NPR Marks the Centennial of Ray Bradbury’s Birth

Authors Marjorie Liu and Mary Robinette Kowal spell out the eternal messages in Ray Bradbury’s stories and discuss his influence on their own writing with Petra Mayer on Morning Edition. For Liu, who recently completed a reading for the Ray Bradbury Read-A-Thon of Fahrenheit 451, now streaming online, the genius of his science fiction is that it captures what it means to be human, no matter the time or space.

Mary Robinette Kowal believes Bradbury’s brilliance comes from an ability to make the stories that draw on his small town childhood reveal the truth about a larger world. “He’s writing his own very specific experience. But I think sometimes the more specific you are, the more universal themes can come out of something,” Kowal notes.  The authors diverge on the most essential Bradbury, however. Kowal recommends  the classic story of book burning and authoritarianism,  Fahrenheit 451, while Liu prefers Something Wicked This Way Comes, a tale about how the love of a young boy destroys a carnival of evil threatening his town and family.

Listen to NPR Interview

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