Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz is most famous for his novels about modern Cairo, including Palace Walk, but his latest book isn't exactly fiction. When he was 83 years old, Mahfouz survived a stabbing by Islamic extremists. During his long convalescence, he published accounts of his dreams in a Cairo magazine. Paul Hecht reads from the English translation.
One of the most innovative jazz musicians of the '60s and '70s, Rahsaan Roland Kirk was most famous for playing three or four wind instruments simultaneously. He got this idea -- and many others -- from a vivid dream. Simon Rentner found out how Kirk's dream world inspired a lifetime of unusual creativity.
Artist Marina Abramovic encourages you not only to touch her art installation piece, "Dream Bed," she wants you to lie right down inside it and record what happens next. WBUR's Sean Cole stopped by for a nap.
Special Guest
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her work is widely known, as she has been published in over 50 magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 30 anthologies. Her works have been translated into 11 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew and Japanese.
How did the Barbie doll become such a powerful symbol and ubiquitous toy? For our ongoing series on American Icons, we look at how Barbie started, how she endured, and what her future may hold. Produced by Studio 360's Leital Molad with production help from Sarah Birnbaum
Studio 360 is a co-production of
Public
Radio International and
WNYC New York Public Radio, and is funded in part by
Ken and Lucy Lehman, the
National Endowment for the Arts, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, and
DK Eyewitness Travel. Studio 360's American Icons series is supported in part by the
National Endowment for the Humanities. Our series on creativity and science is supported in part by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Our series on Underground Heroes is supported in part by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 
