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Fresh Air

Recent Episodes

Fresh Air Weekend: Actors Alfre Woodard and Rose Byrne

The Boroughs star Woodard talks about the Netflix series, and critic David Bianculli reviews it. Rose Byrne is one of the few actors to receive both an Oscar and a Tony nomination in the same year.
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Back from Cannes, a critic shares the films he's most excited to see again

Though the 2026 festival featured less Hollywood razzle-dazzle than in years past, there were still plenty of great films. Most notable: All of a Sudden, from the Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi.
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Remembering tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, a titan of modern jazz

Rollins, who died May 25, had for decades been hailed as the greatest living jazz musician. Kevin Whitehead offers an appreciation, and we listen back to Rollins' 1994 interview with Terry Gross.
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'Look to your elders': Alfre Woodard shares her secret to Hollywood longevity

Woodard says not giving up is the key to her long career. In the Netflix series The Boroughs, she plays a resident of a retirement community where something supernatural is preying on the residents.
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Former Obama adviser reflects on the 'Battle for American Identity'

Ben Rhodes was a speechwriter and security adviser for President Obama. His book, All We Say, is a collection of 15 speeches — from Ben Franklin to Trump — about what it means to be American.
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Travel to Italy and Algeria in these two brilliant, translated mysteries

The End of the Sahara is a kaleidoscopic murder mystery by the Algerian writer Saïd Khatibi. An Enigma by the Sea is a witty, socially astute novel set along well-to-do Tuscan coast.
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If you attend a David Sedaris reading, you're helping him edit

Sedaris says the best part of reading his work to an audience is earning the laughs — or the groans. "A collective groan is fine with me," he says. His new book is The Land and Its People.
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In the 'biggest book giveaway in history' WWII soldiers received pocket-sized reads

The books had to be light and small enough to fit in servicemen's pockets. The motto of the Council on Books in Wartime was: "Books Are Weapons in the War of Ideas."
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Billie Eilish thought she'd always have a soft voice. Singing lessons changed that

Eilish and her brother Finneas started making music together when she was 13 and he was 18. They talked about fame, family and their album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. Originally broadcast Dec. 17, 2024.
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Fresh Air Weekend: Zayd Ayers Dohrn's childhood on the run; Writer Jesmyn Ward

Dohrn's parents helped found the Weather Underground. His memoir is Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young. Ward learned the term "respair" — the recovery of hope after despair — during the pandemic.
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Fresh Air

The Peabody Award-winning program features Terry Gross’ fearless and insightful interviews with big names in pop culture, politics and the arts.

Fresh Air is produced by WHYY. For more information about transcript availability, please contact WHYY or check WHYY’s website for the program.

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