I spoke with writer Natasha Dennerstein about Geoff Cochrane's The Bengal Engine's Mango Afterglow a book we are both very fond of. Natasha is in San Francisco where she writes and studies. Here is a video of her reading last year. And here is a video of the Word Party/Nova Jazz at Top of the Mark … Continue reading Episode 20: Natasha Dennerstein and Pip Adam talk about The Bengal Engine’s Mango Afterglow by Geoff Cochrane

Carl Shuker's novel The Method Actors was published in 2005. In this episode we celebrate this it's 10th anniversary. You can watch Motown Junk by the Manic Street Preachers here. Better off Read is available on iTunes where you can subscribe by clicking here Better off Read is also available on PodBean where you can subscribe by clicking here … Continue reading Episode 19: Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of The Method Actors by Carl Shuker

On Thursday June 4, VicBooks hosted the launch of Overland Issue 219, you can see some photos here Overland is a suite of online and paper publications with the mission to 'foster new, original and progressive work exploring the relationship between politics and culture, especially literature, and to bring that work to as many people as possible.' … Continue reading Episode 18: Overland Aotearoa Launch

Clare is a writer from Wellington who also publishes work through her Giant Sparrow Press Clare Needham and I talked about Iain Banks' The Wasp Factory. We talk about various covers, this is the one we remember from when we read the book: In the podcast I stalk about (but can't remember the author of) The Martian of course it's written … Continue reading Episode 17: Clare Needham and Pip Adam talk about The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

For this episode, writer Helen Heath and I tried something a bit different. Instead of using an entire book as a starting point for our discussion we looked at a single essay, Rebecca Solnit's Men Explain Things To Me which you can read here The conversation was wide-reaching and here are links to some of the … Continue reading Episode 16: Helen Heath and Pip Adam talk about Men Explain Things To Me by Rebecca Solnit

John Summers' new book The Mermaid Boy is published by Hue & Cry Press and will be released on May 7. You can pre-order it here And you should because it is an extremely exciting new work and a damn good read. The Wellington launch is 6pm on May 7 at Unity Books. John's work has appeared … Continue reading Episode 15: John Summers and Pip Adam talk about The Scarecrow by Ronald Hugh Morrieson

It was a distinct privilege to speak with Dougal on the occasion of the launch of the book he has written with Charles Ferrall, Writing the 1926 General Strike: Literature, Culture, Politics The launch was held on the anniversary of unionist Ernie Abbott's death at Trades Hall and was preceded by a minutes silence in his memory. … Continue reading Episode 14: Dougal McNeill and Pip Adam talk about Writing the 1926 General Strike: Literature, Culture, Politics by Charles Ferrall and Dougal McNeill

I really enjoyed talking with Sue about Lolita. A book which has always troubled me, largely because I find myself simultaneously mesmerised by it's form and revolted by its content. Sue teased out some very interesting aspects of the book and language and fiction as a whole. Sue Orr has published two short story collections – Etiquette for … Continue reading Episode 13: Sue Orr and Pip Adam talk about Lolita by Vladimar Nabokov

The other day William Brandt and I were walking to buy sushi for lunch when we realised that we have been working together for three years. William is one of the best workmates I've ever had. He's smart and funny and really talented. As well as teaching together at Modern Letters, William and I have … Continue reading Episode 12: William Brandt and Pip Adam talk about Under the Skin by Michel Faber

Call Mr Robeson is playing in Wellington until March 1 as part of the NZ Fringe. Its first week sold out, but if you're quick you can get tickets here You can read about the NZ Fringe show in this article You can read more about the play and see a trailer here I saw … Continue reading Episode 11: Pip Adam talks to Tayo Aluko about his play ‘Call Mr Robeson: A Life, With Songs’