Mothers and daughters

Growing up, Bridgett M. Davis' mother booked and banked bets from their home in Detroit. She writes about her experience — and the role of "the numbers" in the black community — in her memoir.

Almost 10 years ago, journalist Hillary Frank was pregnant and planning to give birth without medication or surgery — but things didn't go according to her plan.

Masih Alinejad discusses her campaign against a law requiring that Iranian women and girls to cover their heads and necks with a hijab. Her new memoir is The Wind in My Hair.

Writer Maggie O'Farrell has survived some terrifying episodes. She's had a machete pressed to her throat during a robbery, once contracted amoebic dysentery while traveling and nearly bled out while giving birth to her first child.

"I don't know any woman who has a simple relationship with their mother or with their daughter," Gerwig says. Her film centers on a teen preparing to leave home. Originally broadcast Nov. 16, 2017.

Actress Greta Gerwig has made a career starring in movies about quirky women. She played a driftless dancer in Frances Ha and a punk photographer in 20th Century Women. Now she's written and directed her first film, an exploration of mother-daughter relationships called Lady Bird.

As she approached 60, the co-founder of Ms. magazine says, she entered a new phase in life, one in which "you can do what you want." Originally broadcast Oct. 26, 2015.

"It's not profound regret," Morrison tells Fresh Air. "It's just a wiping up of tiny little messes that you didn't recognize as mess when they were going on." Her latest book is God Help the Child.

Allison Janney has been nominated for Emmys for her roles on Masters of Sex and Mom. She says her relationships with her family members helped inform her characters. Originally broadcast Aug. 4.