Why 'Theo of Golden' Has Touched Millions of Readers with Allen Levi and Oprah
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How did Theo of Golden become a viral self-published bestseller?
Strangers would stop and ask me, hey, Oprah, have you read The Old Golden? It's your kind of book. The book started off self-published by a first-time author with no publicity or a marketing campaign to then topping the New York Times bestseller list.
There was no deadline, no editor, no writing coach, no publisher, no agent. This is unbelievable. I cried a lot as I wrote this book. You did. And 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.
That's exactly what happened to me.
For anything to be good, truly good, there must be love in it. It's the truth. That's right. 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?
Hi, everybody. I'm so glad to be here with you on the Oprah Podcast. Welcome to my front porch. So many people were telling me, so many people were telling me about this book. People I knew, people I didn't know, strangers would stop and ask me, hey, Oprah, have you read The Old Golden? It's your kind of book. And it turns out it actually is my kind of book. This book quietly became what the New York Times calls a word of mouth smash hit. The book started off self-published by a first-time author with no publicity or a marketing campaign to then topping the New York Times bestseller list. It is my great pleasure to welcome the author Alan Levi to my front porch.
And Alan Levi is delighted and honored to be here. Thank you, Oprah. I could never have dreamt in a thousand years that this could happen.
Well, I so wanted to talk to you about this beautiful book because it is a balm of good, a balm of good feelings for readers. Thank you. And I feel really honored to be able to sit here with you on my porch. Well, thank you. And talk to you. So you're a former musician, I hear. Right.
Or you are still a musician. I piddle. I piddle. Yeah, the book thing has taken over my life the last couple of years.
Yeah.
But I was a traveling musician for 15 or 20 years. And you were an attorney. I was an attorney for 13 years. Yeah. Was a judge for a couple of years. Which of those things did you like the most? You know, I liked something about all of them. Music I really love. I love writing songs. Still do, even though I've not done it much lately.
To serenade But I really love the book thing.
Yeah, you love the book thing. I love the book thing. And it's a surprise to me because it takes so long to write a book.
First of all, can we just say this, Alan? Can you believe yourself right now? Can you believe the incredible, I mean, incredible and all that that word means, appeal that this book has had for readers around the world? I mean, in your wildest, wildest, wildest dreams, did you imagine the outcome of the success of Theo of Golden? Never, ever.
You know the story. I mean, it was never supposed to be published.
Yeah, I know the story, but they don't know the story.
Can I share the story? Share the story. 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.
Dr. Gary Pound has been a friend of Allen's for nearly four decades. He is an artist from Columbus, Georgia, well known for his portraits, his landscapes and illustrations. Fountain City Coffee in Columbus, Georgia, is the beloved home for Gary's coffee shop series of portraits that served as one of the inspirations for Allen's novel, Theo of Golden.
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?
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
How did Theo of Golden become a viral self-published bestseller?
0:00–10:34
2
What inspired Allen Levi to write the portrait-bestowal premise?
10:34–18:16
3
How did Allen transition from musician and judge to first-time novelist?
18:16–31:05
4
Why do Theo’s quiet bestowals resonate with readers seeking to be seen?
31:05–44:15
5
What role do themes of river, connectedness, and goodness play in the book?
44:15–56:01
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from The Oprah Podcast
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