FILMMAKER MAGAZINE LISTS OTHER PEOPLE IN ‘THE SUPER 8’

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

FICTIONAUT INTERVIEW

I’ve been interviewed by the fine people over at Fictionaut.

Click right here to read.

-BL

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.

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. Sometimes an episode seems to be about everything except the subject’s latest book. Whatever they talk about, the shows—which typically clock in at just over an hour—are almost always filled with interesting conversation, and Listi has, in just a few months, had a lot of terrific guests, including Blake Butler, Steve Almond, Victoria Patterson, Joshua Mohr, and Dennis Cooper….

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

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 of Books says:

“The Funny Man joins a short list of intelligent, dark comedies about self-loathing main characters whose success is built on the poor taste and/or low IQ of the American public…[the book] puts Warner among the most perceptive and edgy chroniclers of an increasingly coarse American culture.”

This one was fun. Really enjoyed talking with John.

Topics of conversation include: Lake Charles, McSweeney’s, tent revivals, McNeese State, bicycle cops, Robert Olen Butler, John Hughes, Chicago, Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, South Carolina, church, the phrase “bless your heart,” The Real World, Barry Bonds, living with your parents, the Woody Creek Tavern, Comic Sans, humor writing, and trying to fit your fist in your mouth.

Please remember to subscribe to the show over at iTunes, or at Stitcher. It’s free. Or listen online by clicking right here.

Thanks for listening, everybody. Really appreciate it.

-BL

PS. If you like show, please take a moment to rate and review it on iTunes. (Pretty please?)

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 things Kurt.

Topics of conversation include: Indianapolis, Dresden, Cornell, PTSD, suicide, The Great Depression, family, journalism, WWII, The Battle of the Bulge, Billy Pilgrim, Slaughterhouse Five, Joe Crone, creative burnout, Jill Krementz, Cape Cod, New York City, Sardi’s, divorce, tragedy, self-loathing, and the psychology of meeting famous people.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show over at iTunes, if you haven’t already done so. It’s free. Or, if you’re a Stitcher person, you can subscribe there, too.  (Or click here to listen online.)

Many thanks, & enjoy the show…

-BL

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 Eat, Pray, Love, says, “[Half a Life] is a searingly self-disciplined work of literature, and of self-examination…the impact is staggering and unforgettable.”

Plenty to talk about here.

Topics of conversation include: short books, Courier New, guilt, PTSD, the performative aspects of grief, auto-responders, subconscious motives, Dave Eggers, writing slowly, conjoined twins, Philip Roth, emoticons, David Lipsky, gestation periods, and the difference between history and memoir.

Please be sure to subscribe to the show over at iTunes, if you haven’t already done so. It’s free. Or, if you’re a Stitcher person, you can subscribe there, too.

Many thanks, and enjoy the show…

-BL

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 other people that I admire and am interested in: Victoria Patterson, Megan Boyle, Steve Almond, Emma Straub, and more. While I expected the podcast to be interesting I was blown away, finding it downright enjoyable — and now I’m hooked. In a world full of distractions — where almost everything I encounter is practically begging me not to write — Brad Listi’s podcast has made me hit the pause button on my iTunes, blow off social obligations, and sit my ass down in a chair and write. The show is funny, insightful, entertaining, affirming, and, more than anything — inspiring. It easily one of the best podcasts on the web. Because I am now such a fan I wanted to ask Brad a few questions, and he kindly obliged.

To read the rest, just click right here.  

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, writes beautifully. We cover a lotta ground.

Topics of conversation include: communes, Jennifer Egan, too much television, nauseating self-doubt, anxiousness over books one hasn’t read, the absurdity of continuing to write even though writing is often miserable, high class problems, the scarcity of attention, Charles Dickens, hamsters eating carrots, the god-awful guilt one feels when one realizes that one is complaining about the difficulty of writing in a world where most people don’t have access to potable water, the phrase “God Bless America,” Kurt Vonnegut, Don DeLillo, and more.

Listen here. Listen via Stitcher. Or subscribe at iTunes. It’s all free.

Thanks, everybody.

-BL

PS. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Email me: letters@otherpeoplepod.com