The latest episode of our podcast is now available for direct download and streaming from the website or via subscription from iTunes. Feedback is most welcome!

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, start things off with a discussion about cultural appropriation, bouncing off a now infamous keynote speech given by Lionel Shriver at the Brisbane Writers Festival. Pertinent links are as follows:

• Full transcript of Lionel Shriver’s speech in The Guardian
• Response to Shriver speech by Yassmin Abdel-Magied in The Guardian
• Repsonse by festival volunteer Yen-Rong
• Nike Sulway on Shriver, straw men and writing about others
• Jim Hines on Shriver and cultural appropriation
• Joe Aston in the Financial Review with an article that could be more accurately titled “How To Be A Dick: A Performance Piece”.

The actual theme for the podcast this month was First Read/Re-Read. Kirstyn and Ian have each selected a book they read and loved a long, long time ago but which the other had never read before. Up for reminiscing and dissection are Savage Season by Joe R. Lansdale [33:40], chosen by Ian, and The Pillow Friend by Lisa Tuttle [1:04:00] which was Kirstyn’s pick.

If you’ve skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:37:50 for final remarks. Up for discussion next month are two recent Shirley Jackson Award winners:

• Aickman’s Heirs edited by Simon Strantzas (Winner: Edited Anthology)
• Experimental Film by Gemma Files (Winner: Novel)

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

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28 September 2016
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: Kirstyn McDermott . Comments: Leave a comment

The latest episode of our podcast is now available for direct download and streaming from the website or via subscription from iTunes. Feedback is most welcome!

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, spend a few minutes talking about the New York Times Bestseller lists before jumping straight into the discussion of two novels which have been on the lists in some form for, oh, about a squillion weeks: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr [11:45] and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins [46:45].

Here are the links for various items mentioned during this episode:

• On Blindness and the Portrayal of Marie-Laure in All the Light We Cannot See by Sheri Wells-Jensen  (The Toast)
• “There Was Darkness” by Martin Livings from Living With the Dead
• NYT Book Review podcast featuring Megan Abbott

If you’ve skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:32:00 for final remarks, including which books will be discussed next episode.

Next month is the inaugural Patron’s Choice episode, wherein Kirstyn and Ian read two books nominated and voted on by some of their lovely supporters on Patreon. Ian won’t let Kirstyn put the titles in the shownotes, because he wants them to be a surprise for listener’s of this month’s episode. Seriously, blame Ian. Then go to 1:32:00 to find out what they’ll be discussing.

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

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5 August 2016
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: Kirstyn McDermott . Comments: Comments Off on The Writer and the Critic: Episode 53

The latest episode of our podcast is now available for direct download and streaming from the website or via subscription from iTunes. Feedback is most welcome!

It’s the 50th Episode of The Writer and the Critic and to celebrate, your hosts Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, have made a list of 50 of their favourite books. This is not a Best Books list or even an Important Books list … it’s simply a bunch of beloved books that have made an impact on them over their lives.

But first … some feedback. Bouncing off a most excellent email from one of their listeners, Kirstyn and Ian discuss the issue of systemic bias in the publishing industry, of which the last episode of this podcast inadvertently provided a problematic example, and the need for more diversity in all aspects of publishing, including the forms we preference. Novels are not the be all and end all, people, and it’s good to be reminded of this.

Discussion of the Writer and Critic Fab 50 begins at 19:20. No spoilers!

Next month Kirstyn and Ian will be chatting about the recently announced Aurealis Awards and discussing two of the winners:

• A Single Stone by Meg McKinlay
• In the Skin of a Monster by Kathryn Barker

Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

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13 April 2016
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: Kirstyn McDermott . Comments: 2 Comments