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Good news! My poems ‘Stocking’ and ‘Clair de Lune’ have been published in B O D Y. It is a great magazine and you should read it.

The good people at STV interviewed me about the Culture Laser, about living in Edinburgh and our friends at the Forest Cafe. It also mentions the Live edition of the Culture Laser happening this Friday 24 October at the Dundee Literary Festival, at which it would be a delight to see you.

00:00 – 00:45 Introduction
00:45 – 11:05 Patrick Ness
11:05 – 20:28 Mikey Cuddihy
20:28 – 32:50 John Gordon Sinclair

In this edition of Book Talk. Host Ryan Van Winkle talks to Patrick Ness, Mikey Cuddihy and John Gordon Sinclair about spite, happiness and motivations for writing.

Two-time winner of the Carnegie Award, Patrick Ness is the author of a number of books for adults and young adults including A Monster Calls, The Crane Wife and More Than This, the novel under discussion in the previous episode of Book Talk. In this interview, Ness offers his own insight into some of the topics we discussed and also talks more about his writing process including how he decides whether a book is aimed at adults or teenagers, how to get started as a writer even when people tell you you can’t do it: “Do it anyway… Spite is a really good place to write from. It’s a really good motivator.”

Mikey Cuddihy discusses her memoir A Conversation About Happiness. In the book, Cuddihy takes the reader back into her childhood, which was spent at Summerhill School, where children are allowed to live freely and lessons are optional. Cuddihy talks about how she was able to go back into the voice of her 9 year old self, and whether she was truly happy in an environment where the happiness of children was considered paramount.

Finally, Ryan talks to John Gordon Sinclair. Sinclair may be most famous as an actor – in particular for his role in Gregory’s Girl – but his second novel Blood Whispers has just been published. The book features Keira Lynch, a Glasgow lawyer representing a prostitute on the run from a Serbian gang leader. John discusses both his writing and acting careers and how they overlap and why he wanted to bring emotion into crime writing.

We talk with the critically acclaimed American poet August Kleinzahler on this week’s episode. In a robust interview, he reads some poems from his latest collection The Hotel Oneira as well as discussing his views on poetry as an art form and the modern poetry world. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser

Good news for people who like their poems free and on the internet: I’ve updated the Poems section with a whole bunch of new work, including Epicene, The Duke in Pines and the very long Untitled (Snoopy).

Very excited to be collaborating with the poet and novelist Ghazal Mosadeq at 7pm, Saturday October 25 in the Rich Mix Centre, part of the We Are Enemies project’s Camaradefest II. The show starts at noon, and runs throughout the day til the last group at 9pm. You can download some of her work at that link! Or come see us and a full 98 other performers at one of the most exciting poetry events going.

PLUS: I’ll also be reading at zimZalla on Monday 27, also part of We Are Enemies’ ever-growing umbrella of excellent work. Hope to see you there!

Very excited to be reading at zimZalla during the London trip. If you’re around the Hardy Tree Gallery near Kings Cross at 7.30pm on Monday 27 October, you’ll know what to do. It’s in association with our friend SJ Fowler’s Enemies project.

October Monday 27th. 7.30pm: ZimZalla in performance, readings from the TRYIE Collective (Zuzana Husarova, Olga Pekova +), Tom Jenks, Pascal O’Loughlin, Kim Campanello, Ryan Van Winkle, Christodoulos Makris & more.

Fringe First winners Chris Thorpe @piglungs and Hannah Jane Walker @hanwalker talk to Ryan Van Winkle about their moving exploration of the effect of 24/7 connectivity on our lives and gradual erosion of our ability to be alone. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser www.culturelaser.com. With thanks to Creative Scotland for their financial support.

We talk to Laura Dannequin about Hardy Animal, her exploration of pain and dance which she performed at this year’s Forest Fringe. Find out more about Laura on her website: www.lauradannequin.co.uk/ Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser www.culturelaser.com

Good news everyone! The Culture Laser podcast will be broadcasting LIVE from the Dundee Literary Festival on Friday 24 October, 8.30-10pm. We’ll have the winner of the Dundee International Book Prize (whoever that might end up being!), travel writer and editor Hannah Engelkamp, and music from the Jack of Diamonds. Tickets are free, hope to see you there!

Weekly podcast series, The Multi-Coloured Culture Laser, enters the festival fray for a night of performance, discussion, drinking, and hilarious October action. Host Ryan Van Winkle, poet and cultural behemoth from the United States of America via Auld Reekie, welcomes a selection of guests to take to the sofa with him for some beautiful bookish chat. A podcast experience for your ears and your hearts – done live and before your very eyes.

What: Culture Laser LIVE at the Dundee Literary Festival

Where: Bonar Hall, Dundee

When: Friday 24 October, 8.30-10pm

How Much: FREE but book your tickets!