Sarah Jane Barnett As you will know, in this series I’m asking guests to identify ‘something that has made them laugh’. Sarah offered the TV series The Good Place created by Michael Schur. This is a show that has given both of us a lot of joy over the years and is a really great ‘way in’ to talking about Sarah’s new book Note on Womanhood which you … Continue reading Ep 116: Beyond a Joke 7 – Sarah Jane Barnett talks with Pip Adam about Michael Schur’s The Good Place

Brannavan Gnanalingam (Image by Lucy Li). As you will know, in this series I’m asking guests to identify ‘something that has made them laugh’. Brannavan offered Kira Muratova's film The Asthenic Syndrome which, maybe, is not an immediately obvious choice. Well, it wasn’t to me. It is, of course the perfect starting point for a conversation about Bran’s compelling, disturbing, funny(?), romantic new novel Slow Down, You’re … Continue reading Ep 115: Beyond a Joke 6 – Brannavan Gnanalingam talks with Pip Adam about Kira Muratova’s film The Asthenic Syndrome

In 2022, I 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. In this episode, Rachel O’Neill and I are talking about Pockets and Everything Everywhere All At Once two films made by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. SPOILER … Continue reading Ep 114: Beyond a Joke 5 – Rachel O’Neill talks with Pip Adam about Pockets and Everything Everywhere All At Once by the Daniels

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 Lapwood (Image … Continue reading Ep 113: Beyond a Joke 4 – Anthony Lapwood talks to Pip Adam about ’Goethe in the Roman Campagna’ by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein

I loved talking to Jordan so much. I’ve been a fan for a while and it was so great to sit down and chat about poetry and humour. Jordan Hamel (Image by Ebony Lamb) Jordan’s new book Everyone is Everyone Except You is out in May 2022 with Dead Bird Books. Click here to read more Cover by Matt Mitchell https://linktr.ee/mattmitchell To launch … Continue reading Ep 112: Beyond a Joke 3 – Jordan Hamel talks to Pip Adam about his poem ’Death Coach’

Listen to Better off Read at https://pipadam.podbean.com/

In this series, Beyond a Joke I speak with folk about things that make them laugh as a way into a conversation about writing, humour and art. Click here to subscribe to Better off Read on Substack In this, the first episode in this series I speak with Anna Jackson about a single cell from … Continue reading Ep 110: Beyond a Joke 1 – Anna Jackson talks to Pip Adam about Anna’s book ‘Actions & Travels: How poetry works’.

In the last couple of weeks I've been recording and editing the first episodes of the new series Beyond a Joke. In this series, I’m asking guests to bring an object that has made them laugh. Using this object we discuss what makes us laugh, what arts practice can learn about the structures of humor … Continue reading Beyond a Joke! Better of Read’s New Home at Substack.

Due to Covid the session I was chairing with Andy Southall and Bridget van der Zijpp for the 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts was cancelled. I'm really grateful that Andy and Bridget agreed to record a session where we talk about their books under the session theme of Time, Love, Memory. Bridget … Continue reading Ep 108 & 109: Bridget van der Zijpp & Andy Southall : Time, Love, Memory session from Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts

In the third episode in the Character season of Elements, I talk to Tatyana Kulida about character and how it relates to her work. We use Henry Miller's book 'To Paint is to Love Again' as a starting point for this discussion. Tatyana Kulida (Photo credit Flair Studios) Painting by Tatyana Kulida Some of the … Continue reading Ep 107: Elements 21 – Character. Tatyana Kulida talks to Pip Adam about Henry Miller’s ‘To Paint is to Love Again’.