Biography & Memoir

Paul Robeson Jr. has just written a new memoir called The Undiscovered Paul Robeson, the first of a two part series on his father, the famed actor, singer and athlete. He talks about his fathers rise in show business and what it was like growing up as the son of an icon. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Probably best known for his mystery writing, Sallis is the author of the new highly anticipated biography of African American mystery writer and realist Chester Himes. Himes wrote several books in the late 50s like The Real Cool Killers, and Cotton Comes to Harlem. Sallis has also published several science fiction stories as well as the Lew Griffin mystery series. His book about the lives of noir writers Difficult Lives, came out last year.

Former Chicago policewoman Gina Gallo. While she was part of the force, she also wrote about her work in columns for NYCop online magazine and Blue Murders online magazine. They were collected in the book Crime Scenes (Blue Murder Press). She has a new memoir, Armed & Dangerous: Memoirs of a Chicago Policewoman

Bundles is former Washington deputy bureau chief for ABC News, and an award winning producer. Her new book is a biographer of her great-great-grandmother Madam C.J. Walker, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, . Walker was the daughter of slaves, and a widow at the age of 20. She built a business empire creating hair products for African-American women, and then turned her wealth into philanthropy. Her friends included W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington.

Peter Hessler is the author of River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (HarperCollins). Its about his two years in Fuling, China as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English and American literature at a local college. The book was serialized in The New Yorker.

Kraft was NASAs first flight director, from the first forays into space in the 1960s to after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969. Kraft also created Mission Control. He has written a new book, –Flight: My Life In Mission Control.

FBI special agent Christopher Whitcomb. He was part of the agency hostage rescue team. The team is the equivalent to the Navy SEALs and the Army Delta Force. As such he particpated in the missions at Waco, Ruby Ridge and Kosovo. He is currently director of strategic information management for the Critical Incident Response Group. He written the new book: Cold Zero: Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team

Comedian Richard Lewis. His new book is called “The Other Great Depression,” (Public Affairs, 2000) and chronicles his recovery from alcoholism. He’s an award winning stand up comic and has appeared in over twenty movies and TV shows. Currently, he co-stars in Larry David’s HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews “Journal 1935-1944: The Fascist Years” (pub., Ivan Dee) a journal of Romanian writer Mihail Sebastian (“Me-hi-eel Sebas-ti-an”) about the Nazification of Europe.

Kenneth Kamler, MD is a surgeon who also climbs mountains. He was team doctor on three expeditions to the top of Mount Everest, including the disastrous 1996 trip during which 6 people died. Kamler is both storyteller and advisor in his book, “Doctor on Everest: Emergency Medicine at the Top of the World – A Personal Account including the 1996 Disaster.” (The Lyons Press) Blackened limbs due to severe frostbite were the least of his troubles. I-V fluids are frozen solid, and abrasions cannot heal at such high altitudes.

Serbian writer Jasmina Tesanovic. She’s just published a book called “The Diary of a Political Idiot,” (Midnight Editions 2000). The book, comprised of excerpts from her personal journal, narrates daily life in Belgrade during the political upheaval and bombings in Serbia. She is one of the founders of 94, the first feminist publishing house in Serbia. She lives and works in Belgrade.

Singer Jerry Butler, aka The Iceman. His 1969 hit, “Only the Strong Survive,” is a rhythm and blues classic, and also the title of his new autobiography: “Only the Strong Survive: Memoirs of a Soul Survivor” (Indiana University Press) Butler founded the vocal group The Impressions as well as having a successful solo career. His awareness of civil rights led him to politics, and he is serving his fourth term on the Cook County Board of Commissioners in Chicago. The book was written with Earl Smith, Butler’s brother-in-law and a journalist.

We remember Lea Rabin, the widow of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. She died on Sunday at the age of 72. She had cancer. (REBRAODCAST from 4/9/97)

Actress and playwright Anna Deveare Smith. She’s best known for her one-woman plays based on hundreds of interviews she did with diverse people who experienced a crisis in their community. They include “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” about the Rodney King verdict, and “Fires in the Mirror” about the Crown Heights disturbances. Her most recent show “House Arrest” took her to Washington D.C.to interview politicians and pundits, and it involves a community not in crisis. Deveare Smith has also written a new memoir, “Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines” (Random House).

Former theater critic Frank Rich. He’s just published his memoir “Ghost Light,” (Random House). In it he examines the influence of his childhood on his adult career: his parents’ divorce and an early curiosity for theater. He was chief drama critic for the New York Times from 1980-1983 and has been an op-ed columnist for that paper since 1994. He lives in New York City.

The host of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, Scott Simon. He's written a new memoir, "Home & Away: Memoir of a Fan"

Church leader and gospel singer Reverend Al Green. He’s just published a new biography called “Down by the River” (Harper Entertainment) detailing the trip from R&B stardom to Reverend. Presiding over his own Pentecostal church in Memphis for the last 20 years, Green recently returned to the recording studio to record a set of gospel songs. A popular culture icon, he’s had cameo roles in movies and TV shows. He lives in Memphis, Tenn.

Journalist and novelist George Packer. Packer grew up in a family with a very strong liberal tradition; his grandfather was a populist congressman from Alabama in the early part of the century. His father was a Jewish Kennedy-era liberal who was a professor at Stanford. His new book, the Blood of the Liberals (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), is a memoir about his family’s liberalism and Packer’s own coming to terms with it. He looks at the history of liberalism in America, and the clashes it caused in his own family.

Novelist Stephen King. Last year, the prolific and popular horror writer experienced something that could have come out of one of his books: he was struck by a car while walking along a rural road in Maine and nearly killed. Six operations and a long recovery followed. Five weeks after the accident King started writing again, and published over the internet only, the novella, “The Plant.” His new book is “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” (Scribner).

Poet and memoirist Mary Karr. Author of the best selling Liar’s Club, she has just published a new book chronicling her teen age years entitled “Cherry” (Penguin Putnam, 2000). In a follow up to what critics call “a hard scrabble childhood,” she returns to East Texas to detail her adolescence. Karr relates anecdotes of rebellion, self doubt and sexual coming of age. The recipient of several literary awards such as the Pushcart Prize and the Bunting Award, she has published two volumes of poetry. She is the Peck Professor of English Literature at Syracuse University.