Sedaka, who died last week at 86, wrote and recorded hits in the late ?50s and early ?60s ? songs like ?Calendar Girl? and ?Breaking up is Hard to Do.? He was nine years old when he began studying piano at Juilliard. Sedaka told Terry Gross in 2007, ?To the shock of my family, after studying at Juilliard I sold 40 million records in five years.? The British invasion derailed his career until years later when Elton John helped revive it, by signing Sedaka to his label. 

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new album by The Paranoid Style, led by composer-singer Elizabeth Nelson. And Justin Chang reviews the new Pixar film, ?Hoppers.?


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Delroy Lindo is Oscar-nominated for his role as Delta Slim in Ryan Coogler?s ?Sinners.? In a wide-ranging conversation with co-host Tonya Mosley, he talks about preparing for the role, growing up in the U.K. as the son of a Jamaican immigrant, and a special phone call from Spike Lee. He also shares what was going through his mind when he was onstage at the BAFTAs when a man shouted a racial slur.

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Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville tells us about his new film, ?Man on The Run.?It begins when the Beatles end, with Paul McCartney trying to figure out who he is as a musician and as a person? without John Lennon and the band that defined him since he was a teenager. Neville got access to previously unseen archival footage of McCartney with his young family and forming his new band, Wings. He spoke with Fresh Air contributor/producer Ann Marie Baldonado.

 
Also, jazz critic Martin Johnson reviews an Art Blakey concert album, ?Strasbourg 82.? 

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President Trump is promoting tighter restrictions on mail-in ballots as well as passage of the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote. UCLA professor Richard Hasen unpacks the ramifications.

John Powers reviews the Oscar-nominated Japanese film ?Kokuho.?

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Jessie Buckley spoke with Terry Gross about her role as Shakespeare?s wife, Agnes, in ?Hamnet,? directed by Chloé Zhao. She?s nominated for an Oscar and already won a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for her performance. The Irish actor talks about motherhood, the singing competition show she did in her teens, and the infamous crying scene in ?Hamnet.? 

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Kate Hudson is up for an Oscar for her role as Claire in the film ?Song Sung Blue,? starring opposite Hugh Jackman as one half of Lightning & Thunder, a Neil Diamond tribute band. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about pursuing singing late in her career. We also hear from Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard. He?s earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in the film ?Sentimental Value.? He?ll talk with Dave Davies about his many roles over the years -- from 'Dune' to 'Good Will Hunting,' and 'Mamma Mia!' and recovering from a stroke that impaired his ability to memorize lines.

David Bianculli reviews a new documentary about Paul McCartney in his decade after the Beatles.

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We take a trip to Bikini Bottom and revisit our interview with Tom Kenny, who plays SpongeBob on the popular Nickelodeon cartoon series, and in the new ?Spongebob SquarePants? film. Kenny?s been voicing the character since the show began in 1999. In 2004 he talked about creating the voice, including experimenting with inhaling helium.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews ?Man on the Run,? the new documentary about Sir Paul McCartney in the decade after the Beatles split up, and Justin Chang reviews the new erotic drama ?Dreams,? starring Jessica Chastain. 

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New York Times journalist David Sanger discusses how we got here, the state of Iran's nuclear weapons program, the likelihood of U.S. military force against Iran and if Trump's goal is regime change.

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Aside from the evil Baron Harkonnen in ?Dune,? actor Stellan Skarsgård doesn?t really believe in bad guys. He looks for nuance in every role. He?s Oscar-nominated for his performance in ?Sentimental Value,? as a successful filmmaker who is estranged from his grown daughters. Skarsgård spoke with Dave Davies about improvising with Robin Williams in ?Good Will Hunting,? raising actor children, and how a stroke impacted his acting.

Also, critic Maureen Corrigan reviews ?This is Not About Us,? by Allegra Goodman.

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Eight years after her bestseller 'An American Marriage,' Tayari Jones has written a new novel, 'Kin,' set in the Jim Crow South. It follows two girls, Vernice and Annie, who grow up next door to each other without their mothers. That shared wound binds them and carries them through adulthood and across class lines. Jones says the idea for the book came from her own experience of losing a friend ? and the particular kind of grief that the world doesn't always recognize. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about female friendship, growing up with civil rights activist parents, and the writing class that changed her life.'Kin' was just selected by Oprah?s Book Club. 

Also, critic David Bianculli gives his take on the latest TV shows.

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Kate Hudson has had a hugely successful career as an actor and entrepreneur, but knew she'd always regret it if she didn't try her hand at music. Finally in 2024 she released her debut album, 'Glorious,' and got to share a whole other side of herself with the world. ?I'm very happy with myself as a mother. Like I feel like I've made all the right mistakes and all the wrong mistakes,? she says. ?But I couldn't say that about my art. And that would be my own personal sadness and regret, is that I didn't share my writings as a musician.? She spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley about taking the leap, her Oscar-nominated performance in 'Song Sung Blue,' and what she remembers from the set of 'Almost Famous.' 


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The Nigerian musician Fela Kuti used his music in the ?70s as a weapon against colonial values and his country?s brutal dictatorship. The danceable music and political lyrics inspired a youth movement. Award-winning podcaster Jad Abumrad talks with Terry about his podcast series, ?Fela Kuti: Fear No Man.? 

Also, we hear from best-selling science journalist Michael Pollan. His new book ?A World Appears? asks how technology is changing our consciousness. ?Consciousness is under siege,? he says. ?I think that it?s the last frontier for these companies that want to sell our time and, of course, our time is our mind time.? Pollan also questions whether A.I. is capable of achieving consciousness.

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The great actor Robert Duvall made his mark starring in epic movies and intimate dramas including ?The Godfather,? ?Tender Mercies,? ?The Great Santini,? and, of course, ?Apocalypse Now.? He died Sunday at age 95. We listen back to archival interviews from 1996 and 2010. 

Also, the documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, whose approach was to choose a subject and capture it at great, revealing length, died Monday at age 96. His films include 'Titicut Follies,' 'Central Park,' 'Juvenile Court,' 'High School,' and 'Hospital.' He spoke with Terry Gross in 1986 about why he chose documentary as his medium. 

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Science journalist Michael Pollan has written extensively about the therapeutic benefits of mind-altering psychedelics. His new book, ?A World Appears,? asks, what is consciousness? ?Consciousness has kind of become the secular substitute for the soul,? he tells Terry Gross. Pollan also talks about current studies on consciousness and whether plants and artificial intelligence have consciousness. 

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The AI chatbot Claude can help you write an email, challenge a hospital bill, or publish a novel. It was also reportedly used by the U.S. military in the operation that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Now the Pentagon is threatening to cut ties with Anthropic, the company that built it, because it insists on keeping restrictions around autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. Journalist Gideon Lewis-Kraus spent months inside Anthropic, one of the world's most secretive AI companies, for a new piece in ?The New Yorker,? where he asks: What happens when the people who built the machine can't fully explain what it's doing? He spoke with Tonya Mosley.

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Photojournalist Loubna Mrie grew up in Syria in a wealthy and abusive home. Her father was part of the regime, allegedly an assassin for Bashar al-Assad?s father. Loubna joined the Syrian revolution first as a protester and then as a photojournalist. She talks with guest interviewer Aarti Shahani about how her family and country fell apart, and lessons she brought to her new home in the U.S.. Her book is ?Defiance: A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria.? 

Later, John Powers reviews ?Crime 101,? a thriller starring Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Jon Meacham talks with Dave Davies about Trump's impact on democracy. Meacham's latest book, ?American Struggle,? is a collection of speeches, letters and other original texts from 1619 to the present.


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Dorothy Roberts? father was a white anthropologist who studied interracial marriages and her mother was a Black woman from Jamaica. She always assumed her parents' relationship inspired her father?s scholarly focus, but that changed after he died, and she found boxes of interviews he conducted with interracial couples, dating back to the 1930s, decades before he met her mother. Robert's memoir is ?The Mixed Marriage Project.?

We also hear from historian Heather McGhee. Her book, ?The Sum of Us,? examines a question at the heart of American life: Why do so many Americans believe that progress for one group means loss for another?

Also, David Bianculli talks about some TV shows he?s been catching up on. 

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Singer, songwriter, and producer Raphael Saadiq is known for his work as a member of Tony! Toni! Toné!, as a solo artist, and for his work producing and writing for artists like Solange, D?Angelo, Beyoncé, John Legend, and more. ?I Lied to You,? the song he co-wrote for the film ?Sinners,? has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. He spoke with Tonya Mosley. 

Also, we remember jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Ken Peplowski. His playing was influenced by classical techniques, swing and traditional jazz. 

Justin Chang reviews Emerald Fennell?s ?Wuthering Heights.?

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Considered the father of Afrobeat, Nigerian musician Fela Kuti used his music in the 1970s to combat colonial values and brutal dictatorship. Former Radiolab host Jad Abumrad tells his story in the podcast series, ?Fela Kuti: Fear No Man.? He spoke with Terry Gross. 

Also, Fresh Air?s longtime executive producer Danny Miller is retiring. We close out the show with an appreciation and send-off from the staff. 


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British journalist Vicky Ward first profiled sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 for Vanity Fair. The experience was so alarming and stressful that she went into labor with her twins at 30 weeks, two months early. More than 20 years later, Ward, still following the case, talks with Tonya Mosley about the fallout from the millions of publicly released documents, and why this story took so long to come out.

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Almost a decade after her father's death, legal scholar Dorothy Roberts had to confront the 25 boxes of his research collecting dust in her office. Roberts' parents, a white anthropologist and a Black woman from Jamaica, spent years doing research on interracial marriage and intimacy in Chicago. Her new memoir, ?The Mixed Marriage Project,? draws from their records. She says the project permeated every corner of her upbringing, and now, as a scholar herself, she?s reflecting on her life and racial identity with a new lens.

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We look back at the 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge in Idaho, where gunfire left two civilians and a deputy U.S. Marshal dead. Chris Jennings? new book explores the apocalyptic religious beliefs that led Randy Weaver and his family to move to a remote cabin, armed to resist government intrusion. He traces the impact of Ruby Ridge on the spread of conspiratorial anti-government and white-supremacist movements. His book is ?End of Days.?

Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews the memoir 'Dizzy,? by Rachel Weaver.  

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Julia Loktev?s latest documentary, ?My Undesirable Friends - Part 1: Last Air in Moscow,? follows independent Russian journalists in the months leading up to, and just after, Russia?s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The film has arrived in the U.S. at a moment when questions about press freedom feel newly present. ?Every day it feels like there is something to bring the story home for Americans, where it almost feels like there?s Easter eggs in the film that become more and more relevant.? she says. 

Also, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Heather Ann Thompson revisits a 1984 New York City subway shooting, when Bernhard Goetz, a white man, shot four Black teenagers. In the days that followed, Goetz became  a hometown hero. ?We are watching someone tell us exactly who they are, exactly what they did, and it will not matter. Up will become down, down will become up. And that also felt very, very familiar to where we are today.? Her book is ?Fear and Fury.? 

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Martin Scorsese's masterpiece about loneliness, urban decay, and vigilantism is 50 years old this month. We?re revisiting archival interviews about ?Taxi Driver? with Scorsese, screenwriter Paul Schrader and actors Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd, Jodie Foster, and Al Brooks.

Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews 'Pillion.'

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Julia Loktev's acclaimed documentary, ?My Undesirable Friends,? follows young Russian journalists in the months before and after Putin's invasion of Ukraine ? and the impossible choices they face when dissent means prison or exile. 

Also, jazz historian Kevin Whitehead revisits a two-night set Miles Davis did in Chicago in 1965.


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Atlantic writer Robert Kagan says as President Trump violates norms, laws and the Constitution, including his call to nationalize elections, we?re on the edge of the consolidation of dictatorship. ?I think we're already well into a dictatorship. It's just a question of whether [Trump] will go ahead and basically disrupt the '26 elections, which I think he's made it clear he has every intention of doing now,? Kagan tells Terry Gross. ?So I think that this should be a five-alarm fire for everybody.?

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We go inside the real succession story within the Murdoch family media empire. It includes Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. In 2023 Rupert Murdoch chose his eldest son and most conservative child, Lachlan, as his successor ? buying out three of his other children from the family trust and estranging them in the process. ?His dream was to build a family business. And what he built was a business that destroyed his family,? journalist Gabriel Sherman says. His book, ?Bonfire of the Murdochs,? also examines how the Murdochs changed politics on three continents over half a century. He spoke with guest interviewer Sam Fragoso. 

Later, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the return of ?The Muppets.? 

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"Every now and then you bump up against a part that presses you to the wall of your ability," Hawke says of playing lyricist Lorenz Hart in ?Blue Moon.? He?s nominated for an Oscar for his performance. Hawke spoke with Terry Gross about collaborating with Richard Linklater, losing his friend River Phoenix, and his thoughts on aging. 


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Liz Moore?s bestselling book, ?Long Bright River,? was set in a troubled Philadelphia neighborhood where she?d worked on a photo essay. ?My own family has a long history of addiction. I was kind of emotionally drawn back to the neighborhood over and over again because of that,? she tells Dave Davies. The resulting thriller about a policewoman searching for her missing sister was made into a series on Peacock. Moore?s latest book, ?The God of the Woods,? where a child goes missing from a remote children?s camp, will be adapted to a Netflix series.

Also, we hear from one of England?s most acclaimed writers, Julian Barnes. He has a new book, which he says will be his last. It?s called ?Departures.? He spoke with Terry Gross.

Maureen Corrigan reviews George Saunders? new novel, ?Vigil.?

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When Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was a kid growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, he would draw monsters all day. His deeply Catholic grandmother even had him exorcised because of it. But when del Toro saw the 1931 film ?Frankenstein,? his life changed. "I realized I understood my faith or my dogmas better through Frankenstein than through Sunday mass." His adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic book is nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Del Toro spoke with Terry Gross about getting over his fear of death, the design of Frankenstein's creature, and his opinion on generative AI.

Also, John Powers reviews the noirish drama ?Islands.? 

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Brooke Nevils was a young NBC producer working the 2014 Sochi Olympics when, she says, ?Today Show? host Matt Lauer sexually assaulted her. Lauer has denied her account, calling their relationship consensual. Now, in her new memoir, ?Unspeakable Things,? Nevils doesn't just revisit what happened ? she interrogates why it took years to understand it. She spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley. 

Also, book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews George Saunders? new novel, ?Vigil,? and Ken Tucker reviews music from country artist Stephen Wilson Jr.


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President Trump calls global warming "a hoax." As the U.S. faces more severe storms and extreme weather events, New York Times climate reporter David Gelles describes what this means for climate change policy and shares what global leaders were saying at Davos. 

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?New Yorker? staff writer Jason Zengerle says after Tucker Carlson was let go from CNN and MSNBC, and joined Fox News, Trump?s 2016 presidential candidacy revived his career. ?Those more prestigious Fox shows? they could not find camera-ready, intelligent human beings to go on their programs and make a sensible case for Donald Trump -- and Tucker was someone who could,? he tells Terry Gross. After Fox fired Carlson in 2023, he started his own streaming show and moved further to the right. Zengerle writes that Carlson?s story shows how conservative media has changed. His book is  ?Hated By All The Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind.? 


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Pulitzer Prize?winning historian Heather Ann Thompson talks about the 1984 New York City subway shooting, when Bernhard Goetz, a white man, shot four Black teenagers. "We are watching someone tell us exactly who they are, exactly what they did, and it will not matter. Up will become down, down will become up. And that also felt very, very familiar to where we are today," she tells Tonya Mosley. Thompson argues reactions to the Goetz case helped fuel a politics of racial resentment that reshaped criminal justice, national policy and media narratives. Her book is 'Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage.'


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When writer Rachel Eliza Griffiths married Salman Rushdie in 2021, she expected her wedding  day to be joyful. But the joy was invaded by tragedy, when she got the news her best friend had died. Eleven months later, Rushdie was stabbed and nearly killed onstage. Griffiths describes that year in her new memoir, ?The Flower Bearers.'

Also, we hear from Pulitzer Prize?winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, writer of ?In the Heights,? ?Water by the Spoonful,? and the memoir ?My Broken Language.?  Her new novel, ?The White Hot,? tells the story of a young mother who buys a one-way bus ticket and leaves her 10 year-old daughter behind. 

Plus, film critic Justin Chang reviews ?Sound of Falling,? which is shortlisted for an Oscar for Best International Feature.

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He?s the subject of a new two-part HBO documentary by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio called ?Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!? It looks at his origins in Brooklyn, his service in WWII, his EGOT-winning comedy career and lifelong friendship with Carl Reiner. We?re returning to our 1991 and 2001 interviews with Brooks. He told Terry Gross about why he loves mixing bad taste and high production value. 

Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews the Oscar-nominated German film ?Sound of Falling.?

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The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright has written a debut novel that asks a provocative question: What if a woman claimed the right to a spiritual quest like men have done for centuries in literature? 'The White Hot' follows a young mother from Philadelphia who walks away from everything to find herself. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about her antihero April, her collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda on 'In The Heights,' and her mother?s spiritual gifts.

Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews the mystery novel ?Even the Dead,? by John Banville. 

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As protestors clash with some 3,000 federal immigration agents in the Twin Cities, we look at the legal issues with law professor Emmanuel Mauleón and Brennan Center for Justice's Elizabeth Goitein. "The principle that the military should not act as a domestic police force goes back centuries, all the way to the Magna Carta," Goitein says. "I think the reason for it is obvious: If a leader can turn the army inward against the people, that can be a very powerful instrument of tyranny and oppression."

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On the day Griffiths married author Salman Rushdie, her long time best friend died unexpectedly. Eleven months later, Rushdie was stabbed multiple times while being interviewed on stage. In her new memoir, ?The Flower Bearers,? Griffiths examines her grief, healing, and living with Dissociative Identity Disorder. She spoke with Terry Gross. 

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Four years ago, Heather McGhee examined a question at the heart of American life: Why do so many Americans believe that progress for one group means loss for another? She traveled the country talking to factory workers, homeowners who'd lost everything, organizers, and scholars, trying to understand where that belief comes from, and what it costs us. This MLK Day, McGhee spoke with Tonya Mosley about this and how it comes on the heels of President Trump's comments that civil rights protections resulted in white people being ?very badly treated.? McGhee?s book is ?The Sum of Us.?  

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Jodie Foster has been acting since she was 3. At 12 she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Scorsese?s ?Taxi Driver.? This year marks the 50th anniversary of that film. Foster spoke with Terry Gross about her early acting career, including getting mauled by a lion on set. Her new film is ?A Private Life.?  

Tessa Thompson stars in the new Netflix murder mystery limited series ?His & Hers? and in Nia DaCosta?s adaptation of Ibsen?s ?Hedda.? She spoke with Tonya Mosley about navigating her biracial identity and why she has both ?yes? and ?no? tattooed.

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We remember Bob Weir, founding member of the Grateful Dead, who died last week at 78. The guitarist spoke with Fresh Air Executive Producer Sam Briger in 2016 about working on a ranch, learning to ride, and getting to know cowboys. Also, we remember jazz singer Rebecca Kilgore, who was known for her interpretations of the Great American Songbook. She died at age 76. Kilgore often performed and recorded with pianist Dave Frishberg. We listen to excerpts of their in-studio concerts with Terry Gross. 

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The Man Booker Prize-winning writer says his new book, ?Departure(s),? will be his last. He spoke with Terry Gross about blending genres, moving through grief after his wife died, and the fallibility of memory. 

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new series ?Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.? 

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Marco Rubio once called Trump a "con artist." He?s now among his most loyal defenders. New Yorker staff writer Dexter Filkins describes Secretary of State Rubio's character, political transformation and ambition. Filkins also spoke with Tonya Mosley  about Venezuela and what he thinks will happen next. 

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Foster was just 12 years old when she starred in Scorsese?s 1976 film ?Taxi Driver.? "What luck to have been part of that, our golden age of cinema in the '70s," she says. She talks with Terry Gross about the 50th anniversary of that movie, getting mauled by a lion on a set, and why she kept her sexuality private for most of her career. Foster?s latest film, ?Vie Privée? (?A Private Life?), is in French, which she speaks fluently. 

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Moore says writing is mostly labor, but "2% of the time, usually at the very beginning of a book and the very end of a book, it feels like flying." She's also the author of ?Long Bright River,? which was adapted into a series on Peacock starring Amanda Seyfried. Her latest bestseller, ?The God of the Woods? centers on a missing girl at a summer camp in the Adirondacks. Moore spoke with contributor Dave Davies about her writing process and adapting her work for TV. 

Also, John Powers reviews the thriller series ?Hijack? and ?The Night Manager,? both of which are returning for their second seasons.


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Will Arnett stars in the new film ?Is This Thing On?? about a man going through a divorce, who finds himself onstage doing stand-up. He spoke with Terry Gross about trying out stand-up under a fake name, and his voiceover work.  

Also, director Craig Brewer talks about his film, ?Song Sung Blue.? It?s based on the true story of a Milwaukee couple who became local legends performing as a Neil Diamond tribute band.

Plus, book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the roadtrip novel ?The Rest of Our Lives,? by Benjamin Markovits. 

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The new film ?Song Sung Blue? is about a Neil Diamond tribute band and stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. Before Diamond began recording his own hits like ?Solitary Man,? ?Cherry, Cherry,? ?America,? and ?Sweet Caroline,? he wrote songs for other musicians, including The Monkees. Diamond spoke with Terry Gross in 2005. 

Also, the hit HBO medical drama ?The Pitt? is back for season two. Noah Wyle plays the veteran attending physician in a Pittsburgh emergency room. The actor/producer spoke with Dave Davies about his tenure on ?ER? and putting scrubs back on for ?The Pitt.? 

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Thompson is nominated for a Golden Globe for her starring role in ?Hedda.? She spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley about her collaboration with director Nia DaCosta, navigating her biracial identity, and why she almost quit acting before ?Dear White People.? She stars as a news anchor investigating a suspicious death in the new Netflix limited series ?His & Hers.? 

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