Season 1, episode 3
William Lee Adams, author and Eurovision blogger
This episode I talk to William Lee Adams.
He is an award-winning journalist and TV presenter. Now at the BBC, he is actually best known as the world’s foremost expert on Eurovision.
William lives in South London. But he grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, caring for his severely disabled brother. He knew nothing about Eurovision until he was forced to watch it one night with friends. Now he is trying to change the way we see the song contest. He argues for the embrace of the quote unquote marginal, as a form of affirmation. And he has written a book, called Wild Dances: My Queer and Curious Journey to Eurovision published by Astra House.
Asked to choose three books resonate in her life right now, William picked:
-
The World Book Encyclopedia, 1983
-
The Bluest Eye by Tony Morrison, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970
-
Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971
William speaks to me from a little booth in London.
William Lee Adams
William Lee Adams is a Vietnamese-American broadcaster in London. He works as a senior journalist at the BBC. William is also the founder and face of Wiwibloggs, the world’s most-followed independent Eurovision blog and YouTube channel. His memoir Wild Dances: My Queer and Curious Journey to Eurovision was recently published by Astra House.
William has appeared on BBC programmes including BBC Minute, The Arts Hour, BBC Breakfast, Front Row, Newsday, The Travel Show and BBC OS, as well as the BBC News Channel and World TV. He was previously a London-based correspondent for Time, the American news magazine.
He holds a B.A. in Psychology from Harvard and an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies and Vietnamese from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He appeared as himself in the Will Ferrell Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
Find him on Instagram: @williamleeadams
For more, see his lovely website www.williamleeadams.com
