In 2003 I interviewed a couple of writers who died recently. Coleman
Barks was a poet and our leading interpreter of the poetry of the
Persian poet Rumi. Through the work of Coleman Barks Rumi became a
best-selling poet hundreds of years after his death.
In 2003 I also did my first of several interviews with Luisa Lang Owen.
Owen was a professor, an artist, and a survivor. She lived here in
Yellow Springs. I got to know her back in the 1990s after she approached
me to talk about a memoir she was writing. She let me read her
manuscript and I was very impressed with it. I encouraged her to try to
find a publisher. Eventually she did — after it came out in 2003 we sat
down to talk about it on the radio. Not too long after that she was
contacted by CSPAN's Book TV, they wanted to come out and tape a
television interview with Luisa. That interview took place at the old
Books & Co. in Kettering. I conducted the interview that evening. It
is archived on the CSPAN site. Years ago I noticed C-Span had identified me as Mr. Owen. I asked them
to correct it but they ignored my request.
The Book Nook airs Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on WYSO 91.3 FM and streams at WYSO.org or wherever you get your podcasts.The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Tipp City Public Library.
