Terry Gross

Writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jon Macks. He has a new book that spoofs books about spiritualism. It's called "Heaven Talks Back" (Simon & Schuster).

Journalist Burkhand Bilger. He's currently working on a new book about clandestine Southern traditions (to be published by Scribner's). For now, his article "Enter the Chicken" appears in Harper's Magazine (March 1999). It's about cockfighting in Louisiana, where it's legal, but still secret.

Host Garrison Keillor of Minnesota Public Radio's "A Prairie Home Companion." His new book has caused quite a stir. "Me: by Jimmy (Big Boy) Valente as told to Garrison Keillor" (Viking) satirizes Minnesota's new state governor, and former professional wrestler, Jesse Ventura. The governor, who plans to write his own autobiography, called Keillor's book "cheating" and proposed gradually eliminating state funding for Minnesota's public radio and TV. He also singled out Keillor saying he'd like to see his W-2.

The documentary musical theatre "Band in Berlin" tells the story of "The Comedian Harmonists" a popular sextet vocal group in Germany in the late '20s and early 30's. By 1935 the group was forced to disband by the Nazis because half of the group was Jewish. "Band in Berlin" opens on Broadway, March 7th. It was created by Susan Feldman with Wilbur Pauley and stars the New York-based contemporary sextet, The Hudson Shad.

Playwright Neil Simon. He's about to receive the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Writers Award in Aspen. This is the Festival's 5th annual event. SIMON's plays and movies include, "Barefoot in the Park," "The Odd Couple," "The Goodbye Girl," "The Out-of-Towners," and "The Sunshine Boys." He won a Pulitzer Prize for his play "Lost in Yonkers." Terry talked with him after his 1996 memoir, "Rewrites" was published. (REBROADCAST from 10/17/96).

Analyst for the National Security Archives, Kate Doyle. She directed the Guatemalan Documentation Project, which lead to the declassification of documents from the CIA, the State and Defense Departments on Guatemala. These documents were handed over to the commission and filled the gap left by Guatemalan military which claimed its files had been lost.

Professor of international law Christian Tomuschat, headed the Historical Clarification Commission on Guatemala, a United Nations-supported truth commission on human rights abuses in Guatemala during that country's 36 year civil war. A peace treaty was signed in Guatemala in 1996. The report was issued last month. It finds that the U.S. agencies knew far more about atrocities committed by the Guatemalan Army and its death squads than the United States acknowledged.

Political anthropologist Jennifer Schirmer. Beginning in 1986, she interviewed Guatemalan military officials of all different levels, getting them to talk about their participation in atrocities. Her new book based on that research is "The Guatemalan Military Project: A Violence called Democracy." (University of Pennsylvania Press)

Tuvan throat singer Ondar and producer Ralph Leighton. Tuvan throat singing is a biphonic sound in which the performer produces two or three distinct tones at the same time. It originates from Tuva. Leighton co-produced Ondar's debut CD, "Back Tuva Future" (Warner Bros/Reprise)

Writer Evan Hunter. Under his own name he is the author of "The Blackboard Jungle," and "Privileged Conversation." He also wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Birds" (based on the Daphne Du Maurier short story). (WE WILL TALK WITH HIM AT ANOTHER TIME ABOUT HIS WORK WITH HITCHCOCK) Under the pseudonym Ed McBain, he is the author of a series of mystery novels for which he won the British Crime Writers Association's highest award, the Diamond Dagger, and the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award.