Fresh Air

Weekday at 6:00 p.m on News and Talk and News and Classical, Weekdays at 11:00 pm on News and Talk

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Each week, nearly 4.5 million people listen to the show's intimate conversations broadcast on more than 450 National Public Radio (NPR) stations across the country, as well as in Europe on the World Radio Network.

Though Fresh Air has been categorized as a "talk show," it hardly fits the mold. Its 1994 Peabody Award citation credits Fresh Air with "probing questions, revelatory interviews and unusual insights." And a variety of top publications count Gross among the country's leading interviewers. The show gives interviews as much time as needed, and complements them with comments from well-known critics and commentators.

Fresh Air is produced at WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and broadcast nationally by NPR.

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News/Talk

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Natasha Trethewey: 'Poetry's Always A Kind Of Faith'

By editor

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 10:39 am

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Portions of this interview were originally broadcast on July 16, 2007, Jan. 20, 2009 and Aug. 18, 2010.

This week, the Library of Congress announced that Natasha Trethewey, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Native Guard, will be the next poet laureate of the United States.

9:13 am

Fri June 8, 2012

In 'Dark Horse,' A Wasted Life Plays Out On Screen

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Credit Jojo Whilden /

In Dark Horse, Abe (Jordan Gelber) and Miranda (Selma Blair) meet at a wedding and start a relationship soon after, though not for the most romantic reasons.

Credit Jojo Whilden /

Abe's father, played by Christopher Walken, is angry at the world — and his only son. He consoles himself through buying mom-and-pop businesses and watching lots of TV.

By David Edelstein

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 12:46 pm

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It's tough to get on Todd Solondz's wavelength, but boy is it worth the emotional gyrations. Just when you've decided he has too much contempt for his characters to do more than take cheap shots, he'll shock you with flashes of empathy, insights that cast a revelatory light over what came before. You could never call Solondz a humanist, but he achieves something I've never seen elsewhere: compassionate revulsion.

9:07 am

Fri June 8, 2012

Ray Bradbury: 'It's Lack That Gives Us Inspiration'

Credit Steve Castillo / AP

"I'd like to come back every 50 years and see how we can use certain technological advantages to our advantage," said science-fiction author Ray Bradbury. He died Tuesday at age 91.

By editor

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 11:27 am

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This interview was originally broadcast in 1988.

Ray Bradbury didn't like negative people. The science-fiction writer and author of Fahrenheit 451 told Terry Gross in 1988 that he found out about negative people in fourth grade, shortly after his classmates started making fun of him for collecting Buck Rogers comic strips.

9:38 am

Thu June 7, 2012

Assessing Consumer Concerns About The Meat Industry

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Credit Courtesy of Tom Philpott

Tom Philpott writes the "Food for Thought" blog for Mother Jones.

By editor

Originally published on Thu June 7, 2012 11:58 am

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On Thursday's Fresh Air, Tom Philpott, who covers food and the agricultural industry for Mother Jones, joins Fresh Air's Terry Gross for a wide-ranging discussion about the meat and poultry industries — covering topics like pink slime, proposed legislation affecting antibiotics in the livestock food chain,

9:25 am

Thu June 7, 2012

Paying Tribute To San Francisco DJ Cheb I Sabbah

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Cheb i Sabbah.

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By Milo Miles

Originally published on Sun June 10, 2012 5:53 am

Cheb i Sabbah's life traces an almost fairy-tale perfect path through the evolution of what's now called world music. Born in Algeria in 1947, he absorbed the Judeo-Arabic Andalusian music of his local culture before he joined the '60s rebellion and became a 17-year-old DJ playing soul 45s in Paris. By the end of the decade, he'd moved to New York and become friends with trumpeter Don Cherry, famous for his association with Ornette Coleman and a pioneer in the concept of multicultural music.

8:44 am

Wed June 6, 2012

Brit Wit Meets Manor Mystery In 'Uninvited Guests'

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Credit Charlie Hopkinson / Courtesy Harper

Sadie Jones is the author of The Outcast and Small Wars. She lives in London.

By Maureen Corrigan

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 8:08 am

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A dark and stormy night; an isolated manor house; a knock at the door. These are the surefire elements that have kept Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap creaking continuously on the London stage ever since its premiere in 1952. And these are the very same elements that make Sadie Jones' new novel, The Uninvited Guests, such a delicious romp to read.

8:43 am

Wed June 6, 2012

Making Music From Messy Relationships With 'Kin'

Credit Deborah Feingold

The new album Kin is a collaboration between author Mary Karr and singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell.

By Ken Tucker

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 8:08 am

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It's not unusual for poets to try their hands at pop music-making. Patti Smith was a poet before she was a rock star. In recent years, print-poets such as David Berman and Wyn Cooper have put out more-than-credible song collections. But Mary Karr, known more for prize-winning memoirs such as The Liars Club and Lit than for her excellent poetry, has taken a high-profile risk that's paid off.

7:55 am

Wed June 6, 2012

Neil Young: The Fresh Air Interview

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Credit Danny Clinch

Neil Young.

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By editor

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 8:08 am

9:40 am

Tue June 5, 2012

Tracing The Evolution Of Lost Chicago Jazz

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Mike Reed's People, Places and Things.

By Kevin Whitehead

Originally published on Tue June 5, 2012 12:29 pm

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Drummer Mike Reed put together his quartet People, Places and Things to play music by their 1950s forebears. But it makes sense that, after a few years together, they'd also play later pieces, tracking the evolution of Chicago jazz on a new album titled Clean on the Corner. One dividend of their repertory work is that it inspires Reed to write his own tunes in the same spirit, like "The Lady Has a Bomb."

9:37 am

Tue June 5, 2012

How Louisiana Became The World's 'Prison Capital'

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In the past two decades, Louisiana's prison population has doubled.

Credit Ellis Lucia / The Times-Picayune

Cindy Chang is a special projects writer for The Times-Picayune.

By editor

Originally published on Tue June 5, 2012 11:07 am

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A new expose by The Times-Picayune of New Orleans calls Louisiana the "world's prison capital."

The state imprisons more people per capita than any other state or country in the world, with one out of every 86 adults behind bars. Its rate of incarceration is three times higher than Iran's and 10 times higher than Germany's.

How did Louisiana double its prison population in the past 20 years? And what differentiates it from other states?

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9:27 am

Fri June 8, 2012