Award-winning writer Leïla Slimani grew up in Morocco, where women were second-class citizens, but inside her home and with her family, she was free to speak her mind. Her mother, a doctor, pushed her to go to France to study. Slimani spoke with Terry Gross about her trilogy of novels inspired by her own French-Moroccan roots and her search for belonging. Her books include ?I?ll Take the Fire? and ?The Perfect Nanny.? 


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At the age of 80, André De Shields is now on Broadway in ?CATS: The Jellicle Ball.? He won a Tony in 2019 for his performance in ?Hadestown? and co-stars in the new movie of the revival. He talks with Terry Gross about his Broadway debut in the original production of ?The Wiz,? living with HIV for almost 50 years, and why he walks like a king.

Also, White Mountain Apache Chef Nephi Craig explains how cooking and teaching about indigenous foods saved his life. His memoir is ?Our Knives Will Save Us.?  

John Powers reviews Will Ferrell?s new series ?The Hawk.?

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Poverty, chastity, obedience, total devotion ? and rebellion. Catherine Coldstream talks with Terry Gross about her years as a Carmelite nun and why she left the monastery. Her memoir is ?Cloistered: My Years as a Nun.? 

John Powers reviews the series ?The Hawk,? starring Will Ferrell.


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The second season of Lee Sung Jin?s Netflix series ?BEEF? earned 16 Emmy nominations. Set at an exclusive country club, it stars Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan in a story about class struggles and generational differences. The storylines of both seasons were inspired by real events in Lee's life. Before ?BEEF,? he spent two decades in comedy writers' rooms, often feeling alienated as the only Asian person on staff. ?That's what people first thought of me when I first started ? I was the diversity hire." He spoke with Tonya Mosley about the years he spent masking to fit in, and the breaking point that changed how he writes. 

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new Apple TV series ?Lucky.? 


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Botox, fillers, facelifts: Plastic surgery is becoming so normalized and undetectable, it's changing our relationship to reality. ?New Yorker? staff writer Jia Tolentino considers how beauty standards have dovetailed with AI. 


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At the age of 80, Broadway legend André De Shields now starring in "CATS: The Jellicle Ball." He won a Tony in 2019 for his performance in "Hadestown," and co-stars in the new film of last year?s London revival. He made his Broadway debut in the title role of the 1975 original production of "The Wiz."

De Shields describes himself as Afro Queer, a longtime HIV survivor, and unreformed hippie, who grew up in inner city Baltimore. He?s always gone his own way in how he thinks, speaks, dresses and moves. "I don?t rush anywhere. I walk slowly. My reputation is that Andre DeShields doesn?t walk, he floats." He spoke with Terry Gross.

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In 1981, members of radical offshoots of the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers robbed a Brinks truck carrying over $1.5 million. It ended in a shootout, killing two police officers and a security guard. Judith Clark was driving a getaway car. She was sentenced to a minimum of 75 years. Her 11-month-old daughter was left to be raised by Judith?s collective and later by Judith?s parents. Terry Gross talks with her daughter, Harriet Clark, whose new acclaimed novel is drawn from childhood experiences visiting her mother in prison. ?I think she figured out how to mother me in some of the most difficult conditions possible,? she says.  

Also, Ken Tucker reviews two albums that draw on rock's past: The Dirty Knobs? ?Mission of Mercy? and Low Cut Connie's ?Livin in the USA.?


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Rashida Jones and Will McCormack are the screenwriting duo behind ?The Invite.? It takes on the realities of marriage in middle age, told over the course of one dinner party that spirals out of control. They?ve been mining stories like this together for decades, finding the funny inside the painful. ?We are never above a laugh. There's nothing that's grave enough for us not to laugh about, because that's how we release. That's how we process our pain,? Jones tells Tonya Mosley. 

Also, Lenny Kaye, Patti Smith?s longtime guitarist, has his first solo album at age 79. It?s called ?Goin? Local.? He spoke with Terry Gross about his decades-long collaboration with Smith and evolving with age and experience. 


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As ?The Bear? wraps its final season, TV critic David Bianculli reflects on the show?s run. Also, we listen back to our interview with Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays Cousin Richie, the abrasive and ornery cook/maître d'. The show is known for kitchen chaos, but he says the set is calm. He spoke with 'Fresh Air' producer Ann Marie Baldonado. 

Film critic Justin Chang reviews Christopher Nolan?s epic ?The Odyssey.? 

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White Mountain Apache chef Nephi Craig had an unconventional culinary path: from a reservation to a fine dining restaurant to cooking for 7,800 inmates while in county jail. Now he's the executive chef at Café Gozhóó. He spoke with Terry Gross about Native cuisine, getting sober, and bringing nutrition education and addiction treatment to his community on the reservation. His memoir is ?Our Knives Will Save Us.?

Also, John Powers reviews the big tech heist novel ?Cloudthief? by Nathaniel Rich. 


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Journalist Jonathan Swan?s book, ?Regime Change,? co-written with fellow ?New York Times? reporter Maggie Haberman, is a portrait of President Trump?s second term ? which Swan calls "unrecognizable" from term one. The reporting duo interviewed over 1,000 sources for the book, including the president himself. Their work adds rich detail to developments that were generally known, and explores stories that had somehow slipped under the radar. Swan spoke with Fresh Air contributor and former politics reporter Dave Davies. 

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?New Yorker? staff writer Jonathan Blitzer says thousands of people are being held in tents in the El Paso, Texas, desert, where inhumane conditions have become a tool to pressure people to accept deportation. There have been 52 deaths in detention centers since President Trump took office, and a significant number of them are suicides. Blitzer spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley. 

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The new film, ?The Invite,? directed by Olivia Wilde, offers a portrait of a marriage in middle age, told over the course of one dinner party that spirals out of control. Screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack have been mining this territory together for decades, while finding the funny inside the painful. ?We are never above a laugh,? Jones says. ?There's nothing that's grave enough for us not to laugh about, because that's how we release. That's how we process our pain.? They spoke with Tonya Mosley about their creative process and their other films, ?Celeste & Jesse Forever,? ?Quincy,? and ?If Anything Happens I Love You.? 

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Record producer and manager Peter Asher discovered James Taylor and launched Carole King?s career. Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote ?I Want to Hold Your Hand? in his family?s basement. He spoke with Terry Gross about having a front-row seat to some of the biggest moments in recording history.

Also, romance novelist Kennedy Ryan talks about how she fell for the genre in middle school, even though her mother, a preacher, didn't approve. Ryan?s best-selling books center on people who are usually at the margins ? Black women, queer women, and women with chronic illnesses and disabilities. 

TV critic David Bianculli has a review of the ?Little House on the Prairie? remake.

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Kimball, who died July 2, was artistic advisor to Ira Gershwin. He wrote books about the Gershwins, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, and helped unearth unknown songs and manuscripts by them and other early 20th-century songwriters. Kimball also rescued and rediscovered the music of the Black Broadway team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake. He spoke with Terry Gross in 1994. 

David Bianculli reviews the remake of ?Little House on the Prairie,? and John Powers reviews the second season of ?Sugar,? starring Colin Farrell.  


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Kaye's collaboration with Patti Smith began in 1971 and continues to this day. He says she taught him to trust his musical sensibilities ? and to always keep evolving. Now 79, he has his first solo album, called ?Goin? Local.? He spoke with Terry Gross. 


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The rules of the midterms are being rewritten, from redistricting to campaign money. Mother Jones journalist Ari Berman explains why President Trump seems "obsessed with the mechanics of voting." He spoke with Tonya Mosley about the SCOTUS decision that he calls the "final blow" to the Voting Rights Act, how the SAVE Act could disenfranchise thousands, and what keeps him up at night.

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Asher remembers when Paul McCartney and John Lennon played ?I Want to Hold Your Hand? for him for the first time. ?I thought, am I losing my mind, or is this one of the best songs I've ever heard in my life?? McCartney, who was dating Asher?s sister at the time, was living with his family. A new documentary, ?Peter Asher: Everywhere Man,? chronicles Asher?s life in the record industry. He spoke with Terry Gross about his own band in the British Invasion (Peter and Gordon), discovering James Taylor and launching Linda Ronstadt. 


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?New Yorker? staff writer Rachel Aviv spent years reporting stories about mothers and daughters searching for each other. When she became a mom, she saw everything she wrote differently. Her book is ?You Won?t Get Free of It.? She spoke with Tonya Mosley. 

Also, John Powers reviews ?Alice and Steve,? starring Jemaine Clement. 


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The two most famous women?s tennis champions of their generation, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, talk about being friends and rivals. After they had retired, they were both diagnosed with cancer. A new Netflix documentary follows their careers and friendship as they navigate their lives on and off the court. 

Also, we talk about religious and political attacks on the arts with cultural historian Isaac Butler. His book is ?The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art and the Birth of America?s Culture Wars.? 

Critic John Powers  reviews ?Alice and Steve,? a British comedy series  about a 50-something man who starts dating his best friend?s much younger daughter.


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After making ?ET? and ?Close Encounters of the Third Kind? in the ?70s and ?80s, Steven Spielberg returns to the theme of extraterrestrials in his new film, ?Disclosure Day.? He spoke with Terry Gross in 2022 about how he fell in love with movies, became a filmmaker, and about growing up Jewish in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.

Also, book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews ?Two Ships,? a new book about two conflicting versions of American identity.

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The romance books Kennedy Ryan read growing up rarely included characters who looked like her. Now she deliberately centers people the genre has left out ? like women of color and women with chronic illness and disabilities. The award-winning novelist spoke with Tonya Mosley about her ?Trojan horse? storylines, the value of the sex scene, and giving people happily-ever-afters. 

Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews Craig Ferguson?s new CNN series ?American On Purpose.? 


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The lone star tick seeks out its blood meal and transmits a potentially dangerous allergy to red meat. ?New Yorker? staff writer Burkhard Bilger talks with Terry Gross about his reporting on the tick-borne alpha-gal syndrome, and how doctors, scientists and pest control experts are responding. 


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?The culture wars have completely eaten America,? says author Isaac Butler. His new book, ?The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America?s Culture Wars,? looks at how the religious right made a template for expressing grievance over art, and how that is used to this day to defund the National Endowment of the Arts. Butler spoke with Terry Gross. 

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Once the most successful women?s tennis champions of their generation, Evert and Navratilova open up about friendship, cancer and retirement in the Netflix documentary ?Chris & Martina: The Final Set.? They spoke with Terry Gross. 


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For over a decade, Laverne Cox has been one of the most visible trans women in America. In her new memoir, ?Transcendent,? she writes about growing up in Mobile, Ala., and the bullying and harassment she faced. She says she survived it by going somewhere else in her mind, often through music and dance.

Also, we hear from comic Ali Siddiq. He served six years in a Texas prison and turned his life into some of the most-watched storytelling in comedy.


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We remember one of the most sought-after directors in television, James Burrows. He died June 19 at age 85. Burrows worked on many classic sitcoms including ?Taxi,? ?Frasier,? ?Friends,? ?Will and Grace? and ?Cheers.' He was known for his comedic instincts, his visual style, and for insisting the comedy be believable. Burrows spoke with Terry Gross in 2006. Also, we hear an appreciation from TV critic and historian David Bianculli. 

Film critic Justin Chang reviews ?The Invite,? starring Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde.


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For more than 50 years, Anna Deavere Smith has pioneered a type of theater built from real people's words, interviewing hundreds of Americans and then performing their words verbatim. Now she's telling a story from her own family with ?Basil Biggs.? It?s about her great-great-grandfather, a free Black man, who reburied the Union dead at Gettysburg and prepared the ground for Lincoln's most famous speech. Smith spoke with Tonya Mosley about how ?Finding Your Roots? led her to this story and why she sees herself as an Americanist.

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Masculinism is a belief that feminism emasculates men, and men should be in control while women stay at home raising children. Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis says the movement is becoming mainstream. She spoke with Terry Gross about her reporting. 

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Wendell Pierce is working as hard as ever. He says he's motivated by the "ticking clock of mortality" ? and the desire to challenge himself as an actor. He's currently starring in the Shakespeare Theatre Company production of ?Othello.? He spoke with Tonya Mosley about aiming for a trifecta of TV, film and theater roles, why he almost left ?The Wire,? and caring for his late father.


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For more than a decade, actor Laverne Cox has been one of the most visible trans women in America. But the ?Orange Is the New Black? star says she spent most of childhood keeping herself hidden. Cox spoke with Tonya Mosley about the bullying she endured, pursuing a dance career before acting, and the anti-trans culture shift of the last few years. Her memoir is ?Transcendent.? 


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Pope Leo XIV?s Creole family roots inspired New Orleanian journalist Susan Saulny to research her Creole great-uncle who moved to Chicago, identified himself as white and never returned. She describes her journey to reunite her family. Her piece in the New York Times is called "A Family Secret No More."

As the United States turns 250, scholar Eddie Glaude Jr. has blunt advice: ?America has to grow up.? In ?America, U.S.A.,? the Princeton African American Studies professor looks at the country through the lens of its previous anniversaries and centennials. "The divided soul of the nation is in full view," he says.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan shares three book recommendations: ?The Family Man,? by James Lasdun, ?The Hill,? by Harriet Clark and ?A Beautiful Loan,? by Mary Costello.


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?In Savings and Trust,? historian Justene Hill Edwards tells the story of the Freedman's Bank. Created for formerly enslaved people following the Civil War, its collapse cost depositors millions. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about how this part of history reverberates today.

Also, we remember South African pianist, composer and bandleader Abdullah Ibrahim. He died Monday, at age 91. His song ?Mannenberg? was an anthem during the fight to end apartheid. Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead shares an appreciation, and we listen back to Terry Gross?s 1989 interview with him. 


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Siddiq grew up in Houston with a largely absent father. In his new stand-up special, he paints a picture of the flawed man he admired ? and reflects on his own experience as a parent. Siddiq spoke with Tonya Mosley about his upbringing, his time selling drugs, and making the leap from prison to comedy. 

Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews ?Toy Story 5.? 


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New Yorker writer Ben Taub tells Dave Davies that while the idea of acquiring Greenland is out of the headlines, it hasn?t been dropped by Trump. Taub describes how his ongoing efforts have broken the trust of our allies. "People are just completely exhausted and worn down. ... That trust cannot be rebuilt," Taub says.

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Jesse Wegman talks to Dave Davies about James Wilson. A brilliant lawyer who helped craft the U.S. Constitution, Wilson lived a colorful life and died as a Supreme Court justice on the run from the law and creditors. Also, David Bianculli reviews the Prime Video series 'Spider-Noir.'

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Glaude's book, 'America, U.S.A.,' looks at the country through the lens of its previous anniversaries and centennials. Today, as in the past, he tells Tonya Mosley, "the divided soul of the nation is in full view." As the 250th anniversary approaches, he says it's time for the U.S. to acknowledge the ways it has failed to deliver on its founding principles. "America has to grow up. It can no longer hide in its adolescence," he says.
Also, Maureen Corrigan recommends three books to help you jump into summer reading.

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Fifteen years after ?The Book of Mormon? made its Broadway debut, original cast members Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad once again took the stage as Mormon missionaries ? this time at the 2026 Tony Awards. The musical is a satirical ? sometimes affectionate, sometimes offensive ? look at Mormonism and youthful naïveté. Rannells and Gad spoke with Terry Gross about their first impressions of the show, how their voices have changed, and how the songs in 'The Book of Mormon' are a tribute to musical theater.


Also, Clarke Peters played Det. Lester Freamon in ?The Wire? and now plays a retiree in the supernatural thriller ?The Boroughs.? He spoke to Terry Gross about both series, and about his continued work as an actor. ?I picked this profession so that I would have longevity, so that I could still be acting at 100, if it comes to it,? he says. 

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In the new film 'Pressure,' Scott plays an Army meteorologist advising military officials on the date for the D-Day invasion. He spoke to Terry Gross in 2024 about playing a killer conman in ?Ripley? and the ?hot priest? in ?Fleabag.' Plus, we listen back to Terry Gross? 2003 interview with French-Iranian artist and writer Marjane Satrapi, who died June 4. Satrapi's groundbreaking graphic novel ?Persepolis? introduced readers to life in Iran during the Islamic revolution and the Iran/Iraq war. And Justin Chang reviews ?Disclosure Day.' 

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Johnson says he?s not shy about sharing his insecurities on stage. "One of the most connected attributes of the human condition ... is just being flawed," he tells Terry Grosss. "We really connect with people on their faults." Johnson?s new comedy special is Symphony.


 
Also, Martin Johnson reviews ELEPHANT, a new album by jazz trumpeter Adam O'Farrill.

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O'Connor stars as a cybersecurity expert who decides the world deserves to know the truth about alien life in the Steven Spielberg film Disclosure Day. He speaks with Tonya Mosley about preparing in secret to star in the summer Blockbuster, why he initially had no interest in playing Prince Charles in The Crown, and why he gets sick after completing almost every role.

David Bianculli reviews new documentaries about Martin Short and Lorne Michaels.

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The biggest World Cup ever starts this week. Laura Williamson, editor in chief of The Athletic, describes how sky-high prices, travel restrictions, politics and the Ebola outbreak are impacting fans. Williamson also discusses President Trump?s UFC event on the White House lawn.

Ken Tucker reviews Kacey Musgraves? album ?Middle of Nowhere,? which he says pairs well with the music biography ?Gary Stewart: I Am From the Honky-Tonks.?


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Fifteen years after ?The Book of Mormon? made its Broadway debut, original cast members Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad once again took the stage as Mormon missionaries ? this time at the 2026 Tony Awards. Created and written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the duo behind ?South Park?), along with veteran Broadway composer Robert Lopez, ?The Book of Mormon? follows two young missionaries sent to try and bring Mormonism to a Ugandan village. The musical is a satirical ? sometimes affectionate, sometimes offensive ? look at Mormonism and youthful naïveté. Rannells and Gad spoke with Terry Gross about their first impressions of the show, mishaps onstage, and regretting their decision to leave when they did. 


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Maggie O?Farrell wrote the novel ?Hamnet? and co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation. She has a new book called ?Land,? about a father and son mapping 19th-century Ireland after the devastation of the Great Famine. 

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the latest by classics scholar Mary Beard.

Also, we hear from historian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor. She has spent much of her career tracing the N-word through slavery, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and hip hop. For a long time she kept it a secret that her father was Richard Pryor, the man who put the word at the center of American comedy. "I was a scholar of the N-word ? and so, obviously, is he." Her new book is ?Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me.? 


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The Tony Awards are this Sunday. To celebrate, we?re listening back to two award-winners from our archive: Alan Cumming, who played the emcee in ?Cabaret? in three different productions, and Angela Lansbury, who starred in Stephen Sondheim?s ?Sweeny Todd,? as Mrs. Lovett who baked Sweeney?s victims into pies. 

Also, Justin Chang reviews two new horror films: ?Obsession? and ?Backrooms.? 


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Peters? credits include police Detective Lester Freamon in ?The Wire,? a Vietnam veteran in Spike Lee?s ?Da 5 Bloods,? and now a retiree in the supernatural thriller ?The Boroughs? on Netflix. Peters spoke with Terry Gross about his long career on stage and screen, his singing voice, and why he relocated to London in the ?70s. ?I picked this profession so that I would have longevity, so that I could still be acting at 100, if it comes to it,? he says. 

Also, David Bianculli reviews the Apple 10-part miniseries ?Cape Fear.?


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Pope Leo XIV?s Creole family roots inspired New Orleanian journalist Susan Saulny to research her Creole great-uncle who moved to Chicago, identified himself as white and never returned. She describes her journey to reunite her family. Her piece in the New York Times is called "A Family Secret No More."

Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the Netflix series ?The Boroughs.?


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O?Farrell?s 2020 novel ?Hamnet? was adapted into an award-winning film last year. She co-wrote the screenplay. It?s about the grief Shakespeare and his wife Agnes struggle with after their son, Hamnet, dies of the plague, and how that grief leads him to write the play Hamlet. O?Farrell?s new novel, ?Land,? is about the lives of an Irish family living in the aftermath of the Great Famine. Even though she writes historical novels, she tries not to lean too much into history: ?I find there?s nothing that makes me put a book down faster than if somebody is trying to show me that they?ve done all their homework,? she says. ?Land? is in part based on her family. 

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Classicist Mary Beard?s new book ?Talking Classics.?


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Historian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor has spent her career tracing the racial slur, the N-word, through slavery, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and hip hop. But what she didn't tell most of her students, even some of her colleagues, was that her father was the comedian who put the word at the center of American comedy ? Richard Pryor. "I was a scholar of the N-word ? and so was he,? she tells Tonya Mosley. Her new book, ?Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me,? is part memoir, part history of a word her father, late in his career, decided to never use again. 


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Alfre Woodard stars in a new Netflix sci-fi mystery series ?The Boroughs,? from the creators of ?Stranger Things.? She plays a retired journalist living in a senior community where the residents are being preyed on by something otherworldly. She spoke with Tonya Molsey. 

Rose Byrne is now on Broadway in the comedy play ?Fallen Angels.? She spoke with Fresh Air producer Ann Marie Baldonado about her Tony-nominated performance, as well as her starring role in ?If I Had Legs I?d Kick You.? In it she plays a woman trying to care for her sick daughter, while her life is unraveling. Byrne says the movie taps into the fear and horror of being a parent. 


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