Interviews

David Sedaris' stories have appeared on This American Life and in The New Yorker, and have now filled seven essay collections -- most recently, Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls.

Books

'Let's Explore': David Sedaris On His Public Private Life

12:03pm October 18, 2013

The best-selling author and humorist has kept journals for 36 years. Those diaries have been the jumping-off point for the personal essays that appear in his collections, including Me Talk Pretty One Day and Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls. (Originally broadcast on April 24, 2013.)

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Birds Of A Feather Spy Together

6:12pm October 13, 2013

by NPR Staff

Journalist Tom Vanderbilt discusses the nonhuman operatives — from pigeons to house cats — deployed by the United States government during the Cold War. He wrote about the program recently for the Smithsonian magazine.

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Daniel Radcliffe tells Fresh Air that his parents were initially hesitant about letting him play Harry Potter.

Fresh Air Weekend: Tom Hanks, Ben Franklin's Sister, Daniel Radcliffe

11:51am October 12, 2013

Tom Hanks plays Captain Phillips in a high-seas hostage drama. Historian Jill Lepore introduces us to Jane, Ben Franklin's younger sister. And we catch up with child-actor-turned-artist Daniel Radcliffe now that he's in his post-Potter years.

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Parenting A Child Who's Fallen 'Far From The Tree'

12:33pm October 11, 2013

Andrew Solomon's book is about families with children who are profoundly different or likely to be stigmatized. "We all love flawed children," says Solomon, "and the general assumption that these more extreme flaws make ... children somehow unlovable — it wasn't true of most of my experience."

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Bryan Cranston (left) starred as chemistry teacher turned meth dealer Walter White, and Aaron Paul played former student and drug-dealing co-conspirator Jesse Pinkman in AMC's Breaking Bad, which wrapped up its fifth and final season on Sunday.

Fresh Air Weekend: 'Breaking Bad,' Holland's 'Prism,' Pitcher Jamie Moyer

11:11am October 05, 2013

Writers Peter Gould and Thomas Schnauz talk about the finale of the AMC series. Dave Holland's Prism features one of the loudest bands of the bassist's career. And in a new memoir, Just Tell Me I Can't, Moyer explains how he became a better pitcher in his 40s than his 20s.

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Pioneering 'Masters Of Sex' Brought Science To The Bedroom

1:58pm October 04, 2013

William Masters and Virginia Johnson became famous in the 1960s for their research into the physiology of human sexuality. In Masters of Sex, biographer Thomas Maier explores the duo's research methods, which for years remained shrouded in secrecy. Originally broadcast July 30, 2013.

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Elton John tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that The Diving Board is "a very adult album."

Fresh Air Weekend: Elton John, 'Masters Of Sex' And 'Merchants Of Meth'

4:26pm September 28, 2013

The pop star discusses his fear of sex as a young man, John Powers critiques the new Showtime series' retrograde portrayals of sex and Mother Jones' Jonah Engle looks at where meth cooks' and pharmaceutical companies' interests intersect.

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Jeremy Denk has recently written for The New Yorker and The New York Times Book Review.

Jeremy Denk: Playing Ligeti With A Dash Of Humor

12:16pm September 27, 2013

The pianist's latest album features some of the most difficult etudes ever written for solo piano by the Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti. "Ligeti took the piano to places it had never been before," he says, "and makes demands of the pianist and the mind that had never been made before."

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Vijay Iyer: Self-Taught Jazz Pianist Goes 'Solo'

12:16pm September 27, 2013

A jazz pianist and bandleader, Iyer is one of the most critically acclaimed musicians of the past decade. He also has a masters in physics. Here, he explains why he decided to switch to a full-time career as a jazz musician, and describes what influenced his album Solo.

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Fresh Air Weekend: Linda Ronstadt, Charles Manson And Robbie Fulks

12:15pm September 24, 2013

Ronstadt reflects on her long career, Jeff Guinn explores the rise of a cult leader and Ken Tucker reviews Fulks' new album.

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