Terry Gross

Palin is best known for his comedy work with England's legendary Monty Python troupe. But his new movie, "American Friends," is a romance based on the life of his great-grandfather. Edward Palin was a 35 year-old tutor at Oxford University when he met 17-year-old Brita, an American girl touring Europe. Oxford tutors in the Victorian era were sworn to chastity, so Edward Palin left his job to marry Brita. Michael Palin found the story in his great-grandfather's journal.

Gomez is based in San Francisco. Her new show, "Memory Tricks," is running at the Public Theater in New York. Gomez talks about her mother, who worked as an exotic dancer, and who now suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

Gaines wrote "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" and "A Gathering of Old Men." He talks about growing up in rural Louisiana and his new novel, "A Lesson Before Dying," which brings together two black men -- one a teacher, the other a death row inmate.

Larry Colton has a new memoir called, "Goat Brothers." it's about he and his faternity brothers at the University of California at Berkeley in the early 1960s and what happened to them. They were superjocks who are unprepared for life after college. One reviewer writes, "a gripping, often painful look at lives that went right and awry in about equal measure."

Crowe was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Reagan and Bush. He's now chair of Clinton's foreign intelligence advisory board. In the late 1980s, Crowe developed an unusual friendship with his Soviet counterpart, Marshal Sergei F. Akromeyev, who later committed suicide after being accused of taking part in the Soviet coup. Crowe urged Bush to delay the start up in the Gulf War. And later, he endorsed Clinton for president. His new book is called, "The Line of Fire"

Larson got his start playing Jimmy Olsen, the cub-reporter on the original "Superman" TV show. One of his poems, "The Relativity of Icarus," was part of a Joffrey Ballet." He's also written a couple of versed plays, "The Candied House," and "Cherry, Larry, Sandy, Doris, Jean, Paul."

Rivers has a new autobiography, "What Did I Do?" He's known by art historians as "a great figurative painter," "the father of Pop Art," and is recognized as the first American artist to use vulgar objects in an artistic context. Rivers was part of a loosely knit association of poets and painters in New York in the 50's. His book looks back at his work as a jazz saxophonist, his drug use, and his unashamed interest in sexuality.

Dillinger is a longtime peace worker, editor and author. He was jailed for civil disobedience a generation before Daniel and Philip Berrigan. He was part of the "Chicago Seven," the group of seven antiwar demonstrators at the 1968 Democratic National Convention which erupted into violence between demonstrators and police. Dellinger has written six books. His latest is an account of his spiritual journey, "Fram Yale to Jail."

Russ Rymer is a journalist who has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He has just written his first book, "Genie," about the discovery in 1970 of a thirteen year old girl who had lived her entire life locked in a room of her parent's house. Genie had no language or social skills. Her discovery coincided with a raging debate among scientists about the origin of language. Michael Dorris writes about the book, "At once a scientific detective story and an examination of professional ethics. . .

Frisell is a prolific performer and recording artist; one reviewer likened him to both a "painter and sonic psychopath." His latest album, "Have a Little Faith," pays tribute to American music makers like Muddy Waters, Madonna, John Hiatt and John Philip Sousa.