Episode 029: Sam Bloom
Episode 29 of The Blank Canvas Podcast with Sam Bloom.
You may have heard of the best selling book Penguin Bloom or the movie starring Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts as Sam Bloom.
Here’s Sam Bloom’s story in a nutshell. A shy but sporty tom boy became and nurse and lived to travel to far-flung and adventurous places. She fell in love with a like-minded free spirit, Cam Bloom, a professional photographer, they raised 3 boys and built a life on the Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Then while on holiday in Thailand, in a single horrific moment, a decayed balcony gives way and Sam suffers a near fatal fall that leaves her paralysed from the chest down and deeply depressed.
Into her life comes Penguin, an injured Magpie chick abandoned after she fell from her nest. The necessity to care for Penguin, a living creature more fragile than herself, helps lift Sam out of her black hole and together they find a way through the overwhelming adversity.
Sam’s husband Cam photographs the whole journey, this becomes the core of the book and it’s a bestseller. Sam takes up competitive para-canoeing, eventually placing 13th in the world and winning two Australian titles. Then as part of the Australian Adaptive Surf Team, Sam wins two Gold medals for Australia at both the 2019 and 2020 World Para Surfing Championships.
Meanwhile the movie Penguin Bloom is made, it’s big hit, on track to pass 8 million at the Aussie box-office. Meanwhile Netflix release the film internationally in many territories.
This no ordinary tale and Sam Bloom is no ordinary woman. Our chat took place in Bloom family home on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, March 2021.
http://sambloom.com.au/penguin-bloom/
https://www.penguinthemagpie.com/
W: https://theblankcanvaspodcast.com.au/
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THE BLANK CANVAS TEAM
Produced by Lee Rogers & Rien MacDonald.
Audio support by Jason Murphy/GASinc
Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.