Hello everyone,

Great news (for me). Ray will be in a videoconference with his Argentine fans in the Buenos Aires International Book Fair, on April 24!
Well, just wanted to share my happiness, as I will probably be sitting in the first line when the moment comes. :-) Living so far away, this may be the only chance I get to "see" the Grand Master in the, um, flesh... oh well.
Any idea on how long these videoconferences with writers usually take, what are the usual questions, etc?

Thanks

Tomorrow's the big day... hope you enjoy
your videoconf with Ray! Please send him warmest regards from Luis, his biggest fan from Venezuela! Have a great day,

Great name choice Captain, one of my favorite characters and story.

Give us a full report on what The Man said, that's really cool that you get to do that. Next best thing to seeing him in the flesh.

Spanish news coverage about the Book Fair in Buenos Aires: Bradbury talks about Fahrenheit 451 to his Argentinian fans:
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/112403/ray/bradbury/argentina/

Heck, babelfish won't translate that page.

Ray was a wonder to look at and listen to. He was as brilliant and joyful as ever. All of you must have already heard countless times what he said, so I will not bore you with a detailed account. (Liar! :-P It's just that I have a terrible memory.) Overall though he was very cheerful, made lots of jokes, and irradiated so much passion and bliss it was almost blinding.
But.
But.

I felt deeply embarassed by the guy who interviewed him. No only did he make the most cliched and dumb questions (eg "What can you tell young writers..."), but what is worse, he could not speak English. He stuttered and repeated himself half the time and said things like "we are here, in the Earth, your friends".
If I may speak for everyone who attended the interview, this guy made us Argentinians sound like complete idiots, and it was a complete lack of respect to Ray. I know Ray probably did not mind about it, but you just cannot have someone who does not speak English properly interview a writer of Ray's stature, in representation of a country.

So, it would be a great relief for me (and I guess for many people who saw Ray yesterday) if anyone of you who once in a while see him tells him we're sorry the interviewers were such bores. :-( I know this may sound puerile, but please believe me, it's really important. Ray has only visited Argentina once; that visit 9 years ago and yesterday's videoconference may be his only memories of Buenos Aires, and it would be painful to know he has a wrong impression of us.
Please, dandelion or anyone who gets the chance to speak to Ray, give him our apologies and a huge huge huge hug. Argentina loves him and will pray for his health ("Pray for my health and if I get better I will return soon," he said). Ray is an example of everything that's good in life, and we are eternally grateful to him.

Thanks,
Diego.

Diego, I just got off of the phone with Ray and he said that the interviewer was an old friend of his and that he had known him since the fellow was nineteen. Ray said that he was brillant (exactly what you said) and that he enjoyed the experience very much. He said the applause was fantastic and that was all that was important.

So I thought I would let you know that he didn't mind at all in view of the fact that had known the interviewer for many years.

Thanks biplane!

The link below will take you to a 1997 interview with Ray Bradbury for the television program LOS SIENTE LOCOS, done while Ray was attending a book fair in Buenos Aires, Argentina (the interview is in English, with Spanish subtitles):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6ChohUJK0A