When Lulu Wang's grandmother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given three months to live, the family flew to China to see her, but decided not to tell her the prognosis. "I turned out to be a surprisingly good liar," Wang says. Her new film 'The Farewell,' starring Awkwafina, is based on her family's lie. 

Also, Ken Tucker reviews a new album from husband and wife duo Buddy and Julie Miller, 'Breakdown on 20th Ave. South.'

Filmmaker Lulu Wang On 'The Farewell' & Her Family's Real Life Lie

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The songwriter, guitarist and singer known as St. Vincent took her stage name from St. Vincent's Hospital in New York, where the poet Dylan Thomas died. Her seventh album, All Born Screaming, is out April 26. She spoke with Terry Gross about visiting her dad in prison, touring with her aunt and uncle as a teen, and the inspiration for her hit song "New York." 

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St. Vincent

Journalist Ari Berman says the founding fathers created a system that concentrated power in the hands of an elite minority — and that their decisions continue to impact American democracy today. Berman's book is Minority Rule.

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How Minority Rule Threatens Democracy

Writer Salman Rushdie talks about the knife attack that nearly killed him — and his life since then. In 2022, he was onstage at a literary event when the assailant ran up from the audience, and stabbed him 14 times. His new book is called Knife. 

Also, Diarra Kilpatrick talks about writing and starring in the new series, Diarra From Detroit, a dark comedy about a public school teacher who is ghosted by a Tinder date and, in her quest to find out why, investigates a decades-old mystery that takes her into the underbelly of Detroit. 

Ken Tucker reviews Tierra Whack's new album World Wide Whack.

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Best Of: Salman Rushdie's Survival / A New Kind Of Whodunit

Longtime PBS news anchor Robert MacNeil died last week at 93. He spoke with Terry Gross a few times over the course of his journalism career. We revisit those conversations. 

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David Bianculli reviews HBO's The Jinx — Part Two, which picks up where The Jinx left off: With Robert Durst admitting to murder.

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Remembering PBS Anchor Robert MacNeil

Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser says mergers and acquisitions have created food oligopolies that are inefficient, barely regulated and sometimes dangerous. His new documentary with Michael Pollan is Food, Inc. 2. 

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Filmmaker Lulu Wang On 'The Farewell' & Her Family's Real Life Lie

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