“If you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer,” Ray Bradbury wrote in his small but seminal book, Zen in the Art of Writing.

During his lifetime, Bradbury was a most prolific writer and  received several citations: He was awarded the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 national Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation.

One of the stories Bradbury frequently recounted throughout his life was his encounter with a carnival magician named Mr. Electrico.  They met in 1932 when Bradbury was only twelve years old.  The magician, Bradbury said, touched him with his sword and commanded him to “Live forever!” For the young Bradbury, it was the greatest idea he had ever heard and from then on he started to write everyday because,  “Not to write, for many of us, is to die.”

This man LIVED.  And he continues to live through his close to fifty books, as well as the numerous essays, poems, operas, plays, teleplays and screenplays he wrote during the  91 years that he graced this world with his presence.

In his conversation with Dean Nelson of Point Loma Nazarene University, Bradbury says that he doesn’t write books – he writes about people.  The author shares his views on writing, and delights viewers with his wit and candor; and imparts his deep love for the craft of writing.

Sit back, relax and enjoy this conversation with Ray Bradbury.