I chanced to hear a scrap of an interview on NPR this morning with a former Arkansan doing well. If I heard correctly (though I can’t confirm it from the on-line schedule) KUAR will replay an NPR interview with Rashod Ollison at 4 p.m. today on All Things  Considered.

The Times published in January an excerpt from his memoir, “Soul Serenade: Rhythm, Blues, & Coming of Age Through Vinyl” (Beacon Press, 2016) shortly before a book signing here.

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I just ordered the book on Amazon. With a tiny bit of trepidation. He’d told me some time ago that it might include a memory of his being subjected to an endless loop of Jimmy Buffett on a trip with my family back from Board Camp, near Mena, where he and daughter Martha had spent a few weeks in a summer high school drama camp. He preferred the R&B greats, as he writes in the memoir, and  amen to that.

Rashod was one of the first Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars and one of many who’ve gone on to better things. He’s currently the pop culture critic for the Virginian-Pilot and getting quite a bit of attention for his memoir about growing up gay amid family struggles as he moved around Arkansas before completing high school at Sylvan Hills.

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You can get your own book signed in two weeks. He’ll be among the authors featured at the Arkansas Literary Festival — 4 p.m. Saturday, April 16 at the Arkansas Studies Institute.

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