Plus, a look ahead to the holiday shopping season and take your calls.

With Black Friday looming, Target declaring it's done opening on Thanksgiving, and the competition for dollars fierce, we want to check in with local retailers.

His 2020 novel "The Bear" just won the Massachusetts Book Award for fiction. We revisit a conversation he had with WBUR's Chris Citorik at his New Hampshire home.

We take listener calls with writer and Boston Globe contributor Tom Keane and local acclaimed chefs Joanne Chang and Bridget Lancaster on stuffing recipes and tips.

Plus, listeners and our experts dish about their favorite stuffing recipes, and we answer coronavirus questions with another edition of Ask the Docs.

The Curley school in Jamaica Plain has reopened after a COVID outbreak forced the school to close 12 days ago. Meanwhile, after removing the mask mandate policy three weeks ago, Hopkinton High School has seen no increase in COVID cases so far.

We take listener calls with Dr. Helen Boucher, infectious disease physician at Tufts Medical Center, and Dr. Cassandra Pierre, infectious diseases physician at Boston Medical Center.

Plus, we check in on the continuing crisis of homelessness, addiction and mental health at Mass. Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard in Boston.

We take listener questions on how to navigate difficult conversations when reuniting with family this Thanksgiving with Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, the founding-pastor of the New Roots AME Church in Dorchester, and Omar Ruiz, a licensed marriage and family therapist and owner of the practice TalkThinkThrive.

We speak with WBUR's Deborah Becker and Carol Rose, the executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts.