Fresh Air
Weekdays at 7:00pm
Opening the window on contemporary arts and issues with guests from worlds as diverse as literature and economics.
Film offers 'Hard Truths' about why some people are happy — and others are miserable
Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives a phenomenal performance as a profoundly unhappy woman. There isn't a lot of plot, but director Mike Leigh builds his stories from the details and detritus of daily life.
Finishing 'Sunday In The Park': Behind-The-Scenes Stories Of Working With Sondheim
by Terry Gross
James Lapine worked with Stephen Sondheim on Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and Passion. In Putting it Together, he draws on interviews with Sondheim and members of the cast and crew.
'Afterparties' Is A Bittersweet Triumph For A Fresh Voice Silenced Too Soon
by Maureen Corrigan
Anthony Veasna So's posthumously published short story collection offers a smart, compassionate take on the push-pull of growing up first-generation Cambodian American.
Tina Turner Musical Writer Takes On The 'Black Superwoman Myth'
by Hannah Giorgis
Katori Hall didn't want to gloss over Turner's life in the Tony-nominated musical Tina. Instead, she says, it was important to be "brutally honest" about the pain and trauma Turner has survived.
Listen Back To A 1993 Interview With The Late Civil Rights Pioneer Bob Moses
by Terry Gross
In the 1960s, Moses led efforts to organize and register Black residents to vote in Mississippi and brought national attention to the state's entrenched white supremacy. Moses died Sunday at age 86.
1963 Novel 'The Stone Face' Has New Edition — And It Couldn't Be More Timely
by John Powers
William Gardner Smith wrote the story of a Black writer who, like Smith himself, moved to Paris to pursue a freedom he couldn't find in America. New York Review Books is releasing a new edition.
Acting Is 'Problem Solving,' Says Courtney B. Vance
by Terry Gross
Vance played attorney Johnnie Cochran in The People v. O.J. Simpson. Now he takes to the pulpit as Aretha Franklin's father, Rev. C.L Franklin, in Genius: Aretha. Originally broadcast April 21, 2021.
COVID Era Produces A New Crop Of Solo Records From Jazz Instrumentalists
by Kevin Whitehead
J.D. Allen's Queen City and Jon Irabagon's Bird With Streams are two very different new albums by outstanding tenor saxophonists.
Leaks Reveal Spyware Meant To Track Criminals Targeted Activists Instead
by Terry Gross
Washington Post reporter Craig Timberg explains how military-grade spyware licensed to governments and police departments has infiltrated the iPhones of journalists, activists and others.
'Moonlight' Writer Tarell Alvin McCraney On His TV Series 'David Makes Man'
by Terry Gross
McCraney's script was adapted into the Oscar-winning film. David Makes Man, now in season 2, begins with a Miami boy whose mother struggles with addiction, and has echoes of McCraney's own childhood.
One Woman Takes A 'Wayward' Approach To Menopause In This Smart New Novel
by Maureen Corrigan