From the This is Oddly Familiar Department:
Author & New Orleans Times-Picayune journalist Chris Rose has an anthology of essays out called 1 Dead in Attic, all of them written in the aftermath of Katrina. I read a lot of them online, including the one he wrote about battling depression as a result of the devastating hurricane. It turns out his editor got a call from the producers at Oprah, who in turn told his editor that they didn’t want him to talk about his book at all – they just wanted him to talk about his depression. So much for years of journalism, and for writing some of the best essays to come out of Katrina – stripped as an author, he just gets to be a sad guy talking about his experience going on anti-depressants as a result of the storm.
Silly show, Oprah. It really is. You’d think a woman who made her way to stardom via a movie based on a well-received novel would show a little more respect for writers.
& This is Oddly Familiar to me, of course, because it’s exactly what happened to me on The Dr. Keith Show, & Dr. Keith is also the author of books & knows from publicity. They did at least put up something about Chris Rose’s book on Oprah’s website.
Pity they wasted all that time on James Frey, instead of giving airtime to a guy who wrote about what actually happened to him.