On July 14, 2023, I was fortunate to speak with Ann Druyan, one of the writers of the famous TV show Cosmos (all three seasons), winner of Primetime Emmy award, Peabody award, Richard Dawkins award and many more, a long time collaborator and wife of Carl Sagan.
I reached out to Ann Druyan to speak about the translation rights of books written by Carl Sagan and her. And I did not want to miss this chance to ask her for an interview. She took time out of her busy schedule and graciously answered to all of my questions and put me in touch with her office for translation rights. In our conversation, we got the opportunity to talk about about her past works and upcoming projects. At 74 years of age, she is still actively working on multiple projects, including the recently announced Voyagers movie, starring Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones, featuring the cosmic love story between her and Carl Sagan. We also talked a lot about the life, personality, and works of Carl Sagan.
“He (Carl Sagan) struck to me as the most fully realized human being.”
Ann Druyan, in an interview with Farhad Masum
Everyone who knows me knows what a huge fan I am of Carl Sagan. I became invested in science communication in my native language (Bangla) after I watched Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980), written and hosted by Carl. I learned my place in spacetime because of him. I fell in love with his ways of explaining complex topics in simple language, his passion for science, and his love for humanity and this world. I never met him, I never will. But I got to have a deep, intimate conversation about him with his long-term partner and collaborator. For me, it was a very emotional experience. I got to ask Ann questions that I had for a long time; questions for which I did not find any answers. And she provided answers that are thoughtful, answers with as much details as I could hope for, and answers that are probably not available anywhere else. She is such a sweetheart! She listened to each question carefully and responded with as much details as I could hope for.
Here you go, friends. My conversation with Ann Druyan in its entirety.
Please enjoy and share.