Literary Figures

Wilson's latest work, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, is now in production at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. He discusses how writing dialog-heavy short fiction led him to playwriting.

Noted playwright Edward Albee is the author of "The Zoo Story" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," which was lated adapted into an Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton film. Albee has won many awards including two Pulitzer Prizes, one in 1967 for "Delicate Balance," and one in 1975 for "Seascape."

Joyce Johnson became a part of the circle known as the Beat writers: Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac, when she broke away from her middle class Jewish family life and joined the bohemian Greenwich Village crowd. Johnson met Kerouac in 1957 and was in a romantic relationship with him for two years. Her new memoir, "Minor Characters," discusses not only her experiences but also the role of women in the Beat generation. Johnson is also an editor and novelist.

Mimi Pond is the author and illustrator of the new book "The Valley Girls' Guide to Life," which she researched by spending time in the mall with Californian junior high students. Pond is a cartoonist whose strip "Mimi Pond's Famous Waitress School" appears regularly in The National Lampoon.

Poet, playwright, and novelist Ntozake Shange is best known for her choreo-poem "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf," which has been adapted for public television. Her first novel, "Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo" has just been published. It follows three sisters whose weaver mother named them after vivid dyes. The novel mixes poems, spells, potions, and recipes, and explores the territories and choices of modern Black women.

Writer and rabbi Chaim Potok is best known for his novels. However, he served as the Secretary of the Writings Committee of the Jewish Publication Society Committee of Scholars. The group has been working since 1957 on a new translation of the Old Testament, and the third volume was just published. It is the first translation in 2200 years to base itself on the original Hebrew texts. Potok joined the show in June, and he's back to offer comparisons between the new translation, the King James Bible, and the 1917 Jewish Publications translation. Potok will also answer listener calls.

Legendary editor and publisher Robert Giroux has recently tried his hand at writing. His new book is "The Book Known as 'Q': A Consideration of Shakespeare's Sonnets." Giroux calls "Q" the most mysterious work ever published, and, unlike other critics, he believes it to be an early work of Shakespeare. Giroux joins the show to discuss Shakespeare's work, life, and sexuality. Giroux also discusses some of the works and authors he has published and edited.

Writer and rabbi Chaim Potok is best known for his novels. However, he served as the Secretary of the Writings Committee of the Jewish Publication Society Committee of Scholars. The group has been working since 1957 on a new translation of the Old Testament, and the third volume was just published. Potok joins the show to discuss the process of translating the scriptures and the differences from more familiar translations.

Garrison Keillor returns to Fresh Air to talk about his new short story collection. Host Terry Gross invites listeners to call in with their questions.

The short story writer and journalist has just published her first novel. She talks to Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the challenges of writing, as well as her approach to submitting her work to magazines.