Books & Literature

Exiled South African poet returns to Fresh Air to discuss the state of emergency declared by the South African government against anti-apartheid activists.

Poet and playwright Leroi Jones changed his name to Amiri Baraka to affirm his African roots. While exploring his black identity, he participated in a variety of different arts and political movements. Though his views continue to evolve, his past experiences continue to inform his writing today.

Writer Paul Rudnick's new novel lampoons Manhattan's exclusive, fashion-obsessed nightclub scene --with which Rudnick has first-hand experience.

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, has just been published.

Inspired by progenitors of the genre, Robert B. Parker writes a series of hard-boiled detective novels featuring a private investigator named Spenser. The books have recently been adapted into a television show called Spenser for Hire. Parker's newest novel is called Taming the Sea-horse.

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz is known for representing figures like Nazis and pornographers in court. His new book, Reversal of Fortune, details the trial of aristocrat Claus von Bulow, who was accused of murdering his wife. Dershowitz secured von Bulow's acquittal.

Music critic Peter Guralnick explore the history of soul music by looking at both the impact of individual artists and the role record companies like Motown, Atlantic and Stax played in producing their albums.

Spencer joins Fresh Air to talk about how became a writer and what life is like now that he's established himself. His newest book, Waking the Dead, grapples with ideas of loss -- a theme prominent in his breakout novel, Endless Love.

Musician John Phillips was a member of the group The Mamas & The Papas, a pop-folk band that was popular in the 1960s. Phillips has recently written his autobiography "Papa John."

Writer Gail Sheehy is best-known for her book "Passages: Predictable Crises of Adulthood." While in Thailand researching Cambodian children in refugee camps, Sheehy met a 12-year-old girl whom she later adopted. Her book "Spirit of Survival" alternates between Sheehy and her daughter Mohm's perspectives on the events.

Novelist Kurt Vonnegut discusses his writing, and his work defending the intellectual freedom of writers in America and abroad.

Philadelphia native and novelist Martin Cruz Smith is best known for his 1981 film "Gorky Park." Prior to that work, Cruz Smith had written about 35 genre novels under various pseudonyms. His latest novel, "Stallion Gate," is set in Los Alamos, New Mexico during the development of the atom bomb. The novel's main character is a Native American who boxes and plays jazz and is the driver and bodyguard for J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family, describes the heists and scams of a mid-level mobster.

Novelist Rita Mae Brown is known for her lesbian and "Southern" fiction. She joins the show to discuss her family and growing up in the South. Brown's latest novel is "High Hearts."

Nat Hentoff writes about jazz and civil liberties, but describes his profession as "being a troublemaker." Hentoff began collecting jazz records and hanging out in jazz clubs as a young adult, and later hosted a jazz radio show and edited a magazine before co-founding the Jazz Review, a journal of criticism. Hentoff currently writes a column for the Village Voice and his subjects are often the First Amendment or civil liberties, and he is a staunch defender of free speech. His latest book, "Boston Boy," is a memoir about growing up in Chicago and Boston.

Poet, memoirist, and activist Maya Angelou discusses her life, career, and time spent living in Ghana.

Author and illustrator Maurice Sendak discusses children's literature and his own childhood.

Albert Race Sample's autobiography "Racehoss: Big Emma's Boy" describe his experiences growing up as the son of a black prostitute and gambler and one of her white clients. Sample later ended up in "Retrieve" a unit of the Texas Prison System, which Race describes as sadistic.

Novelist and screenwriter Richard Price is inspired by comedians, singers, television, and movies. He published his first novel, "The Wanderers," when he was 24 years old. He began writing screenplays after being disappointed by the film adaptations of his first two novels. His most recent novel was 1984's "The Breaks." Since then he has been writing the screenplay for Martin Scorsese's upcoming film sequel to "The Hustler," "The Color of Money."

Philadelphia Ed Hermance is named as a co-conspirator in an obscenity trial in England for smuggling "obscene" materials to London's prominent gay bookstore Gay's the Word. Hermance is the co-owner of Philadelphia's Giovanni's Room, a gay and feminist bookstore, and he believes the trial represents discrimination.