Summary: TISSUE WARNING: this episode might make you cry. I got teary while recording it. Today I’m talking with author Laura Bradbury about her memoirs, her new novella project, and her liver transplant. I met Laura at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference in British Columbia, Canada, several years ago when they had me as an international guest. Laura had just published her first memoir, My Grape Escape, and was honored with an award during the conference. Her speech was incredibly memorable and inspiring. At the time, she was hoping for a transplant, and as she tells us during the interview, her view on life, and her view of her own fears changed drastically when she was told she had a vicious, incurable autoimmune disorder. She lost her fear of writing, and wrote that first memoir. Then she wrote another, and another. Now she has a series - the Grape series - chronicling her life from her decision to be an exchange student to France at age 17, and how her story changed drastically after that. We talk about overcoming fear, having the courage to write, and what it means to write down your own history, and your own romance. Her memoirs are very much romances with her husband, but also with language, food, and of course wine. We also talk about her liver transplant, and how her life has changed in the year since she received a new liver from a living donor. As Laura puts it, “There is so much heroism and good in people.” This week was my birthday, and I turned 43. I love this conversation because every day is a gift, not just for Laura, but for me, and for you, too. So I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did, and that it helps you take another look at whatever fears may be holding you back.
