All Of It with Alison Stewart

For the latest installment of our ongoing Full Bio series, we speak with Kostya Kennedy, author of a new biography about Jackie Robinson, called, True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson. The book comes almost 75 years after Robinson made his professional baseball debut. On day two, we talk about Robinson's playing style, why he became a more aggressive player, and how he handled the intense media attention.

It takes some guts to write a movie for a big star... about a big star... without asking them first. That's exactly what writer and director Tom Gormican did with his latest film, "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," which stars Nic Cage as Nic Cage, lured into a criminal underworld by a man who professes to be Nic's biggest fan. Gormican joins us to discuss and tell us how he managed to get Nic Cage on board. "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" is in theaters now.

The first ever revival of "Funny Girl," the musical about comedian Fanny Brice, is now on Broadway! We speak with Beanie Feldstein, who stars as Brice, and Jared Grimes, who plays choreographer Eddie Ryan and blows audiences away with his tap dancing routines. "Funny Girl" is running now at the August Wilson Theater.

For the latest installment of our ongoing Full Bio series, we speak with Kostya Kennedy, author of a new biography about Jackie Robinson, called, True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson. The book comes almost 75 years after Robinson made his professional baseball debut. On day one, we talk about Robinson's early years growing up California, his playing career in Canada, and how he first suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The new novel True Biz tells the story of Deaf teenagers enrolled at the River Valley School for the Deaf, and their headmistress, a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA) facing the possible closure of the school. Along with vivid storytelling, the book features mini ASL lessons and facts about the history of Deaf culture. Author Sara Nović, herself a Deaf educator and advocate, joins us to discuss.

A video is embedded in the segment page for those who wish to engage with this interview in ASL. Our interpreter was Genaere Lowery.

A swath of recent crime incidents on the subway, from a woman being pushed to her death in front of a train in February to the subway shooting in Brooklyn, have left some people uneasy about riding the subway. What's the real story with the perceived rise in subway crime? And do subway riders have to say about this? Journalist Reeves Wiedeman joins us to discuss his recent New York Magazine cover story, "Who's Afraid of the Subway?" and take calls from listeners.

We follow up Get Little with a Review/Preview for book recommendations for kids and young adults. We talk to Jo Henning, a youth librarian for the New York Public Library, to get some recs.

For our second installment of Get Little, we speak with author Stuart Gibbs, who you may know from his best-selling books, FunJungle, Spy School, Moon Base Alpha Charlie Thorne and more! We tackle how he got his start writing for kids, his upcoming projects (hint, he's got a lot), and why he knows so much about capybaras. Plus, he takes your calls and questions from young readers!

The documentary, "Hello, Bookstore," follows a four-decade-old independent bookshop in Lenox, Massachusetts, and its owner Matthew Tannenbaum as the seller's community comes to its aid during the pandemic. Tannenbaum and director A.B. Zax join us to talk about the film, and we take calls from listeners about their own local bookstores.  

Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, whose Broadway show, "American Utopia," wrapped last month, has a new book out, titled, A History of the World (in Dingbats). The book uses text and original drawings to explore modern life. Byrne joins us to talk about it, and he will also be at McNally Jackson this evening.