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Fresh Air Weekend: Michael K. Williams; A Dystopian 'Natural Way'; Sharon Jones

Before becoming an actor, Michael K. Williams worked as a background dancer for performers like Madonna and George Michael.
Taylor Jewell/Invision
/
AP
Before becoming an actor, Michael K. Williams worked as a background dancer for performers like Madonna and George Michael.

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

No Longer Omar: Actor Michael K. Williams On Lucky Breaks And Letting Go: Over the course of his career, Williams says he's learned to separate himself from his characters (like The Wire's Omar). In HBO's The Night Of, he plays a powerful prison inmate named Freddy.

Dystopian Novel Challenges Misogyny As 'The Natural Way Of Things': Charlotte Wood's short, gripping book focuses on 10 women who have been sent to a prison camp after various sex scandals. Critic John Powers calls The Natural Way of Things a ferocious novel.

Soul Singer Sharon Jones: 'The Cancer Is Here ... But I Want To Perform': In 2013, the energetic lead singer for The Dap-Kings was forced to take a hiatus from the band after she was diagnosed with cancer. The documentary Miss Sharon Jones! follows her musical comeback.

You can listen to the original interviews here:

No Longer Omar: Actor Michael K. Williams On Lucky Breaks And Letting Go

Dystopian Novel Challenges Misogyny As 'The Natural Way Of Things'

Soul Singer Sharon Jones: 'The Cancer Is Here ... But I Want To Perform'

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