Best Of: Mahershala Ali / Writer Yiyun Li

From W H Y Y in Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Tanya Mosley in Los Angeles. Today, Mahurshala Ali In his new film, Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother, Ali plays a devout Muslim father and professional killer, whose life is up-ended when he suddenly has to care for his children on his own. The role brings together a lot of what has shaped Ali as an actor, including an attraction to characters who live in morally complicated places. That's why I think

if someone like myself signs up to do. Apart like this because it isn't. It isn't simple. It isn't easy. It's a little nasty. It's a little grey. But it just makes for Great drama.

Also, we hear from writer E Yun Lee. She won a Pulitzer for her memoir about the suicides of her two teenage sons. In her new novel, she escapes the present and writes about two piano prodigies who marry. He wants a muse, she wants a quality. But it's about more than that.

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