Q&A: Why Did Oprah Call This UVA professor?

When he picked up the phone, University of Virginia English professor and author Bruce Holsinger expected to hear his publicist’s voice. Instead, he heard the instantly recognizable voice of Oprah Winfrey. “Your publicist is not calling you. She set you up, Bruce. I’m calling about ‘Culpability,’ and I want to choose it as my summer read for 2025,” Winfrey said in their phone conversation she recorded and posted to Instagram.