Books & Literature

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.

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.

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.

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.

John Houseman has had an illustrious career as an actor and producer of film, television, and radio. He is known for bringing Shakespeare to diverse audiences via Broadway, the Federal Theater Project, and film adaptations of the playwright's work.

Deborah Eisenberg began writing short fiction in her 30s, without any formal training, while she worked as a waitress. Her first collection, Transactions in a Foreign Currency, received critical acclaim.

Anne Rice latest installment in her Vampire Chronicles series, The Vampire Lestat, continues the story of the titular protagonist, who first appeared in Interview with the Vampire.

Anand Nagar, which translates into the City of Joy, is one of the most densely-populated slums in Calcutta. In order to learn more about how people survive in dire poverty, French writer Dominique LaPierre and his wife lived in a hovel alongside the neighborhood's residents. His book about the experience, called The City of Joy, has just been released in paperback.

The Nobel Prize-winning writer's formative experiences were informed by war in Eastern Europe, an itinerant childhood, and American novels and films. He has lived in the United States since 1960.

Before becoming a writer, Higgins was a journalist and lawyer--two career paths which have strongly influenced his style as a fiction author.

Caribbean writer Derek Walcott divides his time between Trinidad and Boston. While his work often focuses on his West Indian identity; Walcott writes in English--the language of the colonizers who suppressed and diluted is country's indigenous culture.

Broadcast journalist Robert MacNeil is producing a new television series called The Story of English, which examines how the language is changing. His experience working in three Anglophone countries--Canada, England, and the United States--has given him unique insights into the subject. He joins Fresh Air's Terry Gross to talk about his experiences as a journalist in conflict zones, as well as his start in television broadcasting.

Novelist Father Andrew Greeley has just published an autobiography called Confessions of a Parish Priest. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his seminary training, his early experiences leading a congregation in Chicago, and his perspectives on the Catholic Church's views on sexuality.