The Dallas Book Festival is Sat., April 30 at the Dallas Public Library. We discuss Lauren Smart's piece on the city's ongoing ambitions to become a literary city. Also, culture critic Chris Vognar and arts and culture editor Christopher Wynn chat with Lauren about a UT Arlington English class that uses analytics to study the work of Jay-Z.

'Mixed Media' listeners get an exclusive first listen to co-host Christopher Wynn's new pop-up podcast, 'Strange.' In this debut episode, four Texans tell their true stories of an encounter with the strange. Author Virginia Savage McAlester reveals for the first time her chilling brush with the Boston Strangler. Investigative journalist Jeff Guinn takes us “creepy-crawling” with Charles Manson’s deranged Family. Novelist Merritt Tierce meets a very personal threat on her own front porch. And Jeffrey Cranor, co-creator of the hit podcast and novel, 'Welcome to Night Vale,' reminds us why we fear the woods at night. Learn more and see exclusive photos at guidelive.com/podcasts or check out two of the featured authors in the new 'Dallas Morning News' #LiteraryDallas interactive: http://interactives.dallasnews.com/2016/literary-dallas/

We dive into Ben Ratliff's new book 'Every Song Ever,' a listening guide for the age of musical plenty.

Dallas Morning News pop music critic Hunter Hauk, DMN culture critic Chris Vognar and Dallas Observer arts & culture editor Lauren Smart talk shop with DMN arts and culture editor Christopher Wynn about the new music (and old acts) they loved or hated at South by Southwest 2016.

Dallas Morning News culture critic Chris Vognar talks with 'Bernie' screenwriter and 'Texas Monthly' executive editor Skip Hollandsworth about Hollandsworth' new book 'Midnight Assassin,' the story of Austin's infamous serial killer.

The so-called 'Cliburn curse' is being recalled after a virtuoso pianist's wife was charged with killing their 2 daughters in a Fort Worth suburb. ' Dallas Morning News' contributing classical music critic Scott Cantrell discusses the strange tragedy and the even stranger story of the curse. Three previous Van Cliburn International Piano Competition winners have met tragic ends. Download more episodes of the Mixed Media podcast on iTunes.

Listen to 'Dallas Morning News' theater critic Nancy Churnin's conversation with actors Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw. From 1970's ‘Love Story’ to 2016's ‘Love Letters,’ feelings still linger between the friends and actors. O’Neal laughs, listens, teases and flirts with MacGraw throughout the conversation, talking about her beauty, love at first sight and the intensity of their chemistry, which neither knows quite how to explain. Follow Nancy Churnin on Twitter at @nchurnin and read more about 'Love Letters,' coming to AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas at dallasnews.com. Download more episodes of the Mixed Media podcast on iTunes.

Listen to 'Dallas Morning News' writer and 'Mixed Media' contributor Michael Granberry's exclusive conversation with 81-year-old screen icon Sophia Loren. Loren has shared the silver screen with Charlton Heston, Peter Sellers, Clark Gable, Marcello Mastroianni, Paul Newman, Cary Grant and Gregory Peck. But it's a director she remembers most fondly. Plus: Find out what Loren really things of that famous photograph of her staring incredulously at Jayne Mansfield's ample bosom. A print of the photo now hangs in Dallas restaurateur Shannon Wynne's Meddlesome Moth restaurant.

Dallas Morning News pop music critic Hunter Hauk files this audio report from Austin. "What you're hearing behind me is Sixth Street, South by Southwest," Hauk says. "The least melodic mashup of sounds you could ever hear — and it happens every year." In this report he touches on New York music producer and Tony Visconti (the man behind David Bowie's last album), Iggy Pop and also interviews Arlington, Texas country singer Maren Morris. The show ends with Morris' music. Follow Hauk on Twitter at @hausofhunter and see all of our coverage at guidelive.com/sxsw. Download more episodes of the Mixed Media podcast on iTunes. #SXSW

Even the Speed Metal band playing outside his Austin hotel room can't stop 'Dallas Morning News' culture critic Chris Vognar from filing his latest dispatch. Vognar reviews the new documentary 'Dream is Destiny' about Texas director Richard Linklater ('Boyhood,' 'Dazed and Confused'). He also reviews the new science fiction film 'Midnight Special' starring Adam Driver, Michael Shannon, Kirsten Dunst, and Joel Edgerton. Follow Vognar on Twitter at @chrisvognar and see all of our coverage at guidelive.com/sxsw. Download more episodes of the Mixed Media podcast on iTunes. #SXSW