Interview with Brad Listi (The Nervous Breakdown, Other People)

This has been the most hectic week of my short life. Yesterday was the Senior Districts concert for my region. The conductor of the Choir I was accepted into called me by name and shook my hand after we left the stage and joked a lot about emus. I could feel sweat between my thighs and I thought I had snot in my nose but I still sang better than I have ever before, I think. My parents told me they were screaming from the audience but I couldn't hear them. I came home and ate and slept. I do this regularly, but yesterday was special.

I've just finished watching Melancholia. When I think of Kirsten Dunst, I still think of Bring It On, trying to learn the cheer in the opening sequence with my sister. How young I was then! It was not very long ago. The movie was superb. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg are both magnetic. Lars von Trier is a great, great director.

The next few days will be much calmer, I hope. There are only 4 days left of this semester, to be followed by midterms. I am halfway through my junior year of high school. Tuesday night, I have musical rehearsal in the early afternoon, and then I'll be going into the city with my mom for the Jessica Keener signing at the Brookline Booksmith. I'm about a third of the way through Night Swim, the novel she'll be promoting.

Brad Listi has a permanent place on the list of people I am thankful for. Because of him, I'm now not only writing book reviews for this little blog, but also for The Nervous Breakdown, the not so little online magazine he founded. Along with being a faithful reader, I can also count myself among the contributors. Recently, Brad also founded Other People, a podcast series. 33 episodes have been published so far, with many more to come. Go, and listen, and subscribe. Brad Listi, this is an honor.

1. What led to the birth of Other People?

It's twofold.  To begin with, I'm a big radio nerd.  A big podcast nerd.  I listen to a lot of this stuff.  I love Howard Stern, for example.  I love Terry Gross and Fresh Air.  I listen to a wide range of podcasts, everything from This American Life to WTF to The B.S. Report to The Caucus, to you name it.   And while there are several book-related podcasts out there, and many good ones, I found myself wanting to hear a show that was a bit looser, a bit more irreverent—one that really focused on writers as people:  who they are, where they come from, why they do what they do.  And so on.  Ultimately I decided to try it on my own.  

And then the other aspect of it has to do with the Internet, the two-dimensionality of the Internet.  Obviously the web has enabled a greater degree of community and connectivity among writers than ever before—and much of this is terrific.  But after a while, the Internet can start to feel a bit flat to me.  Social media in particular.  There's a lot of linking and liking and posturing that goes on.  I find myself wondering who people actually are, and what they're actually like when they're not trying to say something witty and charming in 140 characters or less.  I wanted to hear some actual voices and have some actual conversations with some actual people.

2. What is the podcast's purpose?

Well, for starters I want it to be entertaining.  And hopefully a little bit funny and enlightening.  The idea is to help perpetuate book culture and foster community among readers and writers.  Spread the word about good books.  And I'd like for it to be a place for aspiring writers to learn and get a little bit of inspiration here and there.  That sort of thing.  

3. When interviewing an author, how do you know to change from one topic to the next? The podcasts come off as being very conversational, which is the best thing an interview can be. Is this intentional or natural? How do you research?

I don't do much research, which is probably the secret.  Maybe, like, fifteen minutes before an interview, I'll go online and read up on the person or something.  And then I just wing it.  It's improv.  Two people talking.  For me, the key to the whole thing is listening.  If I'm listening well, if I'm really alert in that way, then the interview tends to go well.  If not, then the opposite is true.  

4. What do you see in the future for Other People?

Oh, man.  Right now my vision of the future is pretty limited.  The goal is to try to get better at this and to make sure that I'm paying attention to the little details.  So far listeners have been really kind, which has been wonderful.  But it's also a little nerve-wracking.  Now that a few people are actually listening to the thing, it ups the ante a bit.  I don't want to let them down.

5. And now, the killer- in this very moment, I'd like you to pick. The Nervous Breakdown, or Other People? How are they connected?

No way!  I can't pick.  To me they're one and the same.  Part of the same organism.  At their core, they have an identical function:  to showcase good writers and good books, and to foster community, and so on.  And they were born in exactly the same manner, which is to say pretty much by accident.  The Nervous Breakdown originated as a result of the work I was doing as an author, stumbling around, trying to get the word out about my novel by blogging and so on.  And Other People was born as a result of the work I've been doing at TNB, working with this big community of authors, talking to them regularly, hearing their stories. To me it feels like all of this stuff is of a piece.  It's a reflection of the times we live in and the state of publishing, and the arts in general, in the digital era.  We're living in an age of experimentation, and I'm a sucker for a good experiment.