(Episode 128) "Dog Day Afternoon" Writer: P.F. Kluge.

Send us Fan MailP.F. Kluge- "Anyone who knows me, or my work, is well aware that what I write is based on my experience of a place, its history, character, and story-telling possibilities. My first novel, The Day That I Die, and my most recent novel, The Master Blaster, are set on my frequently-revisited Peace Corps island of Saipan. The Philippines and my home state of New Jersey have engendered books. So have Gambier and Kenyon College. I'm utterly familiar with the place I call home and sometimes wonder if — congenial as it usually is — it has lost its ability to surprise me. That, it turns out, is a mistake. July 4, 2015 startled me. Fresh from yard work, unshaven and unkempt, I made my way into the village, looking forward to chatting with friends and neighbors, listening to speeches, watching a notoriously quaint Independence Day parade. The usual stuff. But I was ambushed — pole-axed — when I saw my Kenyon classmate (1964) and lifelong friend, Perry Lentz at the podium, announcing the 2015 Gambier Citizen of the Year. Me. The applause, the plaque, the bouquet of roses — which I couldn't quite figure out how to hold with real dignity — were unforgettable." Meet the supremely talented and immensely underrated P.F. Kluge.Support the show