The first of two special episodes loosely based around the craft of writing, Episode 28 of First Impressions features a wide-ranging, relaxed but insightful conversation with Brooklyn-based author Douglas Berman recorded in July. We reflect on what’s changed in the world and in our writing lives since we last spoke for the podcast back in December 2021.
We also talk about the reading that’s inspired our work, writing techniques (from the epistolary to the horizontal) and while I share excerpts from my new autobiographical short story Countdown, at (07:10) and (21:02), and recently published poem, Anti-algorithm Technique (47:55), Doug reads extracts from the three novels he has been working on, with locations ranging from San Francisco to the Midwest and beyond at (32:22), (34:51) and (38:16).
Fresh in the mind was my trip to Canada in March 2024. The show opens with a song recorded there with my brother (feat. former guest Mike Teague on guitar) and a trip to an Edmonton rock pub is included in one of my story snippets. Ukraine is also in our thoughts and features in the work and in our chat. A mid-point meander into music past and present is accompanied by some beats and effects (27:06).
The Wordarium Journal is available here, containing the work of 48 local poets.
Escape2Make, ‘a charity dedicated to helping 11–18-year-olds in the Lancaster & Morecambe area’ who provided the artwork for the journal.
Andrey Kurkov’s Grey Bees
Andrey Kurkov’s Diary of an Invasion
Natalia Ginzberg’s Family Lexicon
Timothy Snyder’s Our Malady
