Better off Read

As you may know by now, this year I’m producing a series called Beyond a Joke where I speak with writers and other artists using something that has made them laugh as a jumping off point to discuss their work.

Anthony is an incredible fiction writer and you can read more about him and his work on his website www.anthonylapwood.wordpress.com

Anthony brought a painting as a starting point. A painting which also made me laugh a lot.

Anthony’s amazing book Home Theatre (Te Herenga Waka University Press) is available at most book shops and you can read more about it here

As well as creating the cover for Anthony’s book, Jonathan King also created a trailer for the book.

The last two writers have had author photos taken by Ebony Lamb. Ebony is an amazing photographer. She’s photographed me and it was a really nice experience. Which is saying something because I hate having my photo taken.

This is Ebony’s website.

If you need a photo I highly recommend talking to Ebony.

You can support Better off Read financially at Buy Better off Read a Coffee

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How to listen to Better off Read

Better off Read is available on Spotify and most podcasting apps.

Better off Read is also available on PodBean 

An RSS code is available here

 

I loved talking to Jordan so much. I’ve been a fan for a while and it was so great to sit down and chat about poetry and humour.

Jordan Hamel (Image by Ebony Lamb)

Jordan’s new book Everyone is Everyone Except You is out in May 2022 with Dead Bird Books. Click here to read more

 

Cover by Matt Mitchell https://linktr.ee/mattmitchell

 

To launch the book Jordan is having two launch events.

Wednesday 18 May at Unity Books Pōneke

Thursday 19 May at SOAP in Tāmaki Makaurau with Dominic Hoey and Samuel Te Kani

The best place to get information about these events is probably Jordan’s Instagram page

Listen to the latest episode and subscribe on Substack https://betteroffread.substack.com

Subscribe to Better off Read on Substack

In this, the first episode in this series I speak with Anna Jackson abouta single cell from a Peanuts cartoon where Snoopy is pretending to be a cow. This turns out to be a really great way into talking to Anna about her amazing new book Actions & Travels: How Poetry Works (Auckland University Press)

In the last couple of weeks I’ve been recording and editing the first episodes of the new series Beyond a Joke. In this series, I’m asking guests to bring an object that has made them laugh. Using this object we discuss what makes us laugh, what arts practice can learn about the structures of humor and jokes and so far, quite a lot about where the ‘serious’ and the ‘ridiculous’ overlap and intersect. So far, I’ve had two amazing conversations with Anna Jackson about Snoopy and Jonny Potts about ‘Нос Nos | The Nose’ by Nikolai Gogol. Both of these episodes will be available in the next few weeks. Episodes for this series come out every two weeks.

In other news, Better off Read is shifting to a new home at Substack.

My main aim in moving to Substack is to build a bit of community around the podcast.

You will still be able to listen Better off Read for free but you are also now able to contribute financially if you’re able. I would love to make the podcast sustainable financially on an ongoing basis. An important principle of the podcast is that I pay all guests. Your money makes it possible for me to make the podcast for everyone.

Subscribe to Better off Read’s Substack

Thanks as always for listening and I look forward to being in touch.

Due to Covid the session I was chairing with Andy Southall and Bridget van der Zijpp for the 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts was cancelled. I'm really grateful that Andy and Bridget agreed to record a session where we talk about their books under the session theme of Time, Love, Memory.

Andy Southall speaks about his new novel Both Feet in Paradise (The Cuba Press)

Due to Covid the session I was chairing with Andy Southall and Bridget van der Zijpp for the 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts was cancelled. I'm really grateful that Andy and Bridget agreed to record a session where we talk about their books under the session theme of Time, Love, Memory.

Bridget van der Zijpp speaks about her new novel I Laugh Me Broken (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

In the third episode in the Character season of Elements, I talk to Tatyana Kulida about character and how it relates to her work. We use Henry Miller’s book ‘To Paint is to Love Again’ as a starting point for this discussion.

Here is a link to Tatyana’s website

In the second episode in the Character season of Elements, I talk to Tara Black about character and how it relates to her work. We use René Magritte's 'The Treachery of Images' as a starting point for this discussion.

Some of the things we talk about are:

Here is a link to Tara's website

We talk about the books of Scott McCloud Understanding Comics, Making Comics, Reinventing Comics. Here is a link to Scott McCloud's website

In the first episode in the Person/Character season of Elements, I talk to Rachel O'Neill about character and how it relates to their writing. We use Andrea Arnold's film Milk as a starting point for this discussion.

CW: Please be aware that Milk contains the death of a baby and deals with the grief resulting from this. Here's a link where you can watch Andrea Arnold's film Milk

Here's a link to Rachel's blog

Here's a link to Rachel's Instagram