Ray Shipley has done many very cool things: stand-up comedy, slam poetry, book-selling, librarianship. Ray's latest awesome thing is a book My Body is a Horror Film: Written, Directed, Produced by and Starring Ray Shipley.

It's such a great book and it was launched with two other amazing books.

My Body is a Horror Film is one of the three books in ngā pukapuka pekapeka series two. The other two are Making Mixtapes with Seichan, by Annabel Wilson and The Square Church and Other Stories, by Nathaniel Herz Jardine. You can buy these books at this link

You can also stay in the loop with the work of ngā pukapuka pekapeka at their Instagram page

Action: Ōtautahi 4 Palestine event and PATHA

Ray let me know about this amazing event.

ŌTAUTAHI 4 PALESTINE Art Auction, Kōrero & Music fundraiser for the people of Gaza Where: A rolling stone When: Saturday 13th December Time: Speakers + Art Sale from 5pm - 8pm (hosted by Dr Mahdis Azarmandi) Music from 9pm. Line up: Ariana Tikao, Juanita Hepi, Sara Qasem, Simurgh Music School, Lara Sheehi, Stephen Sheehi Evening Line up: Ayaluna, Heavy Liftah, Vallé, Big Sima & Nazarite, Ron Guevara,DVS, Niva-Jean, Benjamin Canute. More information on our social media page: https://www.instagram.com/otautahi4palestine/

Ticket proceeds to be donated to The Sameer Project: https://www.instagram.com/thesameerproject/

PATHA

Ray also wrote: Like you, I'd also want to highlight the work PATHA are doing in the wake of the puberty blockers ban, as well as all of the rainbow organisations who support young people across the country.

You can support Better off Read financially at Buy Better off Read a Coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/betteroffread

Music in Better off Read was made by Brent McIntyre.

On September 14, at Unity Books in Wellington, I got to talk with Jo Randerson and Sarah Maxey about Secret Art Powers: How Creative Thinking Can Achieve Radical Change (Barbarian Productions, 2025)

Jo wrote this book and Sarah designed the book and facilitated the creation of the illustrations that are throughout the book.

In this book Jo shares some of their Secret Art Powers—six ways that thinking like an artist can increase personal resilience, unleash innovation, dissolve unhealthy power relationships and help us describe and navigate the complex and changing world of the twenty-first century, and to sing while we do it.

I first came across this work a few years ago when Jo was presenting lectures on each of the Secret Art Powers. These were incredibly exciting events and it is so great to see the book reflect the wonder and radical thinking that the lectures held.

Action: Prisoner Correspondence Network Holiday Card Drive!

Help the Prisoner Correspondence Network send holiday cards to hundreds of prisoners in Aotearoa.

You can help support this work by donating using this link

Also stay up-to-date with card writing events new you by following Prisoner Correspondence Network on Instagram

As I type this liz is embarking on a tour of Aotearoa to celebrate the amazing new collection of poetry show you're working out. In August 2025 liz has events in Ōtepoti, Timaru, Ōtautahi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara and Tāmaki Makaurau. liz is joined in each of these events but some amazing other poets and writers. For information on dates and venues see liz's instagram account

show you're working out is a fantastic work - sure and curious in its experiments, heartfelt in its emotions and quick in its wit. It was such a pleasure to speak with liz about her amazing work.

Action: Rozana4Palestine

I asked liz if there was an organisation whose work we could highlight in this section of the newsletter and podcast, liz says:

I’d like to highlight Rozana4Palestine, which is run by a much-loved and respected Ōtepoti-based Palestinian family who sell Palestinian goods and accept donations, and in one of their posts they say:

At Rozana, every purchase you make goes beyond just shopping - it supports families in Palestine, especially in Gaza through their connections in New Zealand.

Embodying a rich aspect of the Palestinian culture, the name "Rozana" holds different meanings - from the traditional window in old Palestinian houses to the historic ship sailing the Mediterranean Sea.

Join us in standing in solidarity with Palestine as we strive to make a difference together. Your support is not only valued but also impactful. Let's shop with a cause and spread love and support to those in need.

You can find them at:

@rozana4palestine on Instagram

And shop/donate here https://arohaloveandpeace.bigcartel.com/

Faber Writing Academy - Writing and Disrupting Short Fiction with Emma Hislop (Kāi Tahu)

The incredibly talented fiction writer and Better off Read alumni Emma Hislop is facilitating an online workshop as part of the Faber Writing Academy from September to November.

Explore the craft of short story-writing in this eight-week course with award-winning author Emma Hislop (Kāi Tahu), learning how to deepen your connection to craft and each other and find new ways to approach short fiction writing.

For more information visit the Faber Writing Academy website

Kath Foster’s Stories about living in houses

Last Friday I travelled to Toi Mahara to celebrate the opening of Kath Foster's incredibly affecting work Stories about living in houses

As part of this amazing exhibition Kath will discuss her work with me in an Artist's Talk

Following this converstation I'll be facilitating a writing workshop that explores through writing exercises the objects that won't let us go. To learn more and register please visit the Toi Mahara website (Please note there is a charge of $30 for this workshop.)

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

Music in Better off Read was made by Brent McIntyre.

It was so great to speak with Erik Kennedy to celebrate the launch of his new poetry collection Sick Power Trip (Te Herenga Waka University Press) I really enjoyed speaking with Erik about poetry in general and his work in particular. I love Erik's work so much and this new collection is incredible. Can not recommend it enough.

Action: Climate Liberation Aotearoa

I asked Erik who he'd like to highlight in this section and he suggested Climate Liberation Aotearoa

Climate Liberation Aotearoa write:

Our plan is to transform society by building people power. To do this, we demonstrate the effectiveness of working alongside each other in a systematic, well organised way that achieves results. It’s up to every one of us to decide. We can liberate ourselves and each other. Or we can live in distraction and powerlessness.

This year Climate Liberation Aotearoa are focusing on transport emissions and pollution. About this they say:

Our first win will be to move the dial on cruise ships – a type of luxury emission worse than flying which we can all do without. Join us to find out more about how we plan to win. In action there is friendship, hope, and love. The first step is to show up.

Action Extra: Fundraising for Queer and trans art classes

The amazing Sian Quennell Torrington runs a beautiful group of projects to build art communities.

Sian says:

I am fundraising for Queer and trans art class, and club, and to be able to keep doing these projects…. funding has gotten real hard, so I've set up a Patreon where people can support from $5 a month. I always have free places, and I see how these spaces help our LGBTTQI+ communities so much. All ages, all together, all making things feel a bit easier through creative community.

You can support this work at the Queer and Trans art projects Patreon

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

Music in Better off Read was made by Brent McIntyre.

To celebrate this, and with massive support from Laura Graveline at Coffee House Press, I've recorded three special episodes of Better off Read which feature three of my favourite writers published by Coffee House Press.

In this last special episode I get to talk to poupeh missaghi پوپه میثاقی.

poupeh's book Sound Museum blew my mind. It is one of the best books I've ever read. It is an incredibly space-making book. What I've loved about all three of the writers I've talked to is they way they expand the form they are working in. It seems really fitting that we are finishing this mini-series with poupeh's work.

poupeh missaghi پوپه میثاقی is a writer, translator, and editor. Her debut book trans(re)lating house one was published in 2020, and her second book, Sound Museum, is forthcoming in 2024 (both from Coffee House Press).

Her most recent translation In the Streets of Tehran, a book of witness narrative about the current Woman Life Freedom uprising in Iran, was published by Bonnier Books, UK, in October 2023. She also has another novel in translation, Boys of Love, forthcoming in 2024.

An assistant professor of literary arts and studies at the University of Denver and a faculty mentor at Pacific Northwest College of Art MFA, she is currently based in Denver, Colorado.

You can read more about poupeh at her website

I also probably need to let you know that poupeh and I recorded this episode on June 5 2025, so although we touch on some of the violence facing the world this was recorded before the Israeli and US strikes on Iran.

Thanks heaps for everyone who has listened to these podcasts. I'll be back with another podcast in early June.

Action: Peace Action Wellington

I wanted to thank a very local group.

Peace Action Wellington is a grassroots activist group based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington in Aotearoa/New Zealand that works for peace and justice throughout the world, with a special focus on the New Zealand government’s involvement in international affairs.

They stand for peace with justice and self-determination.

I'm incredibly grateful to the digest of political action Peace Action Wellington send out every week. There is a lot happening and this is the way I stay in touch with action in my area.

One of the best ways to stay in touch with Peace Action Wellington is to follow them on Facebook and sign up to their weekly newsletter.

Peace Action Wellington on Facebook

Action Extra: Fundraising for Queer and trans art classes

The amazing Sian Quennell Torrington runs a beautiful group of projects to build art communities.

Sian says:

I am fundraising for Queer and trans art class, and club, and to be able to keep doing these projects…. funding has gotten real hard, so I've set up a Patreon where people can support from $5 a month. I always have free places, and I see how these spaces help our LGBTTQI+ communities so much. All ages, all together, all making things feel a bit easier through creative community.

You can support this work at the Queer and Trans art projects Patreon

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

Music in Better off Read was made by Brent McIntyre.

To celebrate this, and with massive support from Laura Graveline at Coffee House Press, I've recorded three special episodes of Better off Read which feature three of my favourite writers published by Coffee House Press.

In this first special episode I get to talk to Zeke Caligiuri. Zeke is a writer and activist from South Minneapolis. He is the author of This is Where I Am, published by University of Minnesota Press, a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. Caligiuri has won multiple awards through the PEN Prison Writing Contest and is the cofounder of the Stillwater Writers Collective, the first all-prisoner created and facilitated collective in the country.

I was really excited to talk with Zeke. The book Zeke co-edited American Precariat: Parables of Exclusion is one of my favourite books of the year. It's an incredible selection of writing about the precariat classes. I'd recommend it to everyone.

Zeke offered as a beginning point for our conversation an amazing passage from The Hours by Michael Cunningham.

One of the best ways to keep up with Zeke's events and writing is by following them on Instagram

The next podcast will be out this time next week.

Action: People Against Prisons Aotearoa

People Against Prisons Aotearoa (PAPA) believes that everyone has the ability to change. No one is born a criminal. When someone has hurt others, that does not mean they are destined to keep hurting others for the rest of their lives. If people are treated with dignity and respect, and given the resources they need to survive and thrive, we can live in a less violent and more peaceful society.

If issues of justice and incarceration interest you PAPA are organising all sorts of activism and education at the moment and one of the best places to stay in touch and get involved is by following PAPA on there social media channels:

PAPA on Facebook

PAPA on Instagram

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

Music in Better off Read was made by Brent McIntyre.

To celebrate this, and with massive support from Laura Graveline at Coffee House Press, I've recorded three special episodes of Better off Read which feature three of my favourite writers published by Coffee House Press.

In this first special episode I get to talk to Danielle Dutton whose astounding Praire, Dresses, Art Other was published by Coffee House Press in 2024. I love Danielle's work so much. There is this astounding hum to it that chimes with all the things I love - formal experimentation, language made new, visceral and emotive rendering of land and art. Danielle is always doing something interesting and she is one of my favourite people in the world to talk to. I was really grateful to get to talk to her here.

Danielle brought an amazing sculptural work by Eileen Agar as a starting point for this discussion about Danielle's work and writing in general. The work is Marine Object by Eileen Agar and you can see it by clicking this link to the Tate website

The next podcast will be out this time next week.

Action: KILL THE BILL! The closing date for submissions on Regulatory Standards Bill is 1.00pm, Monday, 23 June 2025

The point of the RSB is to try to make all future governments follow a rigid set of ideological “principles” handpicked by David Seymour when they are making laws.

These principles would:

• Exclude Te Tiriti o Waitangi entirely.
• Require the government to pay corporations if new rules impact their property, even if those rules are to stop pollution, protect nature, or prevent harm to people and communities.
• Prioritise private property and “individual freedom” over environmental protection, public safety, and indigenous rights.

You can make a submission here

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

Music in Better off Read was made by Brent McIntyre.

This recording was made live at Featherston Booktown on 10 May 2025. It was a really sunny day and Saraid and I sat in the Featherston Library with the sun streaming in the windows with a really great group of people.

Saraid is an amazing writing. Saraid's novel Amma is a really great work of fiction and I recommend to anyone who hasn't read it yet.

At the moment I'm asking guests to offer and object for discussion. Saraid brought along a suite of articles about money and housing and how these impact writing and writers.

Here are links to the three articles:

"‘Secure, affordable homes are the stuff of fiction’: how young writers are responding to the UK housing crisis" by Keiran Goddard published in The Guardian on 3 Feb 2024

"‘Our rental system is rigged’: young novelists on their generation’s housing crisis" by Daisy Lafarge, Okechukwu Nzelu, Amber Medland and Michael Magee published in The Guardian on 23 April 2023.

'Don’t give up your day job: how Australia’s favourite authors are making ends meet' by Rafqa Touma published in The Guardian on 16 December 2022

Thanks to amazing writer and snap-shot getter G. B. Ralph for the photos. G. B. Ralph is a Kiwi author of cosy mysteries and romantic comedies. His writing features chaotic yet lovable characters getting into trouble, an astonishing amount of crime, and handsome men falling for each other. You can find out more about G.B. Ralph's books at his website here

June on Better off Read

My book Audition is being released in the United States (Coffee House Press) and Canada (Strange Light) on 10 June.

To celebrate this, and with amazing support from Laura Gaveline at Coffee House Press, I'll be podcasting three special episodes of the podcast with Coffee House Press writers. I'm really grateful to the writers concerned for their time and their work. These special episodes will come out over June.

Action: Gaza Funds صندوق مالي لغزة

Gaza Funds is a project that connects people to crowdfunding campaigns for individuals and families from Gaza. Each time the page is reloaded, a different campaign appears. While the rotation is randomized, campaigns for the sick/injured and campaigns close to meeting their goals are prioritized. We never want any of these campaigns to go stagnant, so we make sure to also prioritize fundraisers that haven't had a donation in a while. As existing fundraisers meet their goals, they will be replaced with other fundraisers that need your help.

Here's a link to Gaza Funds

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

I've been a fan of Erin Harrington's work for a long time. I love her writing and research. Over the past six months I got to work on the same floor as Erin while I was one of the Ursula Bethell Fellow at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha where Erin is a Senior Lecturer.

It was so great to talk to Erin about this article:

'As we shovel in distractions, the inner life grows dim' by Charlotte Wood which appeared in The Guardian in 2020 during lockdown. Here's a link to the article

The article was published in The Luminous Solution: Creativity, Resilience & the Inner-Life Charlotte Woods book about creative thinking. Here's a link to the book

A Horse Walks into a Bar - Free Workshop

Thanks so much to everyone who attended and has watched the video of this workshop.

If you haven't watched the workshop yet you can learn more about it and get a link to it at my website

Action: Gaza Funds صندوق مالي لغزة

Gaza Funds is a project that connects people to crowdfunding campaigns for individuals and families from Gaza. Each time the page is reloaded, a different campaign appears. While the rotation is randomized, campaigns for the sick/injured and campaigns close to meeting their goals are prioritized. We never want any of these campaigns to go stagnant, so we make sure to also prioritize fundraisers that haven't had a donation in a while. As existing fundraisers meet their goals, they will be replaced with other fundraisers that need your help.

Here's a link to Gaza Funds

Disability Support Services Community consultation - runs from 10 February to 24 March 2025.

Almost a year since the initial sudden and unjust changes to disability support service, fresh consultation has begun on options for changes to flexible funding.

Here's a link to the submissions process

An interview with Joanne Dacombe who is the immediate past President of the Disabled Persons Assembly, and Jade Farrar who is the chair of the National Enabling Good Lives leadership group is really helpful. Here's a link to the RNZ Interview

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

It was so great to catch up with Isabelle before Christmas and talk about her work.

Isabelle writes writes LGBT Romance, Paranormal and Horror Young Adult books.

The best place to find out about Isabelle's work is on her website

A Horse Walks into a Bar - Free Workshop

Thanks so much to everyone who attended and has watched the video of this workshop.

If you haven't watched the workshop yet you can learn more about it and get a link to it at my website

Action: Submission to evidence brief and position statement into the use of puberty blockers

At the end of November, Manatū Hauora the Ministry of Health released their long-awaited evidence brief and position statement into the use of puberty blockers for trans children. Along with this, the Government has asked them to open up public consultation on whether additional restrictions need to be put in place for trans children accessing puberty blockers. Which is odd. It’s highly unusual and totally inappropriate to open up public consultation for a medical matter that – by the Ministry’s own press release – affects a little over 100 children per year.

InsideOUT have put together a very useful guide to putting a submission to this consultation

Submissions close on 20 January 2025.

While your on the InsideOUT website you might like to read about the things they do and consider donating to their amazing work.

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

Very grateful to Damien Levi for programming this live recording of Better off Read with the amazing Olive Nuttall at Verb Wellington 2024

Thanks also to Alistair from Alistair’s Music who hosted this event.

Olive and I talked about swords and Olive's book kitten published by Te Herenga Waka University Press

Content Note: This conversation includes mentions of CSA.

Action: New Zealand Ministry of Health - Impact of Puberty Blockers in Gender-Dysphoric Adolescents: An evidence brief

I know there is a lot going on but I'd love it if you took some time to read about the Ministry of Health's evidence brief and position paper on puberty blockers.

In particular this article which reports on leading transgender health professionals' concern that the government is directing the Ministry of Health to consult the public over gender affirming healthcare. These health professionals say, Public consultation on a medical matter is inappropriate. You can read the article here:

Transgender health professionals worried about public consultation over gender affirming healthcare

I also found this statement on the paper from Gender Minorities Aotearoa extremely useful.

Trans-only restrictions

Unfortunately, I fear we are in for some dark times for transgender rights. The government's reaction and direction concerning this paper, released the day after Transgender Day of Remembrance, feels like it may be a sign of things to come.

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

Better off Read Website:

https://better-read.com/

Una and I spoke on the day her amazing book The Chthonic Cycle (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2024) was released into book shops.

I have been incredibly moved by Una's book. It has shifted my mind and my world. It offers such an exciting opportunity to explore a new perspective of our current moment.

Action: Hikoi mō Te Tiriti

As I type this the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti is moving over the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Member in the hīkoi are walking from all over Aotearoa to Parliament in opposition to the Government’s assault on tangata whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Hīkoi is organised by Toitū Te Tiriti.

Toitū Te Tiriti is tupuna inspired, tiriti led, mana motuhake driven and mokopuna focused. Our intent is to demonstrate the beginning of a unified Aotearoa response to the Government’s assault on tangata whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Click this link to find out what you can do to support Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti

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

It was so great to talk with Claudia. I am a huge fan of Claudia's book Biter published by Auckland University Press. It is an amazing, amazing poetry collection that I can't recommend enough.

Claudia and I chatted about Biter but also her other work including her music and new band Goodbye Starlet.

You'll hear us talk about Claudia's amazing Ōtautahi Christchurch Lit Scene Zine. Click this link for this incredible guide to all the literary events happening in Ōtautahi this month.

Thank you for listening

Action: Implement all recommendations from the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry

There is a new petition on Action Station calling for the Government to implement all recommendations from the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry.

Survivors of abuse in State and Faith-based care, and their supporters call on the Lead Coordination Minister for the Government's Response to the Royal Commission's Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, to implement all of the 138 Recommendations of Whanaketia Through pain and trauma, from darkness to light and the 95 Holistic Recommendations of the Inquiry's Interim Report, He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu from Redress to Puretumu Torowhānui.

Click this link to sign this petition

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

My novel I'm Working on a Building has been out of print for a long time. In November it is being reissued in a really stuning B-Format edition by Te Herenga Waka University Press

For this episode I've recorded a short reading from the first chapter.

It feels quite emotional being in Ōtautahi for the re-release of this book. The book centres around a structural engineer and includes a fictional earthquake in Te Whanganui-A-Tara. I will always remember the day Lawrence Patchett, Lynn Jenner and I stood around a radio listening to the devastating events unfolding in Ōtautahi following the massive earthquake on September 4, 2010. It chills me now that we didn't realise how much worse was in store on February 22, 2011 at 12.51 pm.

It was so great to chat with Kerry Donovan Brown. Kerry and I have been friends for a long time and I always love talking to them. In this conversation we talk quite a bit about work - the work of writing and the other work Kerry has been doing.

Kerry's first novel Lamplighter is an amazing read. You can get a copy at the Te Herenga Waka University Press website

You may notice a slight change in acoustics for the last two questions of this conversation. For years people have been telling me to get a bigger SD card and I have not. When Kerry and I were recording at Tūranga my SD card ran out of room. I'm really grateful to Kerry for coming up to the office at Te Whare te Wānanga o Waitaha which is where we took the photo at the top of this post.

Thanks for listening.

Action: Nothing about us without us

Since this government came into power the assault on the rights of disabled people and their support networks has been continuous and cruel.

I wanted to highlight a couple of ways to stay informed about what is happening if you are pre-disabled and also maybe find community if you are disabled or whanau of disabled people.

Awhi Ngā Mātua - a community for parents of disabled, neurodivergent and medically fragile tamariki. They have a substack you can subscribe to here

The D*List is the home of disability culture in Aotearoa. Their website is an online culture magazine that creates space for disabled people to tell our own stories through features, columns and news reporting. Here is the website for The D*List

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

I have been a fan of Shilo Kino's writing since reading her award winning book The Pōrangi Boy (Huia, 2020) a few years ago. What I love about The Pōrangi Boy is the way it really successfully finds a fictional form to explore the troubling things that are happening around and to us. I’m never sure if fiction can do anything. I still think we need to take direct political action in other areas - and Shilo is active in this work as well - but I think there is something quite radical and productive about experimenting with real-life scenarios in worlds that we have complete control over. I think this imaginative act can open doors that seem - in the day-to-day hard stuff of life - closed and impossible. I think Shilo’s deft craft makes this possible - I could probably talk for another few hours about the genius of the structure of the novel and the imaginative possibilities it makes space for.

So, yeah, I was very excited when a copy of Shilo's new novel All that We Own Know (Moa Press, 2024), I really like keeping in that struck out word in the title, arrived at my house. It is a stunning book. Shilo is an incredible writer and she's created a book that is at once readible and challenging. The energy of the book is profound and the way it moves with force against some of the toughest things facing Aotearoa at the moment makes it one of my favourite books of the year.

I'm really grateful to Shilo for taking the time to chat with me for this episode. Where we talk about All the We Own Know, writing and the communities and politics we write in.

Thanks for listening.

Action: Māori Wards

The racist and undemocratic Māori Ward Bill passed its third reading last night.

Action Station have information about this law, its implications and action you can take on their website - here is a link.

Action Station have also have a petition to Keep Our Māori Wards which you can sign and share at this link

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

I always find talking to Rose really inspiring. Rose's writing is so good and I love hearing about Rose's practice.

In this episode Rose uses Miranda July's new book All Fours as a starting point for this conversation about writing, the novel and how our day jobs can help us.

Rose's magnificent first book is All Who Live on Islands (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2019)

Thanks for listening.

Just a reminder that Art for Palestine 2 is on 4-7 July at The Heads, 24 Canterbury Street, Lyttleton.

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

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

Today is Budget Day in Aotearoa. I wanted to replay this episode because James talks so well about money and art. Specifically getting paid for art.

In this podcast James talks about his performance at the Verb After Hours event, imperialism and paying artists.

The first thing you'll hear is his performance the Verb After-Hours event: Beyond a Joke which took place on Thursday, 3 November 2022 at Meow. Thank you Verb Festival.

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

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

romesh's amazing novel when I open the shop (Te Herenga Waka University Press) was launched about a month ago.

I was really grateful that romesh and I were able to have a chat. I asked romesh to bring along an object as a way into a conversation about his book and this stage of its publication. romesh suggested Água Viva by Clarice Lispector.

It was such a great conversation.

Here are some links about some of the things we talk about:

Trying to Keep it Sacred: A conversation with Olive Nuttall & romesh dissanayake in Starling

Louise Wallace – On poetic form in romesh dissanayake’s novel When I open the shop in The Poetry Shelf

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

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

Here is a link to the Better off Read website: https://better-read.com/

https://teherengawakapress.co.nz/killer-rack/

In this episode we talk about a few things, so here are some links:

Sylvan spoke with kitten author Olive Nuttall in what is probably the best thing you'll read this year - thank you to The SpinOff:

‘So gay, thank you for noticing!’: Olive Nuttall and Sylvan Spring in conversation'

In the week leading up to our conversation Wellington-based singer-songwriter Vera Ellen and Georgia Gets By (Georgia Nott) announced they were pulling out of SXSW in protest at the festival's partnerships with tech companies RTX (formerly Raytheon), Collins Aerospace, and BAE Systems, which have been linked to manufacturing and supplying weapons to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). You can read more here

You can also support both these artists through Bandcamp:

• Vera Ellen https://veraellen.bandcamp.com/
• Georgia Gets By https://georgiagetsby.bandcamp.com

We also talk about the terrible acts of censorship happening at State Library Victoria. You can read more about that at this link

Last night RNZ published this amazing essay by Henrietta Bollinger and I wanted to put a link to it here:

Why we cannot let the disability support changes happen

Thanks again for listening to the podcast.

This episode was recorded at Randall Cottage while Rachel O'Neill was resident there.

You can read more about Rachel at their website:

https://rachel-oneill.com/

I have set up a Buy Me a Coffee for Better off Read. If you are able and willing you can make a donation here to help support the podcast: 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/betteroffread

I love talking to Whiti and I always learn heaps from her.

Whiti has amazing recommendations. I thought I’d list them below along with the songs Whiti chose, which I can’t play in the podcast for copyright reasons.

Whiti has a great Instagram

Songs chosen by Whiti:

Short and Roung by The Bug Club

Passionflower, Paperbacks and Woodlice by The Bug Club

Read the Room (feat. Laetitia Sadier) by Pearl & the Oysters

Books Whiti talks about:

You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann

Movies Whiti talks about:

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Saltburn (2023)

TV Whiti Talks about:

After the Party (2023)

Deadloch (2023)

Homecoming (2018)

Pushing Daisies (2007)

In this, the first of these chats, I talk to Kerry Donovan Brown. 

I asked Kerry about what they have been up to this year, what they have enjoyed and how they are feeling about 2024.

In this recording, Kerry talks about two songs. Due to copyright I can’t play these in the episode and I was thinking of taking out the reference to them but they are such great recommendations I thought I’d keep Kerry’s descriptions in the recording and include a link to the music here:

https://youtu.be/EDKcbW0XDk0

https://youtu.be/cmDeCKY9XFU

As part of this event Joan Fleming and Aaron Lister wrote and read responses to these works. 

Joan wrote a beautiful description of their work:

I read a short, strange essay about awe and the beauty experience with its inevitable fringe of disgust, and about withness and terror and the sun. Aaron Lister read something about Mary Shelley, the year without summer, and Frankenstein as the first climate change novel.

In this episode Joan and Aaron generously recorded these essays at Massey University.

I hope you enjoy these readings.

Jared’s book Blood & Dirt: Prison Labour & the Making of New Zealand (Bridget Williams Books, 2023) is an outstanding work of scholarship and creativity. I am a huge fan of this book and I feel very grateful to Jared who trusted me with this conversation.

At the end of this talk, we took questions from the audience. Unfortunately, my recording didn’t pick these up very clearly, so I’ve recorded and inserted summaries of the questions in my own words. I hope that is okay with the people who asked them. I was so excited by how many questions were asked - the event felt like a conversation and it was really great.

Thanks also to the amazing team at Verb. Every year they build this incredible ‘city’ made up of communities who are interested in ideas, writing and reading. It is an amazing thing to be involved with and I love it so much.

In this episode I get to talk to one of my best friends and someone who inspires me a lot Whiti Hereaka. We talk about Whiti’s latest project.

I’m asking everyone to offer an object that is somehow helping them at this stage of their work. Whiti suggested we use the art works created by a central character in her novel. These works are imagined at the moment, but Whiti is an amazing artist and it wouldn’t surprise me if these don’t come to life in some way.

Whiti sent two photos and said I could use both. I love the way these photos could be ego and alter-ego. Both images were taken the amazing Tabitha Arthur. 

I’m so incredibly grateful to Whiti, for this conversation sure but also for all the time and support she’s given me over the years and for all the work she’s done which has produced such amazing work.

Where I’m up to.

I’ve had a really nice week, book-wise. Yesterday Rebecca Priestly and I got to talk to some folk who are doing MA’s up at IIML. It was really exciting to hear about Rebecca’s new book End Times which launches next week. You can read more about End Times at this link

Also yesterday I got to speak at the launch of Emma Ling Sidnam’s amazing novel Backwaters. It was a really great night with lots of my favourite people in the room. I had a great chat with I. S. Belle whose work, and practice I really love.

Here’s a link to learn more about I. S. Belle’s work

Here’s a link to Backwaters by Emma Ling Sidnam

When I ask people on this podcast what sustains them, they often say community and I really felt that last night. It is really nice to see celebrate other people’s success. I found it really motivating and talking to everyone about their projects was also really great.

I still haven’t written anything. I keep saying this but what I mean is I haven’t written any fiction. I’m actually writing an essay for HEAT about writing violence and I’m writing a list of books for someone. So I am writing - and I’m writing this. I am thinking about the novel. And I wrote an application for some time to work on the novel, so that was a really nice way to think about it and also go over what I have written to send a writing sample.

I’m rewatching VEEP which is blowing my mind. It’s all come true!!!!!

I have been not writing for months now. It is the first time in a long time I have felt like I am ‘not writing’. I am totally surrendered to the fact that I may not write again but also, I really wanted to talk to some writers about writing, some artists about art-ing. A bit selfishly to try and see if I could explore a bit more deeply my relationship with the practice of writing - I kind of want to make any re-entry meaningful. I don’t want to waste this stasis. But also cause the state I’m in at the moment - where writing seems like something impossible and foreign - seems like an interesting one to talk to people about their projects.

So here is the new series. At first I thought it would be a neat series of talking to people at the start of a project, others who are in the middle and others who are at the end of a project. I’ve now recorded an episode and I realise these neat phases don’t reflect the actual process of writing.

I am hoping this series will be quite fluid - maybe as my relationship to writing changes the structure of the series will change.

At the moment, I’m asking guests to bring an object they are ‘using’ at this phase of their work. Then we’ll have a chat about what this phase looks like.

So yes, this is just to let you know this series, with no name, which may change, starts next week with an amazing conversation with Whiti Hereaka.

Thanks again for all your support.

Jane asked:

Even before reading Audition, I’d clocked that your inspiration for it was basically ‘prison abolition’ and you’ve talked openly about this in interviews and in the book’s acknowledgements. 

I am so freaking interested in this, personally, as it is increasingly hard for me to separate out work and values and living and politics and creative work as I go about things. 

Correct me if I’m wrong (please!!), but it seems to me that you haven’t been quite so blatant about your own values in your work before, or at least in the framing of your work. What has changed? Are you simply braver now? Why is (your) art political (mwahaha)?

This question sent me back to this story ‘Zero Hours’ which was published in Overland in 2015. I thought of this story mainly because it signals a shift in my writing toward the didactic.

For years I had been interested in ambiguity. In leaving space for politics to sit there but not overtly. I was obsessed with the idea that fiction was a mirror and if I made my fiction as accuarte as possible people would see society in a new way and it would prompt change. I remember being incredibly angry at the time I wrote this story. John Key’s government had been elected, overwhelmingly, a year before and I remember the morning after the election walking down my street and not really recognising the city I lived in. The election had been so decisive that I was in a very small majority. I owe a lot to Giovanni Tiso and Jolisa Gracewood who were editing a New Zealand issue of Overland and had asked me to submist a story. I am also incredibly grateful to Overland journal which provides a space for radical literature.

These things all came together, my anger and the opportunity to write some for a journal that celabrated the radical and I remember thinking, The time for ambiguity is over. And I remember one very clear question replacing this, How didactic can I get and still be be writing fiction?

It's starnge reading the story now. It's so pre-Trump. Pre-COVID. Roseanne Barr appears as a largely uncomplicated character. I thought about re-writing the story to take her out but I kind of like how hindsight re-writes this part of the story without me doing anything. What's not funny is how little has changed. Workers are still fucked over. There are still political parties calling for self responsibility.

It’s slightly heart-wrenching revisiting this story, written during a right-wing government, a few days after the desolution of the left wing party with one of the largest majorities of my lifetime and waking up to the fact none of the promise of transformational change thatg majority held was realised.

It’s a good reminder that politics is what we do in our communities away from law and government but also that its a privilege to say, Government doesn’t matter, when it matters most to the most vulnerable.

So yeah, I offer this story because I was thinking about it and thanks largely to Jane Arthur.

It was such a wonderful afternoon with excellent people. It was really nice to meet some folk from People Against Prisons Aotearoa who I hadn’t meet before.

Thanks again for everyone who came and thanks to Annaleese for such a great chat and such great snacks and for letting us meet in the wonderful Book Hound.

I’m giving away a copy of Audition so if you’d like a copy just leave a comment here or DM me on Instagram

Also, just wanted to announce that Tara Black is the winner of the Murdoch Stephens books. Woohoo. Thanks Tara and everyone else who entered.

Stuff and Things

The second season of Below Deck Down Under has started and the SpinOff have published this amazing interview with my work hero and life-coach Aesha Scott

I’m very excited to be speaking with Dougal O’Neill and Tīhema Baker on the 7th August. Tīhema’s book is amazing.

Other Worlds

Pip Adam's Audition features three giants: Alba, Stanley and Drew, who are squashed into a spaceship hurtling through space, and must talk to keep the spaceship moving. Tīhema Baker's Turncoat is set on a distant future Earth, colonised by aliens, where Daniel –a young, idealistic Human–is determined to make a difference for his people. These works of speculative fiction are exciting, inventive and compassionate in their exploration of systems of power. Dougal McNeill will talk to Pip and Tīhema about these other worlds in fiction, and the mirror they hold up to our world today.

Also, if you are in Ōtautahi in August, the WORD Festival has lots of very cool events. I’ll be there facilitating a workshop and having a chat.

We talk a lot about Murdoch’s worth to double the refugee quota. This week, after our chat Murdoch was part of the group who presented a petition to MPs calling for a new sub-category in the Refugee Quota solely for refugees from the rainbow community. You can read more at this link

I have a bundle to give away of: the Renters United edition of Rat King Land Lord, the original edition of Rat King Land Lord and a copy of Murdoch’s new book Down from Upland. To enter the draw leave a comment on Substack or Instagram. I’ll draw it on Sunday 9 July.

You can read more about Lawrence & Gibson and order books here

Joy chose as a starting point to talk about laughter and writing the 2022 film Bodies Bodies Bodies. This American black comedy horror film directed by Halina Reijn, in her English-language debut, with a screenplay by Sarah DeLappe from a story by Kristen Roupenian. It stars Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, and Pete Davidson.

I really liked how this conversation concentrated a lot on joy and pleasure which is perhaps something that has been missing from these conversations about comedy.

I also loved talking about the way Joy is reimagining some elements of horror and the surreal.

I have a signed copy of Dream Girl to give away. Simply leave a comment here on Instagram or reply to the story on Twitter by June 11 and I’ll do a draw and send it to the winner.

I think this conversation was quite influenced by an amazing book I’m reading by Nuar Alsadir called Animal Joy: A Book of Laughter and Resuscitation. This book is literally changing my life. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s ostensibly about a psychoanalyst who goes to clown school and investigates humour in an incredibly inciteful way. The book is also making me feel a bit stupid, so many of the things I say that I think are profound are all described here as the stock and trade of psychoanalysis.

- Sasha, Achille, Max and Olive.

In February I had the opportunity to speak with Achille and Sasha on the Wellington Access Radio Community Drive show. This is an edited version of that conversation for those who missed it.

Here’s a link to the 5ever website

Achille and Sasha talk about an event that took place in February - I thought it was impor`tant to leave this part of the conversation in because it explains the type of work 5ever is doing.

During this programme we played three songs and due to to copyright, I’ve removed two of these. Because I think it’s important to here this song at every opportunity, I’ve left in Shervin Hajipour’s For Woman, Life, Freedom شروین حاجی پور

Here are the songs we played:

https://youtu.be/Q4Rb5_kjS2M

https://youtu.be/h_gA0yxKPKI

https://youtu.be/lP3PZrr-iOg

His podcast Fair Game: Pacific Rugby Against the World which he made with John Daniell is nothing short of stunning. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

James has also been performing in Aotearoa and Australia. You still have time to see him at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival where he’s be performing his show Right About Now

This podcast was an amazing conversation for me. James has some amazing things to say about his performance at the Verb After Hours event, imperialism and paying artists.

This comes out just after the third anniversary of the publication of Eamonn’s amazing book 2000ft Above Worry Level

This conversation like many Eamonn and I have had went so much further and more interestingly than I expected. We cover so much. We start with a conversation about his performance at the event but we end up talking a lot about living in a world of algorithm, distance and closeness, choosing slowness.

Eamonn talks about an article by Nate Rogers called ‘Why Is The Obscure B-Side “Harness Your Hopes” Pavement’s Top Song On Spotify? It’s Complicated’.

We also talk about an amazing project Eamonn has undertaken to write about every record he owns. The series is called Every Record I Own I really recommend reading this.

In the latest post, Eamonn talks about one of my favourite albums ‘Glass Vaults – Sojourn’ accompanied by this beautiful photo

Eamonn and I are almost done with our chat when Eamonn mentions an astounding artist, who I have just discovered and have fallen completely for.

Here’s Maxine Funke singing ‘Room in the City’ https://youtu.be/F4JmlgbODjU

In this episode, Gabby and I talk about her performance at that event. The episode starts with a recording of that night.

Gabby and Orine Ruaine-Prattley appear in Truth Be Told at Fringe in February.

The best way to keep up-to-date with Gabby’s events is at Gabby’s Instagram

During this chat I noticed I mention Janeane Garofalo a couple of times. Over summer I read this amazing essay about Garofalo by Jason Zinoman, called Janeane Garofalo Never Sold Out. What a Relief It was an incredible piece of writing about Garofalo for sure, but also so interesting to read about the concept of ‘selling out’ and defining your art on your own terms. It reminded me of this amazing Marc Maron quote that goes something like, ‘You can do comedy about whatever you want, but just remember your audience will be the people who think what you’re saying is funny.’ I’m sorry but I think it’s behind a paywall but it’s well worth hunting out.

This essay linked to a quite famous essay about Saturday Night Live which is fucking heartbreaking to read in the context of Garofalo’s career.

One thing that isn’t behind a paywall is this interview with Garofalo on Letterman which was meant to be a promotional outing for the film Reality Bites. All the Gen-Xers, stand up.

As well as Janeane Garofalo, I also make noises a couple of times about Kate Berlant’s Cinnamon in the Wind (which was directed by Bo Burnham). I think I rate Berlant as my favourite comedian at the moment. She’s a genius of the awkward and absurd and I love her. Her episode of The Characters is also worth seeking out.

In this episode I’ve recorded a talk I have at the 2022 Brisbane Writers Festival. I’ve made the decision to record it as I presented it on the day (including quite a few stumbles). This means the talk will include some sight-specific and time-specific references.

I am sure I got things wrong, and I want to make sure people know that I am here to talk about what I did get wrong. There is also always room for right of reply on the podcast. 

Later in January, we’ll be back to Beyond a Joke with some chats with some awesome people about what makes them laugh.

Thanks again for listening and, like I say, please don’t hesitate to get in touch here or on Twitter or Instagram.

PipX

This episode a short one, because I figure most of you will be well on your way to New Year’s plans.

I recorded this version of a talk I gave in November for a Brooklyn School fundraiser which is called Appetites. 

It was a fun night, Brannavan Gnanalingam, Emmily Writes, Jo Randerson and I shared a lift to the event which was really nice. Brannavan, Emily and Jo’s talks were awesome.

Brooklyn School is on Te Atiawa, Taranaki Whānui and Ngati Toa Rangatira land.

The topic of my talk was how much a love reality TV.

Thanks for listening

Pip

Welcome to this episode of Better off Read.

First of all, apologies for no podcasts in November. Things got a bit on top of me and I wasn’t able to record an episode.

Beyond a Joke will be back in January, with more conversations with people about things that make us laugh. We’ll be starting the year talking to some of the amazing people who took part in the Verb After-Hours: Beyond a Joke event which was held in November.

In the meantime, over December I’ll be sharing a few recordings of work I’ve written this year.

In this episode, it’s a short story I wrote for the amazing journal HEAT.

The story is called Please Unlock to Drive and I wrote it after I read an article about e-ecooters being dumped Also in the mix of this story was my sadness and anger over the housing market and gig economy. I am often interested in work and it always finds it’s way into my work. Slight, life-meets-fiction fact, my father worked as an Uber driver until the pandemic got too much for him.

It was so great to work with Alexandra Christie on this story. HEAT is published by Giramondo who published my book Nothing to See. I’ve just finished working with Nick Tapper from Giramondo on my next novel Audition which comes out with Giramondo next year. I am so grateful to Giramondo. Nothing to See was scuppered, like so many things, by covid and I am so grateful that they are taking another chance on me with this new book. It is a dream to work with Giramondo.

Here’s a bit about HEAT from their website

HEAT is an Australian literary journal renowned for its dedication to literary quality, and its commitment to publishing innovative and imaginative poetry, fiction, essays, criticism and the hybrid forms.

The aim of the magazine has always been to publish innovative Australian and international writers of the highest standard. Fifteen issues were published in the first series, from 1996 to 2000, with internal design by Toni-Hope Caten and covers by Harry Williamson. It was followed by the new series of HEAT, designed by Harry Williamson, with twenty-four issues published between 2001 and 2011.

The third series of HEAT commenced publishing bimonthly in 2022, in a new design by Jenny Grigg. It is edited by Alexandra Christie, with the support of a distinguished editorial board.

There are two really exciting new podcasts that I wanted to say, Yay!! about.

Flying Fetu podcast of some of the sessions that took place at their recent talanoa. The best way to get information about this is by following Flying Fetu on Instagram

Rats in the Gutter is a new podcast by Sam Te Kani and Johanna Cosgrove. Rats in the Gutter also has an Instagram account you can follow

Anna and Kelly Pendergrast’s latest work is More Zeros and Ones a book they edited which is published by BWB. This book brings together essays from incredibly interesting thinkers and doers who write about environmental science, law and Te Tiriti o Waitangi and recent developments in technology. I just can’t recommend this book enough. I love this blurb from BWB:

Many of today’s digital technologies inadvertently amplify the power structures and prejudices of wider society. By examining the way digital tools and platforms are designed, built, and maintained, this BWB Text aims to identify how we can do better for everyone in Aotearoa.

Anna and Kelly are founders of Antistatic a research and communications consultancy like no other I’ve come across. I got to talk to Anna and Kelly, as Antistatic, last year about their part in the Flat Earthers exhibition/book/event. Still one of the best things I’ve ever done.

I was interested in talking to Anna and Kelly about humour and laughter for several reasons. Anna and Kelly’s work is often playful and because of this I think, is able to say some pretty profound things about some of the power structures that sit in technology. Also, Anna and Kelly do a lot of work in communications - taking very complex ideas and structuring them for different purposes. I was interested in how this deep knowledge of communication gives an insight into what makes us laugh.

Ann and Kelly brought the perfect ‘thing that made them laugh’ for this kind of conversation. The Laughter Lift is a segment on the Kermode & Mayo’s Take podcast. I loved the way this opened up a conversation about jokes and the social act of telling jokes. One of the things I loved talking about was that because we often share an idea of the structure of ‘the joke’ with the people are telling jokes to, even when the joke goes wrong it is still funny because it becomes a subversion of the form.

This gives me immense hope as I am practicing my ‘bit’ for the Verb After Hours - Beyond A Joke night Thursday 3 November, 8.30pm at Meow in Wellington. To which there are still tickets available. This is a shameless self-promotion but also, the folk who are appearing in this event are amazing!!

I loved recording this conversation because it made me think a lot about the joy of process.

I also loved the web-series Marolyn brought as a subject for our chat. Hudson Valley Ballers: Lovers is very funny and you can watch the rest of the series on YouTube as well.

Marolyn is currently making an incredible podcast called cyanutopia which is a podcast about cyanotype. I am so interested in cyanotype as an form and I think even if you weren’t, Marolyn’s podcast is such an amazing opportunity to listen to artists talk about their process and work.

Rijula Das’ award-winning novel Small Deaths is an amazing book. Set in Shonagachhi and orbiting the violent murder of a sex worker it is one of the most compelling and felt reading experiences I have had this year. It is astounding.

I was so grateful that Rijula took time to talk to me. Rijula was kind enough to bring the following cartoon to our conversation.

We began our discussion talking about seagulls and monkeys and using the way this joke skews a well-known narrative we talked about ways to re-write or challenge the dominant stories in our cultures about sex work. Rijula also talks about the pragmatics of writing the book.

In this episode Rijula and I talk a couple of times about the 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

The launch of Verb Readers & Writers Festival 2022 programme, and the release of Festival Programmer, Rijula Das’ debut novel Small Deaths takes place on Tuesday 13 September, 5:30pm for a 6pm. All warmly welcome. Please RSVP by Monday 12 September to info@verbwellington.nz 

A couple of weeks ago, Dominic and I got together over Zoom. Dominic told me a funny story. This story was a great prompt to talk about story structure, self-deprecating humour and even the economics of writing fiction. I’m really interested in money and art and it was great to talk to Dominic about how these work together.

One of the best places to stay up to date with Dominic’s readings, tours, books and courses is at his Instagram

Here’s an Instagram post of Dominic reading the first chapter of Poor People With Money

Thanks again for listening and subscribing.

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

Sarah also has a great website where you can read about all her work

I was really keen to talk with Sarah about laughter in relation to her work. Sarah’s book is thoughtful and compelling - it’s a serious work. However, what I found interesting about it is that it still has something to say about laughter, the way we use it in communication and the ways it can be used to talk about womanhood. Sarah was really generous in this conversation and I enjoyed it a great deal.

I guess I am also interested in the extent to which some stand-up is life writing. I’m interested in what we can learn from stand-ups when we come to write memoir and essay.

With this in mind I just wanted to share an episode from Jesse David Fox’s amazing podcast Good One. I just cannot recommend this podcast enough. In this episode Fox talks to James Acaster about his latest stand-up special and in particular about how he wrote parts of it which include the experience of other people in his life. Here’s a link to the episode in Stitcher

While I have you, I also wanted to recommend an episode of Good One from May this year called ‘How the Right Make Comedy Work for Them’. The guests on this episode are Matt Sienkiewicz and Nick Marx, authors of the amazing, new book That's Not Funny: How The Right Makes Comedy Work For Them

In this podcast we talk about this clip from James Acaster

And I mention Michael Schur’s new book How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question

Thanks again to every one who has subscribed here and to those who help support the podcast financially.

Thanks for listening to this episode.

Pip

Bran and I talk alot about tone and horror and humour. Bran has some really great things to say about pace and how to control tension. Slow Down, You’re Here is a book that just doesn’t let you go. I felt bodily anxious when I had to be away from it for any reason. In the end, I had to lock myself away and read most of it in one sitting.

What I’m thinking about most right now (having just finished editing this episode) is what Brannavan says about how this film never lets us be complacent. We are always implicated in the film.

I make a comment about Stuart Lee and the rythm of, ‘I am laughing at these areseholes. What about these arseholes. Wait … I am an arsehole’. It’s a structure I’ve always been a bit in awe of.

But I think The Asthenic Syndrome plays a slightly different game. The slam-changes in tone mean it is impossible to settle. What I experienced was this sense of relaxing into a laugh and then in that surrender being confronted with something shocking. Brannavan talks about there being nothing cathartic about the laughter of the film. And in this way the film made me think alot about ‘post-comedy’ - the way the release is never coming, the discomfort remains and there is nothing left to do but sit with ourselves and our discomfort. It’s an amazing experience and one that lends itself to making art about difficult poilitical questions.

You can watch all of The Asthenic Syndrome on YouTube - please be aware there is some pretty tough stuff in it - animals are not treated well, humans are not treated well and there is some explicit nudity in the film.

We mention ‘Murdoch’ - which is Murdon Stephens who also has an amazing new novel Down From Upland

Brannavan also mentions several other writers from New Zealand: Megan Dunn, Rebecca K Reilly, Chloe Lane

We talk about Stephen King’s novel Misery

There is a film of Stephen King’s Misery you can watch the trailer here

We talk about Kenneth Cook’s novel Wake in Fright

There is also a film of Wake in Fright you can watch the trailer here

Thanks again to everyone who has subscribed to the podcast here and thanks to the paid subscribers. I appreciate it a great deal.

I’m currently reading Middlemarch by George Elliot which I feel very odd about - very happy to talk about my discomfort about reading from the canon in comments. As I type this I’m listening to Jason by Perfume Genius (still feeling pretty lucky to have seen them last week - I won’t be the same again).

SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t seen these films and want to, I wouldn’t listen to this podcast. Like really. Both these films are such a joy to see with no previous information. Rachel and I made a decision to talk about all of the films and there are some quite big spoilers in this episode. There is a link to Pockets below. It’s a short film - like 3 minutes.

Rachel is one of my favourite artists and I love how this conversation starts by talking about these two amazing films which both of us love and moves to talk about the ‘hows’ of making art. I have a Post-It note above where I am typing this which says, ‘Your only job is to keep the faith’ - it was something the writer Kirsten McDougall said to me last year and it helped get me through the final draft of a novel. Next to this Post-It note is another note with a quote from Rachel which I scribbled down during the launch of their amazing book Requiem for a Fruit. This note says, ‘You are the only one who knows what will make you happy’.

I think read out of context these two notes seem to suggest a way of working which is all about the self but what I love about this conversation - what I got out of it - is that there are ways to find a type of ‘faith’ that is worth keeping. Here I think I’m using ‘faith’ to mean purpose or integrity or vision or commitment. While editing the podcast the quote about happiness also started to come into a deeper focus. I think through this discussion with Rachel I came to recognise happiness as synonymous with healing. That this hard work of finding a way to be in the world is intensely personal and at the same time absolutely imperative to being part of communities and creating work that is offered into these communities.

In this series, I’m finding again and again that I’m talking to people about how profound ‘funny’ is. How we do this strange thing where we value ‘serious’ work differently to ‘funny’ work. In this episode we talk a bit about the heavy-lifting silliness does. And I think the same can be said about happiness. For a lot of my life, I’ve thought I’m only productive in a state is distress or sadness. What I’m starting to see, is that maybe I write when in these states as an attempt to find what makes me happy. I’m really interested in the idea, raised in this discussion, about what type of work healing produces and of the productive possibilities of happiness.

These conversations are very much a process for me and maybe (probably) I won’t stand by the things I’ve written here in a week or a month - but I’ll be grateful for the thinking of them and for having a space to write them.

Thank you again for subscribing. It means a lot to have this space to think and write and talk.

Here’s some links:

This is a link to Pockets a short film by the Daniels.

This is a link to the trailer for Everything Everywhere All At Once

Here is a link where you can find Rachel’s book Requiem for a Fruit on the We Are Babies website

In this episode Rachel talks about a quote of the New Zealand filmmaker about the impact of a single gesture. The short film is Journey to Ihipa - a 2008 drama directed by Nancy Brunning and written by Vicki-Anne Heikell, who said the following in the Writer's Notes section of the Press Kit:

Writer’s Notes – Vicki-Anne Heikell (Nö Te Whänau-a-Apanui) ‘As a writer I am interested in examining the nature of relationships within Mäori communities. Journey to Ihipa looks at the way people can be lost behind their eccentricities that distance them from others in the community and indeed from their own story. I like that compassion shown by one person to another can come in a throw-away line or a small gesture and in those inconsequential moments a person and an entire community can change.’

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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

Here is a link to Tatyana’s website

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

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

Some of the things we talk about are:

Here’s a link to Kirsten’s new book She’s a Killer

Here’s a link to Maggie Shipstead’s book Great Circle

Here’s a link to Olga Ravn’s book The Employees

Exercise:

Think of three people who you saw yesterday. Now write three first-person perspectives of yesterday. What does each person choose to tell you about their day?

Which you can see here: https://better-read.com/2021/09/08/ep-103-elements-17/

Some of the things we talk about are:

Here's a link to Cassie's website which includes information about all of Cassie's work

Exercise:

Cassie and I talk about using existing structures. Maybe you could think of a 'type' of story - a romance, a whodunit, a first contact novel. Now spend 30 seconds writing everything about that type of story that you know. Now take another type of story and write it in using your list. So, you might end up writing a romance using the rules of a murder mystery, or a first contact novel as a noire detective story.

Here's a link to Pip's article 'The story of a take-down'

Some of the things we talk about are:

Here's a link to Emma Hislop's short story 'The Game'

Here's a link to Sarah Hall's short story 'Mrs Fox'

Here's a link to Karen Russel's short story 'Orange World'

Here's a link to Emma's Instagram

Here's a link to Emma on Twitter

Exercise:

Emma's story 'The Game' does an amazing job of limiting what the point of view character knows. Think of an object. Name three facts about this object. Now get three people in the room with this object and give each of them one of the facts about the object but not the other two. Each of them wants the object. Now write the dialogue.

Show notes at: https://better-read.com/2021/07/09/ep-100-elements-14/

Ash reads both poems at the start of this podcast but you can read ‘Kiss of the Sun’ by Mary Ruefle here https://www.ronnowpoetry.com/contents/ruefle/KissoftheSun.html

And ‘pool party’ is in Ash’s collection How to Live with Mammal is published by VUP

Some of the things we talk about are:

Heather Christle’s The Crying Book

Intan Paramaditha’s choose your own adventure novel The Wandering

Vivian Gornick’s The Situation and the Story

Here is an interview with David Wallace-Wells who wrote The Uninhabitable Earth: A story of the future

Some of the things we talk about are:

We talk a lot about one of Richard's projects Glass Vaults. Glass Vaults are Richard Larsen, Bevan Smith, Rowan Pierce + friends.

Bevan makes music as Aspen, Introverted Dancefloor and Signer. Signer has been releasing editions of his Isolated Dreams series of EPs onto Bandcamp at an impressively steady clip, since kicking off the low key project in October 2020. You can listen to Signer's 'Isolated Dreams EP07' here: https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/news/18545/Listen-To-Signers-Isolated-Dreams-EP07.utr

Rowan Pierce is multi award winning artist who produces and exhibits work, collaboratively and individually, across a range of mediums including live performance, music, film and installation. You can see Rowan's work in Te Mauri o Pōhutu a new series of collaborative installation and time-based artworks by Bianca Hyslop, Rowan Pierce and Tūī Matira Ranapiri Ransfield. https://toiponeke.nz/events/2021temauriopohutu

Glass Vaults is on Bandcamp and you can listen and buy their music here: https://glassvaults.bandcamp.com/

Richard also makes work as Richard Dada which is also on Bandcamp: https://dadada.bandcamp.com/

Richard mentions David Byrne talking about how architecture helped music evolve. Here is a TED talk David Byrne gave about this topic: https://www.ted.com/talks/david_byrne_how_architecture_helped_music_evolve/transcript

Toward the end we talk about the Glass Vaults' song 'Sojourn'. You can watch the video Richard talks about here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4f95qIzBvE

You can see Glass Vaults performing live on RNZ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptTEY248pE0

Formula 1: Drive to Survive is a Netflix Original series which you can read about here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_1:_Drive_to_Survive

Doug's film You Could Have Seen The Mona Lisa is showing at the 2021 Doc Edge Festival 4-11 June https://festival.docedge.nz/film/you-could-have-seen-the-mona-lisa/

Doug's podcast which he makes with Steve Skeet and Darren Waugh is Ludicrously Specific

https://www.stitcher.com/show/ludicrously-specific

Doug's feature is Jake and you can read about it and find out how to see it here:

http://www.jakethemovie.com/

Doug is on Twitter https://twitter.com/dillamonster

Laura chose two of her poems to talk about, you can read them here:

ACTIVITIES by Laura Vincent, The Friday Poem in The Spinoff https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/12-07-2019/the-friday-poem-activities-by-laura-vincent/

Anecdotal happiness by Laura Vincent, The Friday Poem in The Spinoff https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/10-01-2020/the-friday-poem-anecdotal-happiness-by-laura-vincent/

Some of the things we talk about are:

We talk about the work of Billy Wilder in particular his film Ace in the Hole: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043338/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_33

Laura blogs at Hungry and Frozen https://hungryandfrozen.com/ where you can also find Laura's Patreon.

Other good places to find Laura are on here Twitter account https://twitter.com/HungryandFrozen, Intragram https://www.instagram.com/hungryandfrozen/ and TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@hungryandfrozen

To raise awareness, and hopefully some money, for the Wellington Rape Crisis Annual Appeal we live-streamed this episode of Better off Read on Sunday 2 May at 8.00 pm.

I talked with M. Darusha Wehm about their work with a special focus on narrative and plot. I'm particularly excited to talk to Darusha about their new work The Qubit Zirconium a riotous science fantasy novel from the smash hit game, KeyForge.

We don't talk directly about sexual violence in this live-stream, but I do talk at the start of the episode, in a general way, about the work Wellington Rape Crisis does.

You can watch the livestream on PIp's YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yazbjVRKrqE&t=215s

You can donate to Wellington Rape Crisis at https://wellingtonrapecrisis.org.nz/donate-now/

Some of the things we talk about are:

You can read about Dan's novel Vintage Contemporaries here https://www.dankois.com/vintage-contemporaries

We talk about Laurie Colwin's book Happy all the Time https://www.lauriecolwin.com/books

Jenny Offill's Department of Speculation https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/14/dept-speculation-review-jenny-offill

Some of the things we talk about are:

Ingrid's new book is Where We Swim published by VUP https://vup.victoria.ac.nz/where-we-swim/

Ingrid wrote a great piece for The SpinOff about reading during a pandemic and you can read that here https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/28-03-2021/the-climate-crisis-is-seeping-into-books-and-making-them-really-really-weird/

You can read an excerpt from Where We Swim here https://www.newsroom.co.nz/readingroom/on-the-amazon

Toward the end of the conversation we talk about a paper Ingrid and Dr Laura Jean McKay are teaching at Massey called 'Eco-fictions and Non-Fictions'. You can read about that course here: https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/programme-course/course.cfm?course_code=139309

Some of the things we talk about are:

You can see and read about Ann’s work at her website https://annshelton.com/

Including ‘The Witch’ https://annshelton.com/works/a-lovers-herbal

A Lovers’ Herbal can be viewed on the Denny Dimin Gallery website here  —  https://dennydimingallery.com/news/virtual_exhibition/ann-shelton-2/

One important thing to note, because of the nature of Ann’s work is that the plants discussed in these texts, and their uses, can be dangerous, even lethal. These texts are presented here as background research for a body of artworks and should not be interpreted as medical advice. Do not mess with these plants.

Toward the end of the podcast we talk about New York being in lockdown for a year, we just want to acknowledge that New York was in varying degrees of lockdown over this time.

Exercise:

Ann talks about starting with a plant and composing around it. I wonder if this could be an interesting way to start a piece of writing. You could find out about the uses of a plant you see every day. Or you could start with a physical condition and find a plant associated with this. Then free write.

Thank you Copyright Licensing New Zealand for funding the Elements series.

Kerry's essay 'Queer Debris: A personal essay on queer love and loneliness in response to Sam Duckor-Jones’s People From The Pit Stand Up and Chris Tse’s he’s so MASC.' https://pantograph-punch.com/posts/queer-debris

Snails: Artist run spaces is an amazing place in Palmerston North you can visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/snailsartistrunspace/

Marolyn has an amazing website where you can find out more about her book The Radicals https://www.marolynkrasner.com/

In the third episode in the Place season of Elements, Pip Adam talks to Rose Lu about place and what it is to write it. 

All Who Live on Islands by Rose Lu which is published by VUP https://vup.victoria.ac.nz/all-who-live-on-islands/

The Radio New Zealand adaptation of Rose's book All Who Live on Islands https://www.rnz.co.nz/collections/readings/all-who-live-on-islands-by-rose-lu

The Kāpiti Writers Retreat run by Writers Practice https://writerspractice.nz/

I talk about 'an artist' - that artist is the amazing Julian Oliver. The lecture I am talking about is this one from 2017 "TX/RX: Spectrum and the City" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9UIEnxlw5k&t=429s

Exercise:

What does it feel like to use an object to write about place. Look around, pick up the first you-sized object you see. Now write about place through this object. Perhaps start with the sentence, 'I am in the [object name]...'.

Thank you Copyright Licensing New Zealand for funding the Elements series.

In this episode Pip Adam talks to Victor Rodger about Club Paradiso.

https://better-read.com/2021/01/20/ep-88-victor-rodger/

In this episode Pip Adam talks to Michaela Keeble about a set of juvenile pāua shell from the beach where she lives.

https://better-read.com/2021/01/17/ep-87-michaela-keeble/

https://better-read.com/2021/01/03/announcing-the-elements-series/

Find out more on our website:

https://better-read.com/

Caitlin choose two songs - Jesca Hoop's 'Shoulder Charge' and Caitlin's song 'Another Goodbye'

You can listen to both songs on the Better off Read website:

https://better-read.com/

https://better-read.com

To hear these sounds and for information about how to submit responses to exercises to our Showcase can be found on our website https://better-read.com

To hear these sounds and for information about how to submit responses to exercises to our Showcase can be found on our website https://better-read.com

For the final episode of the Sound Series I'm hoping to put together a showcase of work created in response to the exercises I've been offering throughout the series.

I'd love to receive your work by Thursday 24 September

You can send your responses to me at:

betterreadnz@gmail.com

Or if you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me here.

If none of the exercises appeal, you could also send a recording of you reading a piece of your own work that you think is interesting in relation to sound.

You can read all the exercises at:

https://better-read.com/2020/09/13/episode-80/

To hear these sounds and for information about how to submit responses to exercises to our Showcase can be found on our website https://better-read.com

Carl chose the live version of the song 'Work' by Lou Reed and John Cale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdl5fJ-c_lA

And Simon chose the Schnell Fenster song 'Whisper'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2LlG1aIKRA&list=OLAK5uy_nR1bdEDNSnWmCSUeBz5pI76ebWd1Inx_Y

To hear these sounds and for information about how to submit responses to exercises to our Showcase can be found on our website https://better-read.com

Brannavan chose the sound of rain on a roof and Tokerau chose the sound of paper - with a twist.

To hear these sounds and for information about how to submit responses to exercises to our Showcase can be found on our website https://better-read.com

Sinead chooses 'Give it To Me' by Motte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJc6FW0PXQM

Charlotte chooses 'Seekers Who Are Lovers' by the Cocteau Twins

https://open.spotify.com/track/6YEAWiv3msB1SozMFLNbYG?si=A7ZRg6YHTPS47-YPzHIRtg

To hear these sounds and for information about how to submit responses to exercises to our Showcase can be found on our website https://better-read.com

Eamonn choses a mystery song

Cooki Aimee M chooses a terrifying sound we hear often.

To hear these sounds and for information about how to submit responses to exercises to our Showcase can be found on our website https://better-read.com

Ruby chose 'Koukou' off her amazing album Pōneke which you can listen to and buy on Bandcamp

Chris chose the sound of washing rice, which he recorded and you can listen to on our webpage - or on the podcast.

Information about how to submit responses to exercises to our Showcase can be found on our website https://better-read.com

James chose Neon Cross by Drunk with Power, which he wrote and recorded. You can listen to here on Spotify

Nick chose Dunedin Spleen by The Verlaines and you can listen and buy this song on Bandcamp

https://better-read.com

https://vup.victoria.ac.nz/the-victims-of-lightning/

https://www.hueandcrypress.com/shop/one-human-in-height

https://thequietus.com/articles/14067-two-poems-by-crispin-best

and 'I am a photographer' from Jackson Nieuwland's book I am a human being

https://compoundpress.org/books/i-am-a-human-being/

https://nzbooks.org.nz/2016/poem/poem-nick-ascroft-five-limericks-on-grief/

https://www.freesoundslibrary.com/ambient-sounds/

And poems from Bill Manhire's poetry collection Call Me By My Name

https://vup.victoria.ac.nz/tell-me-my-name/

https://www.freesoundslibrary.com/crowd-laughing-applauding-sound-effect/

https://www.freesoundslibrary.com/

Thank you so much Strange Stains.

You can buy this tracks at 

https://strangestains.bandcamp.com/