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In "The Splendid Things We Planned," an Acclaimed Biographer Profiles His Troubled Sibling

Aired on Wednesday, April 29th.

On this edition of ST, we listen back to an interview that was recorded about a year ago with Blake Bailey, who grew up in Oklahoma City, now teaches creative writing in Virginia, and is the author of three highly regarded literary biographies (of Richard Yates, John Cheever, and Charles Jackson). Bailey has now, in his newest book, turned his attention to his own roots -- and specifically to his late brother, Scott, whose too-brief life was marked by incessant tragedy, addiction, recklessness, and mental instability. Bailey's memoir -- concerning his brother, their upbringing, their parents, and their often very difficult family life -- is called "The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait." This book is now out in paperback, and Bailey will be reading from it, and signing copies of it, tomorrow night (Thursday the 30th) at 7pm at a free-to-the-public Book Smart Tulsa event at Lucky's on the Green, which is located at the Guthrie Green in downtown Tulsa. (You can learn more about this event here.) Dave Itzkoff, writing in The New York Times Book Review, called Bailey's memoir "enthralling...achingly honest...a fearless, deeply felt, and often frightening book [that] arrives at a certain undeniable truth about how we are capable of feeling love for people we would never choose to be around."

Rich Fisher passed through KWGS about thirty years ago, and just never left. Today, he is the general manager of Public Radio Tulsa, and the host of KWGS’s public affairs program, StudioTulsa, which celebrated its twentieth anniversary in August 2012 . As host of StudioTulsa, Rich has conducted roughly four thousand long-form interviews with local, national, and international figures in the arts, humanities, sciences, and government. Very few interviews have gone smoothly. Despite this, he has been honored for his work by several organizations including the Governor's Arts Award for Media by the State Arts Council, a Harwelden Award from the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, and was named one of the “99 Great Things About Oklahoma” in 2000 by Oklahoma Today magazine.
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