Terry Gross

Ladd is a 24-year-old writer who has just published an autobiography, "Out of the Madness." He writes about growing up in the Dallas housing projects with his mother, who was a heroin addict. Ladd describes how he struggled to educate himself and eventually became a writer. His book started out as an article, written when he was 20, and published in "Dallas Life." Ladd currently writes for the "Dallas Morning News," and attends college.

Spy novelist John Le Carre. His novels, almost every one of which is considered a masterpiece of the genre, include "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold," "A Small Town in Germany," "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "The Little Drummer Girl." To many critics, Le Carre is not simply the finest spy novelist of his era, but perhaps the finest all-around novelist. His new best-seller is called "The Night Manager."

Mystery writer Walter Mosley. He's written a new book in his series about gumshoe hero Easy Rawlins, called "Black Betty." Betty's a shark of a woman who leaves dead men in her wake. Like the other books in the series, "Black Betty" has Easy in post-War, but pre-present South Central L.A.-- this time the year is 1961. Mosley gained public attention when presidential candidate Bill Clinton said that Mosley was his favorite mystery writer. His next book,"RL's Dream" comes out this August.

Burke has been writing for 35 years but he's best known for his more recent detective novels about Dave Robicheaux, a recovering alcoholic who is also a troubled Vietnam vet and a New Orleans police lieutenant. His books include: "The Neon Rain," "Heaven's Prisoners," "Black Cherry Blues," "A Morning for Flamingos" and "A Stained White Radiance." Burke's new book, his eighth Dave Robicheaux novel, is called "Dixie City Jam."

Langella is the star of the new HBO Showcase film "Doomsday Gun," the true story of Dr. Gerald Bull, a brilliant arms designer who fulfills his lifelong dream of building a supergun. Langella also played Dracula in the Broadway revival of "Dracula" for which he received a Tony nomination, as well as in the 1979 film version of "Dracula." Most recently, he has appeared in the Broadway play "Booth," and in the movie "Dave," as Bob Alexander, the evil White House Chief of Staff.

Belli's first novel, "The Inhabited Woman," is about a young architect whose body becomes inhabited by the soul of an Indian woman from the time of the Conquistadors. The soul urges the young woman to abandon her privileged lifestyle and join an underground movement against the dictatorship. Belli is from an affluent Nicaraguan family. She studied English and advertising abroad before returning to Nicaragua and joining the Sandinistas and playing a role in the overthrow of Nicaragua's dictator Somoza.

Lee is the co-writer and director of the new movie, "Eat Drink Man Woman." The movie looks at sex and food as the two main things that create and maintain families. It centers on Taiwan's leading chef and his disappointments -- both in his career as a chef and in his attempts to raise his three daughters. The movie also examines his daughters' relationships to food and sex. Lee is the director of "The Wedding Banquet," a movie about a love triangle between an American man, a Chinese woman and, a Chinese-American man.

Anthony Aveni is one of the pioneers in the field of archaeoastronomy, which traces how different cultures throughout the ages have interpreted the skies and planets. He has just written a book, "Conversing with the Planets." In it, he weaves together cosmology, mythology, and anthropology, to look at the significance of stars and how they have been perceived in various cultures. Aveni is a professor of Physics and Astronomy, as well as Sociology and Anthropology, at Colgate University.

The Cuban-born poet and essayist has just written his first novel, "The Marks of Birth." It explores the experience of exile through the eyes of a young character whose family is forced to flee the political unrest of a Caribbean island-nation, and begin again in America. Medina has also written two collections of poems: "Pork Rind and Cuban Songs" and "Arching into the Afterlife," and a book of personal essays entitled "Exiled Memories: A Cuban Childhood."

Frank Smyth is a freelance journalist who has written on Rwanda for "The Village Voice," "The Nation," and "The New Republic," and an investigative consultant for Human Rights Watch/Africa. He wrote a report for Human Rights Watch/Africa based on his visit to Rwanda in May and June of 1993. The report, "Arming Rwanda," is about the arms trade and the human rights violations in that country.