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The skyrocketing cost of elder care Nov 03, 2026

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A new AARP study finds family caregivers spend, on average, nearly a third of their household income on care. Sometimes, the first challenge is understanding how much help someone needs. We talk with NYT and KFF Health News journalist Paula Span. "Parents will downright lie and tell you on the phone they're fine and they're handling everything, and ‘you can just butt out, thank you,’ and then you go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas and you see the reality and think, things are not fine,” Span tells Tonya Mosley.
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John Turturro could pick your pocket (if he wanted to) Nov 02, 2026

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Lifting wallets and watches was part of Turturro's training for the new film, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. In it, he plays a small-time thief who's also the primary caretaker for his ailing wife. Turturro spoke with Terry Gross about growing up around volatility, helping his parents with both construction and dressmaking, and how his background helped him connect with Spike Lee.
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Best Of: Making ‘La Bola Negra’ / 'New Yorker' cartoonists lament their kitchens Oct 31, 2026

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Spanish filmmakers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (Los Javis) turned an unfinished play by a gay poet murdered during Spain's Civil War into a sweeping epic. La Bola Negra tells the story of three generations of gay men. They spoke with Tonya Mosley about the making of the film.
Also, New Yorker cartoonists Roz Chast and Jason Adam Katzenstein talk with Terry Gross about their embarrassment and shame over their kitchens.Their new graphic book is The Two Saddest Kitchens.
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Kazuo Ishiguro on ‘Klara and the Sun’ Oct 30, 2026

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Nobel Prize-winning writer Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Klara and the Sun is now a feature film, directed by Taika Waititi. The story is set in a future time, where children no longer go to school; instead they learn on devices, isolated from each other. The story is narrated by a human-like robot, who serves as one child's "artificial friend." Ishiguro spoke with Terry Gross in 2021, at the time of publishing.
Also, Justin Chang reviews La Bola Negra.
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Who benefits when massive AI data centers come to town? Oct 29, 2026

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From Virginia to Kansas, the battle over data centers has reached the ballot box this midterm election. Communities are voting on whether to limit or ban the massive facilities being built to power AI – and the fight crosses party lines. Both Democrats and Republicans are accusing their opponents of being too eager to welcome billions of dollars in tech investment without considering the costs. Darrell West, a researcher at the Brookings Institution, has been studying the backlash. He says it's become something much bigger. "The data center fight is no longer just about data centers. It's about AI and its possible impact on people." Communities want to know what they'll have to give up, and who gets to decide.
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How the killing of Jordan Neely on the NYC subway divided America Oct 28, 2026

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Jordan Neely, a Black unhoused man in crisis, was frightening fellow passengers on the New York City Subway. A white former Marine named Daniel Penny put Neely into a chokehold, killing him. Journalist Anand Giridharadas investigates the incident, and what it reveals about American society in Man in the Mirror. He spoke with Tonya Mosley.
John Powers reviews the Thomas Mann film Fatherland.
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Los Javis filmmakers fight fascism and homophobia with ‘La Bola Negra’ Oct 27, 2026

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Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi — known as "Los Javis" — have turned four pages of an unfinished play by Federico García Lorca into a sweeping epic about three generations of gay men in Spain. They spoke with Tonya Mosley about making La Bola Negra, their creative partnership, and art as a weapon against fascism.
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'New Yorker' cartoonists confess to nightmare kitchens Oct 26, 2026

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New Yorker cartoonists Roz Chast and Jason Adam Katzenstein confess to the horrors lurking behind their kitchen cabinets and refrigerator doors – and the comedy they find in their anxiety. They spoke with Terry Gross about their new book, The Two Saddest Kitchens. Katzenstein also talks about his graphic memoir about living with OCD.
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Best Of: Meshell Ndegeocello / Betty Gilpin Oct 24, 2026

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Singer, songwriter, and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello helped define the sound of neo-soul, blending funk, jazz, and R&B into music that was unmistakably her own. Now, on her new album, Synonym, she's taking familiar duets and turning them into something unexpected.
In the hit horror/comedy series Widow's Bay, Betty Gilpin plays a new bride in 1700s New England who finds herself caught in a terrifying satanic curse. She talks about why she’s drawn to weird "anti-algorithm" projects.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews some newly released recordings by Stevie Wonder for the 50th anniversary of Songs in the Key of Life.
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Platinum songwriter Jimmy Webb Oct 23, 2026

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Hall of Fame songwriter Jimmy Webb talks about writing some of the 1960s songs he’s best known for: “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” and “MacArthur Park.” Now 80, he’s got a new album of unreleased songs titled Yours for the Taking. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2004.
Also, Justin Chang reviews the new film Possible Love, South Korea’s official Oscar submission for Best International Feature.
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