Some interviews come to me in mysterious ways. One time I was selling
some things on eBay and a random guy contacted me to ask about an item.
We had a conversation through eBay and he casually mentioned he had
written some books. It turned out he was one of the founding writers for
The Onion!
After quite some time he was a driving past Yellow Springs one day and
dropped in to tape a radio show. As he was leaving he gifted me a six
pack of quite precious beer he was smuggling back to New York from
Madison. Very kind and memorable.
I might not have ever heard of Tim Johnston if I had not had an old
friend from my high school years who reached out to me ten years ago to
tell me had a friend named Tim Johnston and that Tim's a great writer.
I ended up doing two radio shows with Tim and my friend was right, Tim
was a great writer. Tim told me that some writers say "write what you
know." Tim took that the other way, he said "write what you don't know."
Tim had been a carpenter for years and his novels were like his
woodworking: precise, finely crafted, workmanlike, and totally gorgeous.
This program was for you, Tim.
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.
