Fresh Air
Weekdays at 7:00pm
Opening the window on contemporary arts and issues with guests from worlds as diverse as literature and economics.
Writer Carvell Wallace on past pain and forgiveness: Letting go is 'always available'
by Tonya Mosley
Wallace is known for his celebrity profiles, but his new memoir, Another Word For Love, is about his own life, growing up unhoused, Black and queer, and getting his start as a writer at the age of 40.
Queen Guitarist Brian May On Writing Anthems And Studying Astrophysics
by Terry Gross
Brian May spoke to Fresh Air in 2010 about writing "We Will Rock You," recording the many vocals in "Bohemian Rhapsody" and getting a Ph.D. The biopic Bohemian Rhapsody details Queen's meteoric rise.
'Interstate Gospel' Showcases Pistol Annies' Impressive Range Of Style
by Ken Tucker
The trio of three country-music stars who make up Pistol Annies — Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley — mix humor with righteousness and drama on their new album.
Did Law Enforcement Overlook The Threat Of Far-Right Extremism?
by Terry Gross
Janet Reitman of The New York Times Magazine says counter-terrorism strategists failed to adequately address right-wing domestic extremism — which enabled the movement to become even more dangerous.
Novelist Revisits The Assassination And Conspiracies That Fueled Colombia's Civil War
by Sam Briger
Juan Gabriel Vásquez's novel, The Shape Of The Ruins, centers on the 1948 assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, the years of violence that followed and the conspiracy theories surrounding his death.
Inside This Deceptively Simple Story Lurks A 'Burning' Psychological Thriller
by Justin Chang
Director Lee Chang-dong's film centers on two young men and the woman who brings them together. Critic Justin Chang calls Burning the most absorbing — and enigmatic — new movie he's seen all year.
How The Fugitive Slave Act Ignited A 'Struggle For America's Soul'
by Terry Gross
Author Andrew Delbanco says the 1850 law paved the way for the Civil War by endangering the lives of both escaped slaves and free black men and women in the North. His book is The War Before The War.
An Intimate Pontormo Show Outshines The Met's Big Delacroix Retrospective
by Lloyd Schwartz
In the age of blockbuster art exhibitions, a small show sometimes makes just as big an impression as a large one. That's what happened to critic Lloyd Schwartz on a recent trip to New York.