YouSaid · the spoken record

Allen Levi

lines on the record: 63
first: 2026-07-21
most recent: 2026-07-21
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I didn't I didn't. I was talking with a niece of mine, Aaron, who works with me still. I love the young woman. And she was looking for a job change. And I had finished the book. I've always been really, really poor at self-promotion or marketing. I was awful at it as a musician. But I said, Aaron, here's what we will do. I have written the book. You're going to do everything else. You've got to figure out graphic design, you've got to figure out how we're going to market it. And she went to work. And I tightened up the manuscript a bit. Again, I didn't have anyone to help me”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And they knew I was working on a manuscript of some kind, and they said, may we read it? And I was reluctant, but I said, yeah, you can read it, but it. It may not be worth your time. They read it, they liked it, they said we think you should do something with it. And I trusted and still trust their judgment much more than my own. So I said, okay, we'll try to do something.”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So it took me two or three years to do it. I would write off and on since there was no deadline, no editor, no writing coach, no publisher, no agent, I was free to do it at whatever pace I wanted to work at. So I did it off and on. And when I finally finished it, I patted myself on the back. I'm capable of writing a piece of long fiction and was done with it. But I've got five friends with whom I spend a long weekend every year. These are old college friends.”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I didn't. And so this was a personal challenge. Could I write it all and did I have the stamina or the muscle to sit still long enough to do a piece of long fiction? So I started writing this story with no idea of what the plot was going to be, who the characters would be. Theo didn't come until really I had been writing for a while. I was trying to figure out how do I tie these bestowals, these giftings of the portraits together.”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No stories. No stories. No stories. Yeah. A lot of times to set up songs in concert. I would write little vignettes that I might share between songs.”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I did not And I still don't know who they are, except for one, the Ellen character in the book. And I've met her just recently. She is a delightful, delightful person. But I don't know the others.”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I was looking at the portraits, and I thought, wouldn't it be fun to buy all of these one at a time and give them to the people portrayed in the frames? So I bought four of them. I took them home and began to kind of ruminate on the faces. What is the story that that face tells? And so I wrote some scenes where I was giving the portrait to someone.”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so I had just finished a short stint as a judge. I didn't know what I would do next. I didn't want to travel again as a musician. I was kind of tired of that. And I just happened to walk into a coffee shop with which I was very familiar. And there were portraits on the wall, 92 portraits, all done by a dear friend of mine, Gary Pound.”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I liked something about all of the music I really love. I love writing songs. Still do, even though I've not done it much lately.”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I pittle. I pittle. Yeah, the book thing is taking over my life the last couple of years. Yeah. But I was a traveling musician for 15 or 20 years”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And Alan Levi is delighted and honored to be here. Thank you, Ophra. I could never have dreamt in a thousand years that this could happen.”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think that if we accept that premise as a rule for life, We have to figure out okay, what is love and then how do we live it out? And I think that the novel for me, as I look at it now, was maybe an attempt on my part to answer those questions. What does it look like to live a life of love?”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I cried a lot as I wrote this book. You did. I fell in love with the characters because they all remind me of someone I actually know. This man could love lots of people unlike himself. I wonder if I could do the same thing.”
2026-07-21 · The Oprah Podcast · Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT