Mitch Albom

Is that something that you've ever really sat with?

And I ask this because it's something that I also struggle with when telling stories about people suffering.

Let's take a short break.

If you're just joining us, my guest is writer Mitch Albom.

We're talking about his new novel, Twice, and his remarkable career writing about the questions that define us, how to live well, love fully, and face the choices and second chances that shape our lives.

We'll be right back after a short break.

I'm Tanya Mosley, and this is Fresh Air.

So much of your sports writing was very narrative based.

So, yes, you were writing about the winning of games and play by play.

But you also are writing these really deep, well thought out columns and pieces in Sunday paper.

I remember that story, too.

You know, it makes me think about you being a sports reporter in Detroit at a very specific time period.

I mean, the peak of your sports writing career happened.

The Pistons, I mean, they were just the sports team back in the late 80s and the 90s.

The Tigers won in 84 and.

But this was also when Detroit was being devastated by the crack epidemic.

The city kind of felt lawless in ways that went beyond what most Americans understood.

And so sports was kind of this unifying force, maybe the one thing the whole city could gather around.

That's what I remember as a young person in Detroit, reading your columns and just being a part of all of it.

And I just always wonder, were you writing about joy and about victories in the middle of all of that suffering with an awareness of the contrast as you were living it?