Welcome to Home of the Brave. I'm Scott Carrier.

Jim Harrison, American writer, died at the end of March a couple of weeks ago.

One probably very long winter after Linda,

his wife of 57 years, passed away last October.

He was a poet who made a lot of money writing screenplays and novels and then gave much of it away to his friends.

He was a generous man, funny and brilliant. He could write the most gut-wrenching macho tale and then turn around and write a novel in the voice of a woman and then turn again and write a poem about a river or a raven and they were all good.

Everything he wrote got under your skin like a cry of pain and joy and being alive.

He believed writing was his calling and he worked at it like a Lutheran

publishing 18 collections of poetry, 23 novellas, 13 novels, four collections of

non-fiction and six screenplays.

In 2007, Jim came through Salt Lake City promoting his latest book,

returning to Earth, and a local radio program here asked me to interview him.

Then last week after he died the local show Radio West rebroadcast the interview.

I heard it and thought I should play it on Home of the Brave because Jim was like the finest wine, the best food, amazing stories.

Yeah, I had checked through here when I was 16. I know I was 18. I was going to California and a kind

young woman let me sleep on a restaurant table in the back of this restaurant in Heber.

And then I buck bales over by, what's it called Fort Duschain to get enough money to eat on my way home.

You came back through here going home.

Yeah, yeah, I was just curious I had to look at it. You know

What do you remember about Salt Lake at that time? It was a lot smaller. You know, it's like the other day I was in Denver on Laramers

straight and it looks a lot different than it did in 1954, not surprisingly.

Right. I know, there's like a new stoplight in the city every day driving around.

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