Award-winning writer Leïla Slimani grew up in Morocco, where women were second-class citizens, but inside her home and with her family, she was free to speak her mind. Her mother, a doctor, pushed her to go to France to study. Slimani spoke with Terry Gross about her trilogy of novels inspired by her own French-Moroccan roots and her search for belonging. Her books include ‘I’ll Take the Fire’ and ‘The Perfect Nanny.’ Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

At the age of 80, André De Shields is now on Broadway in “CATS: The Jellicle Ball.” He won a Tony in 2019 for his performance in “Hadestown” and co-stars in the new movie of the revival. He talks with Terry Gross about his Broadway debut in the original production of ‘The Wiz,’ living with HIV for almost 50 years, and why he walks like a king. Also, White Mountain Apache Chef Nephi Craig explains how cooking and teaching about indigenous foods saved his life. His memoir is ‘Our Knives Will Save Us.’ John Powers reviews Will Ferrell’s new series ‘The Hawk.’ Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Poverty, chastity, obedience, total devotion – and rebellion. Catherine Coldstream talks with Terry Gross about her years as a Carmelite nun and why she left the monastery. Her memoir is ‘Cloistered: My Years as a Nun.’ John Powers reviews the series ‘The Hawk,’ starring Will Ferrell. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

The second season of Lee Sung Jin’s Netflix series ‘BEEF’ earned 16 Emmy nominations. Set at an exclusive country club, it stars Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan in a story about class struggles and generational differences. The storylines of both seasons were inspired by real events in Lee's life. Before ‘BEEF,’ he spent two decades in comedy writers' rooms, often feeling alienated as the only Asian person on staff. “That's what people first thought of me when I first started – I was the diversity hire." He spoke with Tonya Mosley about the years he spent masking to fit in, and the breaking point that changed how he writes. TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new Apple TV series ‘Lucky.’ Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Botox, fillers, facelifts: Plastic surgery is becoming so normalized and undetectable, it's changing our relationship to reality. ‘New Yorker’ staff writer Jia Tolentino considers how beauty standards have dovetailed with AI. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

At the age of 80, Broadway legend André De Shields now starring in "CATS: The Jellicle Ball." He won a Tony in 2019 for his performance in "Hadestown," and co-stars in the new film of last year’s London revival. He made his Broadway debut in the title role of the 1975 original production of "The Wiz." De Shields describes himself as Afro Queer, a longtime HIV survivor, and unreformed hippie, who grew up in inner city Baltimore. He’s always gone his own way in how he thinks, speaks, dresses and moves. "I don’t rush anywhere. I walk slowly. My reputation is that Andre DeShields doesn’t walk, he floats." He spoke with Terry Gross. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

In 1981, members of radical offshoots of the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers robbed a Brinks truck carrying over $1.5 million. It ended in a shootout, killing two police officers and a security guard. Judith Clark was driving a getaway car. She was sentenced to a minimum of 75 years. Her 11-month-old daughter was left to be raised by Judith’s collective and later by Judith’s parents. Terry Gross talks with her daughter, Harriet Clark, whose new acclaimed novel is drawn from childhood experiences visiting her mother in prison. “I think she figured out how to mother me in some of the most difficult conditions possible,” she says. Also, Ken Tucker reviews two albums that draw on rock's past: The Dirty Knobs’ ‘Mission of Mercy’ and Low Cut Connie's ‘Livin in the USA.’ Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Rashida Jones and Will McCormack are the screenwriting duo behind ‘The Invite.’ It takes on the realities of marriage in middle age, told over the course of one dinner party that spirals out of control. They’ve been mining stories like this together for decades, finding the funny inside the painful. “We are never above a laugh. There's nothing that's grave enough for us not to laugh about, because that's how we release. That's how we process our pain,” Jones tells Tonya Mosley. Also, Lenny Kaye, Patti Smith’s longtime guitarist, has his first solo album at age 79. It’s called ‘Goin’ Local.’ He spoke with Terry Gross about his decades-long collaboration with Smith and evolving with age and experience. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

As ‘The Bear’ wraps its final season, TV critic David Bianculli reflects on the show’s run. Also, we listen back to our interview with Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays Cousin Richie, the abrasive and ornery cook/maître d'. The show is known for kitchen chaos, but he says the set is calm. He spoke with 'Fresh Air' producer Ann Marie Baldonado. Film critic Justin Chang reviews Christopher Nolan’s epic ‘The Odyssey.’ Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

White Mountain Apache chef Nephi Craig had an unconventional culinary path: from a reservation to a fine dining restaurant to cooking for 7,800 inmates while in county jail. Now he's the executive chef at Café Gozhóó. He spoke with Terry Gross about Native cuisine, getting sober, and bringing nutrition education and addiction treatment to his community on the reservation. His memoir is ‘Our Knives Will Save Us.’ Also, John Powers reviews the big tech heist novel ‘Cloudthief’ by Nathaniel Rich. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

‘New Yorker’ staff writer Jonathan Blitzer says thousands of people are being held in tents in the El Paso, Texas, desert, where inhumane conditions have become a tool to pressure people to accept deportation. There have been 52 deaths in detention centers since President Trump took office, and a significant number of them are suicides. Blitzer spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

The new film, ‘The Invite,’ directed by Olivia Wilde, offers a portrait of a marriage in middle age, told over the course of one dinner party that spirals out of control. Screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack have been mining this territory together for decades, while finding the funny inside the painful. “We are never above a laugh,” Jones says. “There's nothing that's grave enough for us not to laugh about, because that's how we release. That's how we process our pain.” They spoke with Tonya Mosley about their creative process and their other films, ‘Celeste & Jesse Forever,’ ‘Quincy,’ and ‘If Anything Happens I Love You.’ Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Record producer and manager Peter Asher discovered James Taylor and launched Carole King’s career. Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in his family’s basement. He spoke with Terry Gross about having a front-row seat to some of the biggest moments in recording history. Also, romance novelist Kennedy Ryan talks about how she fell for the genre in middle school, even though her mother, a preacher, didn't approve. Ryan’s best-selling books center on people who are usually at the margins – Black women, queer women, and women with chronic illnesses and disabilities. TV critic David Bianculli has a review of the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ remake. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Kimball, who died July 2, was artistic advisor to Ira Gershwin. He wrote books about the Gershwins, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, and helped unearth unknown songs and manuscripts by them and other early 20th-century songwriters. Kimball also rescued and rediscovered the music of the Black Broadway team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake. He spoke with Terry Gross in 1994. David Bianculli reviews the remake of ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ and John Powers reviews the second season of ‘Sugar,’ starring Colin Farrell. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Kaye's collaboration with Patti Smith began in 1971 and continues to this day. He says she taught him to trust his musical sensibilities — and to always keep evolving. Now 79, he has his first solo album, called ‘Goin’ Local.’ He spoke with Terry Gross. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy