Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with acclaimed educator, novelist, essayist, and author Bill Smoot. His remarkable story begins in Maysville, Kentucky, where he grew up in the 1950s surrounded by Family, community, baseball, Boy Scouts, and time spent on his grandparents’ dairy farm.

Bill attended Purdue University intending to become an engineer, but his intellectual curiosity led him toward philosophy and journalism. During his college years, he became politically engaged while serving as editor of The Purdue Exponent, helping shape discussions during a transformative era in American history.

Over the past decade, Bill has dedicated himself to teaching at Mount Tamalpais College inside San Quentin Prison, bringing higher Education opportunities to incarcerated students and helping transform lives through learning, literature, and critical thinking.

We discuss his latest novel, San Quentin Exodus, a compelling work of fiction centered around a dramatic prison escape while exploring larger themes of freedom, redemption, justice, and the human spirit.

In this engaging conversation, Bill shares insights on teaching inside prison walls, writing fiction, philosophy, education, social change, and the life experiences that shaped his journey from rural Kentucky to one of America’s most unique educational environments.

This is a fascinating discussion about storytelling, learning, transformation, and the power of education.

More Bill Smoot:
https://billsmoot.net/

San Quentin Exodus:
https://www.amazon.com/San-Quentin-Exodus-Bill-Smoot/dp/162720671X

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Joe Dimino Podcaster/Artist

Joe Dimino has been writing & creating in a variety of capacities since his college days at the University of Missouri-Kansas City somewhere around 1993. If you are keeping score, that would be about 29 years+. It all began at UMKCs University News as a Sports Writer & turned into a myriad of expressive avenues. Inventing poems, art, video & audio has always been in the proverbial cards.