Terry Gross

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass (pronounced like grass) talks about his new book "Poet's Choice: Poems for Everyday Life" published by Ecco Press. It's a collection of Hass' favorite recent poems by other poets. Hass served as Laureate from 1995-1997. He is also the author of "Sun Under Wood," "Human Wishes," "Praise," "Field Guide," and a book of essays titled "Twentieth Century Pleasures," which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. He teaches at the University of California at Berkeley.

Playwright, Actor and Director Sam Shepard talks about how he got started in theater. Shepard won a Pulitzer for his play "Buried Child" and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Chuck Yeager in "The Right Stuff." Shepard stars in the new film "The Only Thrill."

Jazz singer and pianist Blossom Dearie. She has been called "One of the last of the great supper-club singers". Her following is mainly centered in New York and London. For years, she has performed in London and New York. This year, she is appearing at Danny's Skylight Room in Manhattan.

Oscar winning British actor Jeremy Irons talks about his life and career. He stars in two new movies this year: "Chinese Box" and "Man in the Iron Mask". His role in the controversial film adaptation of "Lolita" has yet to be distributed in the United States. Irons plays Humbert who is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl. Irons has appeared in numerous films, television programs and stage productions.

Author, jazz writer and musician, Stuart Nicholson. He is an expert on and biographer of late jazz great Ella Fitzgerald. Nicholson is the author of te 1994 book "Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz" This month the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History opened its exhibit: Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song. It examines Ella Fitzgerald's 60-year career and her rags-to-riches climb to international fame as a jazz and popular singer.

Rodger McFarlane is co-author "The Complete Bedside Companion: No-Nonsense Advice on Caring for the Seriously Ill". It is published by Simon and Schuster. McFarlane is former Executive Director of two of America's most successful and influential AIDS service groups, Gay Men's Health Crisis and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Rodger has personally cared for many sick and dying family members and friends over the past 25 years. McFarlane co-wrote this book with Philip Bashe.

Betty DeGeneres talks about her life before and after her daughter Ellen Degeneres publicly announced that she is a lesbian. Betty DeGeneres is now the spokesperson for the National Coming Out Project for the Human Rights Campaign. HRC is the nation's largest national lesbian and gay political organization. National Coming Out Day is celebrated every October 11.

Filmmaker Doris Wishman. She's considered to be a pioneer of sexploitation movies, of the "nudie" and softcore sex genre films. Between 1960 and 1978 Wisman wrote, directed and produced 24 low budget films. Her films include "Bad Girls Go to Hell," "Nude on the Moon," and "Too Much, Too Often." Revivals of her films have recently been shown in Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York. In August she will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.

Michael Bowen is author of a forthcoming book on Sexplotation pioneer filmmaker Doris Wishman. He is a writer based in Brookline, Mass.

Writer Robert Sullivan. His new book "The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures At the Edge of a City" (Scribner) is about his intrepid trek into the swamp land five miles outside of New York City, where decades of garbage, chemicals, and corpses have been dumped. Ian Frazier calls is "funny, interesting, surprising and bizarre." Part of the book was excerpted recently in The New York Times Magazine (Feb 15). Sullivan is contributing editor at Vogue. He also writes for The New Yorker, Conde Naste Travler, The New Republic and Rolling Stone.