Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, as well as new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and it often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:
After his mother's death, Ocean Vuong wrote his way through grief: Vuong's new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, is the first he's written, from start to finish, since his mother died in 2019. He says writing it was a way to honor her memory.
'The Emperor of Gladness' is a beautiful novel about hard work and found family: Ocean Vuong's sweeping new novel centers on a depressed 19-year-old college dropout who becomes the caregiver to a widow with dementia.
Growing up, comic Atsuko Okatsuka felt like 'a freak' — now she's owning it: Okatsuka is known for her bowl haircut — and for finding humor in the dysfunction of her immigrant family. Her standup special Father is about her dad, who reappeared in her life after decades away.
You can listen to the original interviews here:
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