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Singer Brenda Lee is one of the early rock 'n' roll singers, with hits such as "I'm Sorry," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and "Break it To Me Gently." She's just been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, class of 2002. She's also in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Lee was born Brenda Mae Tarpley in Atlanta. At the age of 13, in 1957, she made her debut at the Grand Ole Opry. She's performed around the world. Her new memoir is Little Miss Dynamite: The Life and Times of Brenda Lee.

Journalist Martin Meredith's new book is called Our Votes, Our Guns: Robert Mugabe and the Tragedy of Zimbabwe (Public Affairs). Later this week, Zimbabwe holds presidential elections, which means Mugabe's presidency is in jeopardy. The book chronicles Mugabe's transformation from political visionary to violent dictator. Meredith has now spent many years writing about Africa -- first as a foreign correspondent for the London Observer and Sunday Times, and now as an author and commentator. His other books include, In the Name of Apartheid: South Africa's New Era and Nelson Mandela.

Director Ridley Scott has received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director for his film Black Hawk Down. The film, based on the best-selling book written by Mark Bowden, is an account of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia, in which 19 U.S. solders and some 1,000 Somalis were killed. Scott also received a nomination for best director last year, for his film Gladiator, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. Scott's other films include Hannibal, Thelma and Louise, Blade Runner and Alien.

Journalist Mark Bowden discusses Saddam Hussein, the subject of his cover story for the May issue of The Atlantic Monthly. The story is –Tales of the Tyrant: The private life and inner world of Saddam Hussein. Bowden is also author of the bestseller Black Hawk Down, which was made into a film. His book Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the Worlds Greatest Outlaw, about the U.S. government's role in bringing down Colombian cocaine kingpin and terrorist Pablo Escobar is now in paperback. It won the Overseas Press Club Award for best non fiction book on foreign affairs.

Novelist Carol Shields won a Pulitzer Prize for her best-selling novel, The Stone Diaries. Her books are often about middle-class people leading quiet lives. Her other novels include Larrys Party, which won Britains Orange Prize, The Republic of Love and Swann: A Mystery. She also wrote a biography of Jane Austen as well as plays, poetry and story collections. In 1998 Shields was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is now in a late stage of the disease. Her new novel, Unless (Fourth Estate), was written after her diagnosis.

As an actress, she's best-known for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies. She's also the author of the bestsellers Postcards From the Edge (which she adapted into a screenplay for the film of the same name), and Surrender the Pink. Like Postcards from the Edge, Fisher's new book The Best Awful is based on her own life. In it, Hollywood actress Suzanne Vale's husband leaves her for another man, and then she is diagnosed with bipolar illness.

Kaige is the director, writer, producer and acts in the new film Together, a coming-of-age tale about a 13-year-old Chinese boy who plays violin. The boy's father takes him from their provincial Chinese city to Beijing, seeking prominence. But plans change as the boy grows up and ultimately chooses his own path. Kaige is best known for his film Farewell My Concubine, which was nominated for an Oscar. His other films include Yellow Earth, The Big Parade and Killing Me Softly.

She is professor of history at the University of Toronto and the author of the new book, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, about the Peace Conference after World War I in which delegations from around the world convened to find an alternative to war. During the six months of the conference, new boundaries were drawn up in the Middle East. Out of that conference Iraq was born, and was for a time under British control. MacMillan's book, published under the title Peacemakers in England, was the winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize.

Harrison is the widow of George Harrison, the former Beatle. The two were married for 24 years. Harrison died in December 2001. Before his death, he began working on his Dark Horse catalogue (1976-1992), his entire body of work, plus unreleased demos. The box set (on Capitol Records) includes six albums as well as a DVD of seven restored music videos. Just this week Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Note: Audio for this feature is not available due to Internet rights issues.

He is the author of the memoir, Blue Blood that begins with his first days on the street as a cop in the New York Police Department and goes back three generations. His great-grandfather was an "officer of dubious integrity" during the Tammany-era NYPD. Conlon also wrote the "Cop Diary" columns in The New Yorker and is a graduate of Harvard. One reviewer writes, "No one has written a book that grabs readers by the scruff of the neck and tells them what the life of a cop is really like as well as Edward Conlon."