Books & Literature

In his new memoir, The Body Silent, anthropologist Robert Francis Murphy explores his experiences as a quadriplegic, a condition brought on by a spinal tumor.

Playwright Marsha Norman's first novel The Fortune Teller, about missing children and abortion, adopts a freewheeling, almost primitive approach to narrative. Critic John Leonard says unconventional structure works.

The exiled Chilean writer believes that her stories keep the memories of her family alive. Her new book is called Of Love and Shadows.

ABC reporter Sam Donaldson is known for his loud, often aggressive manner of questioning President Reagan during press conferences and other news events. He believes his style is necessary, especially considering Reagan's predilection for secluding himself from the media.

Nicholas Proffitt's book Garden of Stone, inspired by his ceremonial role in the Army during the Vietnam War, was recently adapted into a film by Francis Ford Coppola.

British novelist Julian Barnes takes great pleasure in quoting bad writing, as well as how words often fail to convey their intended meaning. His new book is called Staring at the Sun.

In his new book, music writer Joseph Horowitz considers the rise of Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, whose popularity grew during wartime. Many of Toscanini's contemporaries fell out of favor because of their German heritage.

Nadine Gordimer's newest novel, A Sport of Nature, follows a white anti-apartheid worker as she traverses a complicated terrain of sex, race, and politics.

Diane Johnson's first novel in eight years deals with an American woman's affair during the Iranian revolution. She joins Fresh Air to talk about writing biographies and screenplays and why it took her so long to finish her newest book.

Pat Conroy's abusive father tried to groom him for a career in the Marines. Conroy instead became a novelist who incorporates autobiographical details into his fiction.

Art Spiegelman is the author of Maus, a book documenting his father's experience during the Holocaust.

Sydney Biddle Barrows' call girl service was shut down in 1984. She now has a memoir about her life as a madam. Barrows joins Fresh Air's Terry Gross to talk about how she recruited and managed the young women who worked for her.

Ms. Magazine cofounder Letty Cottin Pogrebin's new book explores the roles friendship plays in our lives.

Novelist William Kennedy and his son Brendan collaborated on a children's book called Charlie Malarkey and the Belly-Button. Despite the elder Kennedy's success as a novelist, the two received a series of rejections before finally getting their work published. Kennedy also talks about his recent work as a screenwriter.

The writer, known for her grisly descriptions of crime scenes, lives a quiet life as a grandmother in her 60s. Her novels focus on psychological themes rather than the tightly-plotted mysteries associated with the works of Agatha Christie.

Consumer activist Ralph Nader interviewed the top executives of a number of major American corporations for his new book.

Writer and Marine veteran William Broyles visited Vietnam years after the war to help come to terms with his experiences there. He made a point of being honest about his combat role when meeting with different Vietnamese people who survived the war.

Spalding Gray's career performing humorous, autobiographical monologues has sometimes been a detriment to his attempts to break into film and television acting; no casting director wants to be mentioned in one of Gray's stage shows.

In her new memoir, Dreamgirl, singer Mary Wilson outlines the history of the girl group, including their contentious legal and financial relationship with Motown Records.

Film director John Waters has cultivated a second career as a writer. His newest collection of essays is called Crackpot. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his television watching and filmgoing habits, and to discuss some of his favorite recent releases. Listeners call in with their questions.