290: Writing a Sequel Decades Later - Interview with Samuel Shem

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hey there word nerds! </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Samuel Shem, a novelist, playwright, and activist. He is a Professor in Medical Humanities at NYU School of Medicine, and Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. His novels include</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The House of God</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fine</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">,</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Mount Misery</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">,</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the Heart of the Universe</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">, and</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The Spirit of the Place</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">(which won two national "Best Literary Novel" awards in 2008 and 2009). He is coauthor with his wife, Janet Surrey, of</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The Buddha's Wife</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">, and the award-winning Off-Broadway play</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bill W. and Dr. Bob</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, about the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, and also</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">We Have to Talk: Healing Dialogues Between Men and Women</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Also, just a quick heads up, we have a teeny bit of explicit language towards the end of the interview. Due to the nature of the discussion I decided not to bleep anything out, but I wanted to let you know in case you have small children in the room or you, yourself, are not comfortable with explicit language.</span></p> <h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this episode Samuel and I discuss:</span></h3> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The desire that inspired the novel </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><