Terry Gross

For Wilson, Tourette's syndrome means living with intrusive thoughts that flash disturbing images without warning. His novel, Nothing to See Here, was inspired by visions of spontaneous combustion.

The musician left behind an unfinished memoir when he died in 2016. Dan Piepenbring, his co-writer, recalls the moment he knew he could make The Beautiful Ones happen — even in Prince's absence.

Jones' band, Booker T. & the MG's, composed the instrumental classic, "Green Onions," and played background to Otis Redding. His new memoir is Time is Tight. Originally broadcast March 26, 2007.

Perrotta's novel, Mrs. Fletcher, is now an HBO series. In 2017, he told Terry Gross that the book was inspired by the upheaval he experienced when his kids grew up and moved out of the house.

Hahn says the "complicated and messy roles" she craved came later in her career. In HBO's Mrs. Fletcher, she plays a divorced woman experiencing a sexual reawakening after her son leaves for college.

Washington Post Beirut Bureau Chief Liz Sly has covered the Syrian civil war since it began in '11. "There is an inevitability that Russia is going to emerge as the dominant power in Syria," she says.

Onstage, Joplin oozed confidence, sexuality and exuberance, but biographer Holly George-Warren describes the singer as a bookworm who worked hard to create her "blues feelin' mama" musical persona.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead offers an appreciation of the singer, who died in 2006, then we listen back to a 1987 interview. O'Day first became known in 1941 when she joined Gene Krupa's band.

The Oscar-nominated actor, who died Oct. 11, often played police officers and private eyes. "These guys are straight shooters," he said in 2003. "I take the mantle of that and pretend it's me."

Jojo Rabbit centers on a 10-year-old boy who joins the Hitler Youth. Writer and director Waititi, who is from New Zealand, is half-Jewish and half-Maori. He plays the boy's imaginary friend, Hitler.

He was followed and his house bugged as he reported on allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Farrow says it's part of a pattern in which powerful entities go to extremes to quash unfavorable stories.

The artist says his father's early misgivings about his chosen career became a source of motivation: "He gave me the determination to make something of myself." John's new memoir is called Me.

Gilligan's AMC show centered on a chemistry teacher who created a meth empire. In 2011, Gilligan told Fresh Air that he pitched the series by saying, "You take Mr. Chips and turn him into Scarface."

The Emmy Award-winning actor returns as drug dealer Jesse Pinkman in El Camino, a movie sequel to Breaking Bad. In 2011, Paul said his character was supposed to die in the TV show's first season.

Growing up, Megan Phelps-Roper was told that God killed soldiers as punishment for tolerance of homosexuality. She started to question her beliefs after she began running the church's Twitter account.

In 2014, Christopher Wylie resigned from his position as Cambridge Analytica's research director. He later exposed the company's role in the Trump presidential campaign and the Brexit referendum.

Ten years ago, Costanzo had surgery that threatened to destroy his singing voice. Now the countertenor is starring as a gender-fluid Egyptian pharaoh in a new production by the Metropolitan Opera.

Norman, who died Monday, was first exposed to opera as a child listening to live broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera. "I was intrigued by it and I loved it," she told Fresh Air in 1987.

Literary biographer Tomalin tells of her conflicting desires to have children and to lead a meaningful working life in her memoir. Originally broadcast Sept. 12, 2018.

Border Wars authors Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael Shear chronicle the president's attempts to upend the nation's immigration system — including a proposed alligator-filled border trench.