1.

Michael Silverblatt, who died on Valentine’s Day, was the greatest literary influence of my life. He hosted Bookworm, a radio show out of KCRW Santa Monica, for 30 years and you can hear him getting emotional when he's interviewing Junot Diaz and the author suggests that literacy is a gift in two senses: a skill, of which some are better equipped than others, but it's also a thing that somebody gave to you. Wanted you to have. They sat and walked you through a picture book with their fingernail gliding patiently under some line of text as you sounded it out.