In public radio interview, English professor delves into his theories on writing

The “With Good Reason” public radio program is re-airing its December 2020 interview with Radford University Professor of English Louis Gallo, Ph.D., in which he talked in detail about his theories and inspirations for writing.

On the show titled “Writing Through,” Gallo and the show’s host, Sarah McConnell, “talked about everything from my theory that all writing is autobiographical,” the professor said, “to my use of wishbones as a recurrent image in my poetry.”

Recalling the interview, the professor teased a can’t-miss story he shared on the show: it’s about his “childhood terror when a headless chicken chased me out of the old Indian Market on Bayou Road in New Orleans.”

Gallo and McConnell also discussed his wife – she’s his muse, he said – memory, nostalgia, time and “how we never get around to probing what our almost immediate ancestors have produced in terms of art – of whatever kind.”

The interview rebroadcast will air April 7-13 on more than 60 radio stations across the United States. Listeners in the New River Valley can hear the program at 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 11, on Public Radio WVRU 89.9.

The show is available as a podcast at withgoodreason.org.

“With Good Reason” is produced by Virginia Humanities for the Virginia Higher Education Broadcasting Consortium, which comprises all of Virginia’s public colleges and universities.

The award-winning program is heard by an estimated 100,000 people each week on public radio stations in 33 states, including Virginia and Washington, D.C. Thousands more download the episodes via iTunes.