk about the differences between the two kinds of police work. Rosenthal is the author of two books about police work called Sky Cops and K-9 Cops. He also wrote a novel called The Murder of Old Comrades. His new book, Rookie Cop(Leapfrog Press), is a memoir about his time undercover in the Jewish Defense League.

We remember British actor Sir Alec Guinness who died Saturday at the age of 86. He’s known to older audiences for his roles in films like “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” and to younger audiences as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. (REBROADCAST from 2/27/1986)

Veteran smokejumper Murray Taylor. He’s been fighting forest fires for over 35 years, is the oldest active smokejumper and the oldest to ever do the job. He’s written a new memoir about his experiences “Jumping Fire: A Smokejumper’s Memoir of Fighting Wildfire.” (Harcourt Inc.)

Writer Joyce Johnson, talks about her relationship to Beat icon Jack Kerouac, and her new book, “Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in letters” (Viking). In 1957, Johnson started a relationship with the then little-known writer Kerouac. 9 months later, Kerouac’s Beat classic “On the Road” was published. Johnson will talk about her two-year, tumultuous love affair with Kerouac, how the publication of “On the Road” changed Kerouac, and she’ll talk about what it was like being young and female and part of the Manhattan bohemian scene.

Book Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Katharine Butler Hathaway’s newly reprinted memoir, The Little Locksmith.

Writer Jim Knipfel. His first book, the acclaimed memoir Slackjaw (Putnam), is his funny, irreverent account of loosing his sight and trying to take his life. In his new book, Quitting the Nairobi Trio (Tracher/Putnam), he writes about the time he spent in a psychiatric ward. The New York Times says Knipfel is “blessed with a natural, one might even say reflexive, knack for telling stories.” Knipfel is a columnist and staff writer for New York Press.

British novelist Martin Amis. He’s considered one of the leading British writers of the late-twentieth century and one of the most controversial. His books include “Night Train,” “Money: A Suicide Note,” “The Information,” and “London Fields.” He’s just written a new memoir, “Experience: a Memoir” (Talk Miramax Books). Much of it is about his father, the late writer Kingsley Amis.

British writer Linda Grant. She’s the author of the new memoir, “Remind Me Who I Am, Again” (Granta Books) about her mother’s disappearance into dementia (diagnosed as Multi-Infarct Dementia). She first wrote about her mother’s situation in the pages of the Guardian. Grant’s other books include “Sexing the Millennium” and “The Cast Iron Shore.” (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

Writer Keith Fleming talks about his first book, a memoir, The Boy with the Thorn in His Side (William Morrow.) When Fleming was a teenager, he was living in Chicago, depressed, and was committed to a string of mental institutions. Then his mother sent him to New York to live with his young, gay uncle, the critically acclaimed novelist and biographer Edmund White. The move and his uncle’s influence transformed his life. Keith Fleming is a freelance editor and writer living in Providence, RI (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).