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South African writer, actress and first-time playwright Pamela Gien. Her off-broadway one-woman show is The Syringa Tree. It's a semi-autobiographical play about the love between two families, one black, one white. She plays 28 different characters in it.

Actor Guy Pearce is currently starring in the films The Time Machine and The Count of Monte Cristo. His other movies include Memento, L.A. Confidential, Rules of Engagement, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. His first big acting break came in the 1980s, when he starred in an Australian syndicated TV series called Neighbours.

He's covered politics, economics and international affairs for The New York Times for over 30 years. He now writes editorials for the paper. In his new book, The Great Tax Wars: Lincoln to Wilson The Fierce Battles over Money and Power That Transformed the Nation (Simon & Schuster) he looks at the battles over "wealth, power and fairness" that led to the establishment of the income tax.

Singer Linda Thompson is back performing after a long hiatus. She was formerly part of a British folk-rock duo with her husband, Richard Thompson. In 1985, Linda Thompson left the stage, diagnosed with hysterical dysphonia, a form of stage fright. Her new CD is called Fashionably Late and she collaborated with Richard and their son Teddy on the album's songs.

Poet Sharon Olds. Her new collection of poems is The Unswept Room. She has a number of previous collections, including Satan Says and The Dead and the Living. Olds was the New York State Poet Laureate from 1998 to 2000. She teaches poetry workshops in the Graduate Creative Writing Program at New York University. Audio not available due to rights issues.

Critic Milo Miles reviews Punk Rock (Quarterstick label) the new record by the Mekons, recorded during their 2002 tour.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews the new film 28 Days Later. The movie is based on the best-selling novel The Beach, in which animal-rights activists break into a lab and free infected monkeys, letting loose a virus that puts people into a permanent state of murderous rage.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Beneath This Gruff Exterior, the new album by John Hiatt and a new John Hiatt tribute album, The Songs of John Hiatt.

Illustrator Marjane Satrapi is the author of the memoir, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. The book is in the form of an illustrated comic. Satrapi was born in 1969 in Iran, and grew up in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. One reviewer writes, "A triumph... Like Maus, Persepolis is one of those comic books capable of seducing even those most allergic to the genre."

She got her start acting in 50s and 60s Westerns, appearing in Gunsmoke and Marlon Brando's One-Eyed Jacks. Though she is from Puerto Rico, she was often cast as a Mexican. Her films include Scarface and All the Pretty Horses. She's now starring in The Blue Diner, which will appear on PBS.