Fresh Air
Weekdays at 7:00pm
Opening the window on contemporary arts and issues with guests from worlds as diverse as literature and economics.
Claire Messud's sweeping novel borrows from her own 'Strange Eventful History'
by Maureen Corrigan
Messud draws from her grandfather's handwritten memoir as she tells a cosmopolitan, multigenerational story about a family forced to move from Algeria to Europe to South and North America.
Remembering novelist, screenwriter and memoirist Paul Auster
by Terry Gross
Auster, who died April 30, rose to fame in the 1980s with The New York Trilogy novels. His memoir, Winter Journal, focused on the history of his body. Originally broadcast in 1997, 2004 and 2012.
Why are so many government officials concerned about TikTok?
Congress and President Biden say TikTok must shed its financial ties to China or face a ban in the U.S. But Washington Post tech reporter Drew Harwell says selling the company is complicated.
What the 'Dawn of the Civil War' can tell us about today's acrimonious politics
by Dave Davies
In The Demon of Unrest, author Erik Larson chronicles the five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the start of the Civil War, drawing parallels to today's political climate.
Fantasy writer Leigh Bardugo on magic, miracles and her version of hell
by Sam Briger
Bardugo is best known for her YA Shadow and Bone series. Her adult novel, The Familiar, centers on a young woman in 16th century Spain who must hide her identity as a Jew who converted to Catholicism.
Sonny Rollins' big-hearted music speaks for itself on newly reissued 'Freedom Weaver'
by Kevin Whitehead
In 1959, Rollins was a few years into one of the great hot streaks in jazz history when he took a three-week trip to Europe. Three hours from that tour are heard on a new Rollins-approved reissue.
Novelist John Green says OCD is like an 'invasive weed' inside his mind
by Terry Gross
Green's YA novel, Turtles All The Way Down, has been recently adapted to film. Green described living with OCD, and how "one little thought" could take over his mind, in this 2017 interview.