New Yorker staff writer Margaret Talbot on how residents of West Virginia -- the state with the highest overdose death rate in the country -- are trying to push back against an opio…
Tony Award nominees, actress Jenn Colella, director Chris Ashley and choreographer Kelly Devine join us to discuss their Broadway play, "Come From Away," which has received 7 Tony nomination…
Alan Alda joins us to discuss his book, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating. Alda is fascinated wit…
Minnesota Sen. Al Franken on his life in comedy and politics. Director and producer Barry Sonnenfeld joins us to discuss the second season of his critically acclaimed Netflix series, "A Seri…
Tony winner Cynthia Nixon discusses her starring role in The Manhattan Theatre Club production of "The Little Foxes." It tells the story of the Regina Giddens and her sister-in-law …
New York Times Magazine contributing writer Marcela Valdes and immigrant rights activist Erika Andiola on how Arizona activist groups hope to take their resistance strategies nation…
Ben Platt joins us to discuss his starring role in the new Tony-nominated musical, "Dear Evan Hansen," along with Steven Levenson, who wrote the book. It tells the story of Evan Hansen, an a…
Actor Bryan Cranston, and director and writer Robin Swicord join us to discuss their new film "Wakefield." Reuters editor-at-large, Harold Evans discusses his latest book, "Do I Make Myse…
Actor Bryan Cranston, and director and writer Robin Swicord join us to discuss their new film "Wakefield." An adaptation of an E.L. Doctorow short story, the movie follows a success…
Filmmaker Steve James joins us to discuss his new documentary "Abacus: Too Small to Jail," which chronicles the prosecution of a family-owned bank in New York's Chinatown. He's also be jo…
Tony Award-winning actor Andy Karl joins us to discuss his starring role in "Groundhog Day." Based on the 1993 film, the musical tells the story of a weatherman who finds himself trapp…
Actors Kristine Nielsen, Cobie Smulders and Kate Burton join us to discuss their roles in Noël Coward's "Present Laughter." The play follows a narcissistic actor, Garry Essendine, w…
Pamela Paul, author and editor of The New York Times Book Review, joins us to discuss her new book My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues. She writes about a journ…
Bestselling author Scott Turow joins us to discuss his new book, Testimony. The book follows a bottomed out prosecutor who is selected by the International Criminal Court to investigat…
Paula Hawkins, author of the bestselling novel The Girl on the Train, joins us to discuss her new novel, Into the Water: A Novel, which tells the story of a town in England where women…
Journalist Bianca Bosker joins us to discuss her latest book, Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to …
Min Kym joins us to discuss her memoir, Gone: A Girl, a Violin, a Life Unstrung. Kym was a violin prodigy who won her first international prize at age 11. After she purchased a 1696 Strad…
Barbra Streisand joins us to discuss her upcoming live performances at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 4th, and at Brooklyn's Barclays Center on May 6th. This is Streisand'…
Christine Ebersole joins us to discuss her starring role in the new Broadway musical, "War Paint." She is joined by Doug Wright, who wrote the book. The musical focuses on the rivalry …
Christine Ebersole, Doug Wright, and  Scott Frankel on the new Broadway musical, "War Paint." David Bellos joins us to discuss why Victor Hugo's classic novel Les MisérablesÅ
Over the past few weeks, we were saddened to learn that three former guests of the show had passed away. Yevgeny Yevtushenko was a rock star of a poet " who used his work and acclaim as a me…
Playwright Rachel Bonds discusses her show, "Sundown, Yellow Moon." The play explores the relationships between twin sisters Ray and Joey and their father. The sisters return to their small-…
John Freeman Gill, architecture and real estate editor of Avenue Magazine, discusses his debut novel, The Gargoyle Hunters. Gill's novel tells the story of a father and son team who steal 19…
In 2005, Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott came on The Leonard Lopate Show to discuss an exhibit of his paintings at the June Kelly Gallery in Soho. He had been providing the illustr…
James Crawford discusses his book Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of History's Greatest Buildings From the Tower of Babel to the Twin Towers, which reveals the history, archaeology …