Shelby Smoak was born with hemophilia, an inherited genetic disease that prevents blood from clotting. Smoak was a teenager dealing with the realities of his disease when he learned he was HIV-positive, contracted from a tainted blood transfusion he received in the 1980s. In Bleeder: A Memoir, Smoak writes about the burden of dealing with two life-threatening illnesses. Smoak received the PEN/American Award for Writers living with HIV, and he teaches writing at Northern Virginia Community College.
Then, 2013 is shaping up to be the year of P.G. Wodehouse. A new TV series based on the English writer’s Blandings Castle novels premiered on the BBC in January; this spring will bring a made-for-TV film based on Wodehouse’s experiences in Nazi Germany; and a new collection of Wodehouse’s personal correspondence, edited by Oxford scholar Sophie Ratcliffe is finally available in the U.S. Bob talks with Ratcliffe about her book P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters. [Broadcast Date: February 26, 2013]
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