Terry Gross

Though they work as a tradition African-American string band, Carolina Chocolate Drops' members throw in some modern twists. The Durham, N.C.-based trio plays a wide variety of instruments, including the banjo, fiddle, jug, bones and harmonica. All of those sounds are featured on the band's newest record, Genuine Negro Jig.

On Thursday, W.S. Merwin was named the 17th poet laureate of the United States. The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, known for his environmental activism, joined Fresh Air's Terry Gross in 2008 for a discussion about memory, mortality and his writing process

While writer Stephen King was recovering from a near-fatal car accident, he finished a nonfiction book about the craft of writing. In a 2000 interview with Terry Gross, King talked about the demons that haunted him after the accident -- and how writing helped his recovery process.

The East Africa bureau chief for The New York Times talks about reporting from what he considers the most dangerous place in the world: Somalia -- and why he continues to go back.

Doug Inkley, the senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation, says the population of sea turtles and brown pelicans in the Gulf is being decimated. Inkley details the ongoing efforts to save two of the most visible species affected by the BP oil spill.

Journalist Michael Klare says we've used up what he calls the "easy oil" on Earth. What's left is "tough oil" — deep underground, far offshore or in complex geological formations. Klare details the hazards of drilling in these environmentally hazardous areas in his book, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet.

Frank Loesser wrote the musicals Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying -- in addition to over 700 other songs. On today's Fresh Air, musical anthropologist Michael Feinstein discusses Loesser's musical legacy and plays some of his favorite Loesser tunes -- including several rare archival recordings.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse examines the public discourse that led to the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. She details the various legal briefs presented by both sides of the abortion debate to the court — and explains the newest challenges facing the legislation today.

More than 20 years after a car accident left Dr. Dan Gottlieb paralyzed, his young grandson Sam was diagnosed with autism. Gottlieb, a psychologist, started writing his thoughts to his grandson about what it's like to be different — and what they can both teach the world.

This interview was originally broadcast on April 25, 2006.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist opens up about his experiences as a father to four children and husband to writer Ayelet Waldman in his book of personal essays, Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son, now out in paperback.

This interview originally aired on October 7, 2009.