February 2012
4 posts
23 tags
FILMMAKER MAGAZINE LISTS OTHER PEOPLE IN 'THE...
Good news! Filmmaker magazine has included Other People in its Winter 2012 ‘Super 8’ list! (Thanks to Scott Macaulay and everyone over at Filmmaker!)
Here’s the write-up:
fi
21 tags
17 tags
FULL STOP COMMENTS ON EPISODE 37
Full Stop magazine has written about the podcast:
In the past week I came across two rather disparate author reactions to their fans. Strangely enough, the “nice guy” writes books that focus on, in his words, “a preoccupation with the invasive nature of violence in our lives.” The not-so-nice guy is a children’s book author. It all started with Brad Listi’s brilliant “Other People” podcast,...
January 2012
5 posts
18 tags
THE CONTEXTUAL LIFE OFFERS A ROBUST REVIEW OF...
Other People has gotten a rave review over at a blog called The Contextual Life. (Thanks to Gabrielle Gantz!)
To read the full review, just click right here.
9 tags
OTHER PEOPLE IN PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Other People has been written about in Publishers Weekly.
To read the full article, just click right here.
10 tags
OTHER PEOPLE MAKES MATADOR NETWORK'S LIST OF 21...
Good news! Other People has made the Matador Network’s list of 21 favorite podcasts.
(Thanks to Kate Sedgwick and the folks at Matador.)
15 tags
I HAVE BEEN INTERVIEWED BY 16-YEAR-OLD BOOK...
I’ve been interviewed about Other People and The Nervous Breakdown by 16-year-old book blogger wünderkind Robby Auld.
To read, please click right here.
7 tags
FICTIONAUT INTERVIEW
I’ve been interviewed by the fine people over at Fictionaut.
Click right here to read.
-BL
December 2011
7 posts
10 tags
ME AND MY BIG MOUTH INTERVIEW
I’ve been interviewed by Scott Pack over in the UK.
To read the full interview, just click right here.
9 tags
RICHARD NASH ON 'OTHER PEOPLE'
Publishing impresario Richard Nash uwith some kind words for the podcast.
15 tags
MY YEAR IN READING
I’ve shared my Year in Reading over at The Millions, a terrific literary site.
-BL
9 tags
HTML GIANT INTERVIEW
I’ve been interviewed by Drew Nellins over at HTML Giant.
An excerpt:
Other People with Brad Listi is a twice-weekly author interview show with a unique literary emphasis. Rather than focusing on their books, Listi asks his writer guests to open up about their lives as writers, what’s driving them, how they work, their personal philosophies and their opinions of other writers’ books....
21 tags
EPISODE 25 — JOHN WARNER
Today’s guest is John Warner. He’s the author of four books, most recently a debut novel called The Funny Man, available now from SoHo Press. And he’s also the longtime editor of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Publishers Weekly calls The Funny Man “[An] equally sickening and humorous portrait of the celebrity as a delusional man.” And the New York Journal...
15 tags
EPISODE 24 — CHARLES SHIELDS
Charles Shields is the guest. He’s the author of And So It Goes — Kurt Vonnegut: A Life, now available in hardcover from Henry Holt. Shields is also the author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, also available from Holt.
This is the first authoritative biography of Vonnegut ever written, with Vonnegut himself authorizing the project prior to his death in 2007.
We talk all...
16 tags
EPISODE 23 — DENNIS COOPER
Dennis Cooper is the guest. He’s the author of several books, including The Sluts, God Jr., the five novels of the George Miles cycle, and, most recently, The Marbled Swarm, now available from Harper Perennial.
“Disquieting, humbling, and sadly beautiful in the way only Dennis Cooper can be,” raves Patrick deWitt. “The Marbled Swarm is a mystifying and courageous...
November 2011
11 posts
13 tags
EPISODE 22 — DARIN STRAUSS
Darin Strauss is today’s guest. He is the author of three novels—Chang & Eng, The Real McCoy, and More Than It Hurts You. And his most recent book is a memoir called Half a Life (McSweeney’s) which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
The New York Times Book Review calls it “…elegant, painful, [and] stunningly honest.”
And Elizabeth Gilbert, author of...
21 tags
EPISODE 21 — JANET REITMAN
Janet Reitman is the guest. She is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine and the author of the bestselling Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion, recently named by the New York Times as one of its 100 Notable Books of 2011.
Inside Scientology originated as a story in Rolling Stone and was nominated for a National Magazine Award.
Reitman’s work has...
10 tags
EPISODE 20 — ADAM NOVY
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
The guest is Adam Novy, author of the debut novel The Avian Gospels, available now from Short Flight / Long Drive Books, an independent press run by the good people over at Hobart.
“The Avian Gospels has the potential to become a cult classic,” says Publishers Weekly.
Adam and I, we talk about stuff.
Topics of conversation include: birds, birding,...
20 tags
INTERVIEW WITH ELECTRIC LITERATURE
I’ve been interviewed by Electric Literature, which has some really nice things to say about the podcast. Many thanks to Julia Jackson, editor of the Electric Dish.
Here’s the intro to the interview:
A few weeks ago, I first listened to a new literary podcast: Other People with Brad Listi, which I found through Melissa Febos‘ Facebook profile. She was interviewed on it, as well as...
30 tags
EPISODE 19 — ELISSA SCHAPPELL
The guest is Elissa Schappell, author of the story collections Use Me (William Morrow), which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the brand new Blueprints for Building Better Girls, available now from Simon & Schuster.
A former senior editor at The Paris Review, Elissa is a contributing editor and the Hot Type book columnist at Vanity Fair. She is also the co-founder and...
17 tags
EPISODE 18 — KATIE ARNOLDI
Today’s guest: Katie Arnoldi, the bestselling author of three novels: Chemical Pink, The Wentworths, and Point Dume.
This one’s gonna blow your mind, people. Just trust me. It’ll make you want to buy a plane ticket. It’ll make you want to stow away on a boat. It’ll make you want to go undercover and rescue a POW in a war-torn Third World country.
Topics of...
21 tags
EPISODE 17 — JOSHUA MOHR
Joshua Mohr is the guest. He’s the author of three novels: Some Things That Meant the World to Me, Termite Parade, and, most recently, Damascus. All are available from Two Dollar Radio, one of America’s finest independent presses.
“The bard of the underbelly,” says Jonathan Evison.
A rave for Damascus from The Rumpus: “It’s as if [Mohr] is standing over your...
17 tags
EPISODE 16 — GINA FRANGELLO
Gina Frangello is the guest. She is the critically acclaimed author of the novel My Sister’s Continent (Chiasmus Press), the story collection Slut Lullabies (Emergency Press), and the forthcoming novel A Life in Men (Algonquin).
She is also the esteemed fiction editor over at The Nervous Breakdown.
Gina’s a good one. (That’s an understatement.) The word...
19 tags
EPISODE 15 — JILLIAN LAUREN
The guest is Jillian Lauren, author of the memoir Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, a New York Times bestseller, and the brand new novel Pretty, both available from Plume Books.
Kirkus calls her a “deft storyteller,” and Antoine Wilson, author of The Interloper, calls Pretty “a harrowing journey from darkness to light to real life.”
Topics of conversation include: youth,...
24 tags
EPISODE 14 — SHANN RAY
The guest is Shann Ray, author of the critically acclaimed story collection American Masculine, now available from Graywolf Press.
A very impressive guy. A college basketball star. A doctorate in psychology. A professor of leadership studies (with an emphasis on forgiveness). And now, the author of a story collection that won the 2010 Bakeless Prize for Fiction.
“Shann Ray’s prose...
27 tags
EPISODE 13 — MEGAN BOYLE
Megan Boyle is the guest. She’s the author of selected unpublished blog posts of a mexican panda express employee, an unorthodox debut poetry collection from Muumuu House.
At the time of this interview, she had been up for 36 hours and was staying at her dad’s place in Baltimore.
Topics of conversation include: Baltimore, Applebee’s, Tao Lin, Las Vegas, Beanie Babies,...
October 2011
10 posts
15 tags
IMPOSE MAGAZINE HAS NICE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT OTHER...
Josh Spilker of IMPOSE magazine has written a nice review of the podcast.
Here’s the gist:
there’s been a new entry. Other People Podcast by Brad Listi. Brad is from The Nervous Breakdown and does it right. He talks to novelists about writing. He talks about their personal quirks. He touches a bit on their books, but if you’ve never read their books, you can still hang....
29 tags
EPISODE 12 — DIANA SPECHLER
A great conversation with Diana Spechler, author of the novels Who By Fire and Skinny, both from Harper Perennial.
We get into it.
Topics of conversation include: tequila, book tour, cocktail waitressing, pizza delivery, horrible bosses, getting fired, the fact that your friendly waitress is not hitting on you, nudity, dancing, weight loss, Boulder, weight loss camps, body image, Wyoming, the...
17 tags
EPISODE 11 — ADAM LEVIN
Adam Levin is the guest.
He’s the author of The Instructions, a 1,030-page novel published by McSweeney’s in late 2010 to great critical acclaim.
“Evocative of David Foster Wallace,” writes Rolling Stone, “full of death-defying sentences, manic wit, exciting provocations and simple human warmth.”
Topics of conversation include: page counts, cigarettes,...
14 tags
MCSWEENEY'S RECOMMENDS 'OTHER PEOPLE'
Good news! The editors at McSweeney’s have included Other People in the latest edition of their ‘McSweeney’s Recommends’ column. Some very kind words about the show:
My thanks to the folks at McSweeney’s!
And: humbling to have the show compared to WTF. Marc Maron is brilliant. If you’re not listening to him, something’s wrong with you.
-BL
18 tags
EPISODE 10 — ALEXANDER MAKSIK
Alexander Maksik is the guest. One of the original writers at The Nervous Breakdown, and a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, where he was a Truman Capote Fellow.
He’s now the author of You Deserve Nothing, one of the most buzzed-about novels of the fall season. It’s available from Tonga Books, an imprint of Europa Editions.
We get into it.
Topics of conversation include: ...
17 tags
EPISODE 9 - STEVE ALMOND
Such a great pleasure to have Steve Almond on the show. His new story collection, God Bless America, is due out from Lookout Books on October 25th. Lorrie Moore calls it “funny and beguiling and completely original.”
Wanna buy it now? Go straight to the publisher. And of course it’ll be available where books are sold on 10/25.
Steve is a great talker, has a great brain,...
16 tags
EPISODE 8 — VICTORIA PATTERSON
Victoria Patterson is the guest. She’s the author of two books, both set in the moneyed coastal regions of Orange County, California.
The first is the story collection Drift, which was a finalist for both the California Book Award and the Story Prize. And the second his her acclaimed debut novel, This Vacant Paradise, which was hailed far and wide by a variety of publications,...
14 tags
EPISODE 7 — BLAKE BUTLER
The guest is Blake Butler, critically acclaimed author of the novel There is No Year and the new memoir Nothing: A Portrait of Insomnia.
You can listen to the show, free of charge, at the Other People website.
Or you can subscribe for free at iTunes.
Or at Stitcher.
FREE!
13 tags
EPISODE 6 — JESSICA ANYA BLAU
Jessica and I, in conversation. She’s an author. She writes novels.
Listen.
12 tags
EPISODE 5 — GREG OLEAR
Wanna listen? Just click right here.
September 2011
5 posts
3 tags
EPISODE 4 — RON CURRIE, JR.
Episode 4 - Ron Currie, Jr. is now live.
Ron is the acclaimed author of the story collection God is Dead and the novel Everything Matters! He is the recipient of the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award and the Metcalf award, given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
He’s a good one.
Listen.
-BL
11 tags
EPISODE 3 — EMMA STRAUB
And here we have Other People - Episode 3. My conversation with Emma Straub, rising star author of Flyover State (a novella), Other People We Married (a story collection), and the forthcoming debut novel Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, which will be published by Riverhead Press.
Just click that blue link to listen to Emma. She’s a goodie.
12 tags
EPISODE 2 — MELISSA FEBOS
Other People - Episode 2 is now live. The sneak preview phase continues.
Click the link. Push PLAY. Listen to my interview with Melissa Febos, whose acclaimed memoir Whip Smart details the years she spent as a professional dominatrix, heroin addict and straight-A college student, among other things…
10 tags
EPISODE 1 — JONATHAN EVISON
Episode 1 of Other People is now live.
It’s my new podcast.
In-depth, inappropriate interviews with authors.
In this episode: a conversation with Jonathan Evison, bestselling author of All About Lulu and West of Here.
Enjoy!
-BL
9 tags
NEW PODCAST - 'OTHER PEOPLE WITH BRAD LISTI'
So I’m launching a new podcast called Other People with Brad Listi.
In-depth, inappropriate interviews with authors.
For more info, check out www.otherpeoplepod.com.
July 2011
1 post
4 tags
POSSIBLE TITLE
I’m serializing an ‘experimental memoir’ called Possible Title over at The Nervous Breakdown. New installments will be appearing every Monday.
It’s about my life in my twenties. My writing life, mostly. And then there’s some relationship stuff, too.
The entire thing is comprised of clips and outtakes from journals, letters, and emails from the years 1997 -...
March 2011
1 post
7 tags
NEW WRITING ABOUT RADIATION, PARANOIA, EGOS,...
Have a couple of new posts up over at The Nervous Breakdown.
The first one is called “The Plume,” and it’s about that plume of radiation that floated across the Pacific to America last week. And it’s about radiation and paranoia in general. And it’s also about my ego. And MacGuyver.
The second one is called “Excerpts from Letters I Received from...
September 2010
1 post
7 tags
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE
I’ve been interviewed about The Nervous Breakdown by Mark Athitakis of The National Book Critics Circle. Here’s an excerpt:
What prompted the launch of the Nervous Breakdown in 2006? Were there gaps in literary coverage, either in print or online, that you felt needed to be filled?
To a degree, sure. Part of it was rooted in a dissatisfaction with the deficiencies and...
August 2010
1 post
4 tags
AN INTERVIEW OVER AT THE BEST DAMN CREATIVE...
I’ve been interviewed by The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog. Here’s an excerpt:
We are huge fans of your site, The Nervous Breakdown.
Thanks so much. We appreciate it.
Tell us a little bit about its evolution and how the title came about.
I founded the site The Nervous Breakdown in 2006 in my apartment. It happened by accident, almost. These were pre-Twitter days. ...
July 2010
3 posts
6 tags
THE 24-HOUR LITERARY MARATHON
I’ll be appearing at the 24-Hour Literary Marathon on Saturday, July 24th as part of an author panel which will also feature Deirdre Shaw, Mark Sarvas, and Brooke Berman.
Feel free to come by for a cocktail….
INTRODUCING THE TNB BOOK CLUB...
It’s a book club you can attend in the nude.
And it’s one of the greatest deals on the planet.
For more info, click the image above, or simply CLICK HERE.
15 tags
THE VIEW FROM THE WEST - VOL. 4
The other day I was sitting here at my desk, listening to music, staring at my screen. And the lampshade to my left started shaking.
I looked down at my dog and my dog did nothing. We sat there for a moment and then the shaking went away.
One thing you might not know is that an earthquake can make you feel seasick.
In his 1999 book entitled The Ecology of Fear, Mike Davis points...
June 2010
5 posts
WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW
I played competitive soccer as a youth.
I remember hating the idea of a tie.
Even back then.
Playing to a draw.
It pissed me off as a kid, and it pisses me off now, watching the World Cup.
The USA plays England to a draw!
So what?
This bores me.
I think it stinks.
Tying should not be allowed. In any sport. For any reason.
READ MORE