The Small Picture Podcasts

Today's guest blog post for Chicago based author, Susan Blumberg-Kason, this time looking at the upcoming Lunar New Year here in China.

Check it out at:

http://www.susanbkason.com/2012/01/16/letter-from-tianjin-chinese-new-year-2012/

And don't forget to tell her I sent you!

Today's guest post for Chicago Based author Susan Blumberg-Kason's blog.

This piece looks at how coffee is becoming an aspirational item in China, and how huge coffee franchises are pandering to that dream. Check it out at:

http://www.susanbkason.com/2012/01/07/a-cafe-cultural-revolution/

And remember to let her know I sent you!

Today's guest blog for Chicago based author, Susan Blumberg-Kason's site.

This piece looks at how tea drinking has changed in China over the last five years, and the new trends emerging in the market today.

Check it out at:

http://www.susanbkason.com/2012/01/01/all-the-tea-in-china/

And don't forget to tell her I sent you.

A timely piece for Chicago based author Susan Blumberg-Kason's blog, about the strange way that Christmas is being embraced in China.

Go and take a look at it at:

http://www.susanbkason.com/2011/12/25/chinese-christmas/

and remember to tell her I sent you!

A new piece today for the blog of Chicago based author Susan Blumberg-Kason, dealing with fine dining on Christmas Eve in Tianjin:

http://www.susanbkason.com/2011/12/24/ruffled-on-christmas-eve/

Swing by and take a look - and tell her I sent you!

A new guest blog for Chicago based author Susan Blumberg-Kason's blog, this time on the perils of food substitution scams in China.

Donkey meat soaked in tiger urine, anyone?

Check it out at:

http://www.susanbkason.com/2011/12/22/fake-food/

And don't forget to let her know I sent you!

Another guest piece today that I wrote for Chicago based author Susan Blumberg-Kason's blog.

It's all about trying to live an ordinary life in an extraordinary way in China!

Swing by:

http://www.susanbkason.com/2011/12/14/5-ways-to-live-like-a-superhero-in-china/

and take a look.

Remember to tell her I sent you!

So many movies...

But which ones are worth watching? With Marc Fennell′s That Movie Book in your hand, you will never again be at a loss for what to pick up in the DVD store.

Movie critic and mischief-maker Marc Fennell (ABC Local Radio, triple j, Hungry Beast, The Circle) has cunningly programmed and reviewed more than 260 movies to fill every weekend of the year. Each weekend has a theme - a genre, filmmaker, actor or trend. Think:

Movies based on true stories (that aren′t really true)

A weekend with Walt Disney′s most racist characters

The many disturbing faces of Santa Claus

You start with an easy introductory movie on Friday night, go a little further on Saturday and then things become downright freaky on Sunday afternoon. Whether you′re bored, infirm or under house arrest, your level of commitment is catered to.

Expect movies from the past as well as the present, from Hollywood to art house, from kids to adult.

It′s a veritable film festival from your couch.

Marc Fennell is a film critic, broadcaster and twitter addict (twitter.com/marcfennell) who likes to pull high-brow culture down off its high horse and give it a solid spanking. He is the disembodied voice of film culture on triple j and ABC Local Radio. On television, Marc is the weekly movie reviewer for Network Ten’s morning chat show The Circle and a regular guest on Showtime and Sky News. Marc was also a presenter on ABC1’s Hungry Beast, where he explored the world of media, culture, technology and Jedis. He has a massive on-line following.

It was great talking to Marc about movies, and how hard it is to actually knuckle down and pick one out.

In this interview we look at everything from why "Song Of The South" won't be hitting the DVD shops in the US any time soon (or ever...), why Weyland-Yutani isn't going to win Employer Of The Year, and why Miyazaki isn't "The Disney Of The East". We also explored why some films just keep on giving (Donnie Darko), and why some film critics need to stop and think about audiences!

I really enjoyed talking to Marc, and I hope you enjoy this interview!

In Campaign Ruby, Ruby managed to get:

1. drunk
2. the leader of the Opposition elected
3. Luke

Now that the balloons from the election night party have sagged, as well as the electorate’s enthusiasm for the new PM, Ruby is battling political and personal spot fires. She has a whole new To Do list scrunched up at the bottom of her Prada handbag.

1. Screw things up with Luke
2. Turn 30
3. Deal with hormonal pregnant lesbian aunt
4. And an imploding goverment
5. Avoid killing peppy intern
6. Attend party after waxing accident
7. Cosy up to Pretty Boy
7a. Complicate things with Luke
8. Save the government from itself
9. Figure out who the hell she is
10. And who she wants.

Jessica Rudd has had three career changes in as many years —law, PR, politics — but is now going steady with her life as a writer. She hopes Ruby Blues, sequel to Campaign Ruby, will give her readers as many laughs as she had writing it.

Jessica is based in Beijing, and it is always a delight to talk to her!

This interview looks at how the character of Ruby came to be, life in Beijing - both good and bad - and that Jessica is expecting a baby in May.

It was great fun catching up with Jessica, and I hope you enjoy this interview!

Another guest blog piece for Chicago based author Susan Blumberg-Kason's site, this time about the perils of shopping whilst under the influence of being foreign.

If you feel like peeking under the covers of what makes the Chinese economy tick, swing by:

http://www.susanbkason.com/2011/12/06/guest-blog-to-grow-rich-is-glorious/

and be sure to let her know I sent you!

Here's a guest blog I wrote for Chicago based author, Susan Blumberg-Kason.

http://www.susanbkason.com/2011/12/02/in-search-of-the-ideal-tianjin-kitchen/

It's about the different kitchens I've had over the years in China, and gives a kind of overview of the problems that each had.

Go and have a look at it, you could probably do with a chuckle.

Christmas comes but once a year, and it′s just as well for Santa′s reindeer, who have to fight with Mothball for the carrots left out for them by the local children. And when Mothball takes an unexpected sleigh ride, it′s not just Santa who faces the prospect of getting stuck in the chimney.

Christmas from a wombat′s eye view is always going to be interesting - especially when that wombat is Mothball.

This is a beautifully crafted book, with marvelous illustrations by Bruce Whatley - a pleasure to read.

Jackie French is a full-time writer who lives near Braidwood in the Araluen Valley, NSW. In 2000, Hitler’s Daughter was awarded the CBC Younger Readers’ Award. To the Moon and Back won the Eve Pownall Award in 2005. Macbeth and Son, and Josephine Wants to Dance were both shortlisted for the 2007 CBC Awards.

She is also the most wonderful person to talk to!

This interview covers everything from willfull wombats to the process of writing a book - it takes nearly three years for each Wombat book to be produced!

Jackie is a fantastic author for kids and adults alike, and I really enjoy each chance I get to talk with her.

Mothball, her fellow wombats and Jackie's farm (and the surrounding valley) are under threat from the development of a gold mine in the area, which will lower the water table to such an extent that the bush and local farms will be killed off.

If you can help, know someone who can, or just want to donate your time or money to saving Mothball, please go to Jackie's website:

http://www.jackiefrench.com.au/

What do we think we desire? What do we truly desire? These are the two competing forces underlying Xu Xi's latest fiction collection Access. These thirteen tales are at once acerbic and heartbreaking, directing our gaze at the incongruities of human relations and the persistence of wounds our hearts cannot heal. Those in the multi culti world of these fictions seek answers to questions they have yet to learn to ask. But every so often they glimpse an entry point, and these sightings offer reason to hope, even if access will again be denied, as it inevitably is, for those whose desires strain towards perfection in our highly imperfect world.

"This is a collection of tales with hints of Chaucer, ranging from the world of privilege to office workers and massage girls; from heavily ironic vignettes on the corporate world to edgy stories of broken lives and selfish times. What is remarkable is that there is no irritable reaching after pathos, just sharp interior monologues combined with translucent prose like thin ice, cutting in and out of frame through private feelings and public narratives. Xu Xi is a rare writer whose perspectives can shift effortlessly between personal pronouns, gender and impersonal sex. The access code to this grammar is to glean the shadow of loss lying between language and the loneliness of existence."

- Brian Castro, author of The Bath Fugues, The Garden Book, and Shanghai Dancing

"Xu Xi has a sharp ear. The dominant voices in her latest collection of short stories belong to the bold and elegant Chinese women, the high achievers, losers, dreamers, and dancers with families and lovers, who are separated by continents and cultures. Their stories, unsentimentally told, are a stimulating read."

- Suchen Christine Lim, author of A Bit of Earth, Fistful of Colours, and Rice Bowl

This interview ranges far and wide across how Access came together, short stories Vs novels, how writers are taught to read like a writer, the joys of teaching and even the comparitive values of paper publications and electronic formats.

It's been a delight catching up with Xu Xi again, she's fantastic to talk to.

I truly hope you enjoy listening to this!

You can find out more about Xu Xi at her website:

http://www.xuxiwriter.com/

Chronic pain has been described as a silent epidemic. More than one in ten people - over ten per cent of the population - suffer from persisting pain.

Over the last month, how often have you:

1. taken pain killers so you could do something you know would stir up your pain?

2. completed a task, regardless of pain, then ′paid′ for it later with more pain?

3. found that pain is interfering with your sleep, work, sport and social activities?

4. had one or more long rest periods during the day because of your pain?

5. felt you cannot go on as your pain gets worse

6. worried that your doctors have ′missed something′?

7. been told to ′live with the pain′ but not shown how to do it?

If you answered ′yes′ to any of these questions, then Manage Your Pain will help to improve your life.

All too frequently, chronic pain cannot be successfully treated -- and drugs are not always the answer. But the combination of approaches provided by Manage Your Pain can help you learn to minimise the impact of pain, and put persisting pain where it belongs -- in the background of your life.

Dr Michael Nicholas is a Clinical Psychologist who specialises in pain management, and has done so for the last thirty years. In this very interesting interview, we looked at what pain is, how it comes to be chronic, and some of the ideas behind managing and preventing pain.

We also looked at the problems of an aging population, and the way that pain management skills could be taught as a preventative measure in the near future.

If you've ever had a twinge that just won't go away, then this is a good place to start.

Power through service, says Head Chef. It’s one of the first lessons taught at Cook School, where troubled youths learn to be master chefs by bowing to decadence and whim, by offering up a part of themselves on every plate.

It’s a motto Zac takes to heart. A teenage boy with a difficult past, he throws himself into the world and work of haute cuisine. He has dreams of a future, of escaping the dead-end, no-hope lot of his fellow cooks. He wants to be the greatest chef the world has seen. He thinks he’s taken his first steps when he becomes House Cook for a wealthy family. Never mind that the family may seem less than appreciative. Or refined. Or deserving. Power through service.

But as the facade crumbles and his promised future looks unlikely to eventuate, Zac the Cook is forced to reassess everything. Sweet turns sour and ends in bitter revenge.

Blackly funny and deliciously satirical, The Cook feeds our hunger to know what goes on in the kitchen, while skewering our culture of food worship.

Wayne Macauley is a Melbourne writer. He has published two novels, Blueprints for a Barbed-Wire Canoe (2004) and Caravan Story (2007). His short-fiction collection, Other Stories, was released in 2010.

I really enjoyed this book, and speaking to Wayne about its creation. He's captured that whole cooking craze that seems to have gripped the world, and nailed the ideas behind it.

This interview ranges far and wide over how the book came into being, the difficulties of different writing genres, and how some of the research was done into it.

Wayne's books are great reads, and this interview is definitely well worth a couple of listens!

You can find out more about Wayne at his website: waynemacauley.com

From the songs of Arab diva Umm Khultum on the banks of the Tigris to the strains of a young boy playing the violin for his mother in Melbourne, to the swing jazz of the nightclubs and cabarets of 1940s Baghdad, a fisherman playing a flute on the banks of the Mekong, and Paganini in the borderlands of eastern Poland…

Music weaves its way through each of these spellbinding stories. Each tale, each fragment of music, leads to Amal, the woman who saved her life by clinging to a corpse for twenty hours alone in the sea.

Arnold Zable takes the reader on an intimate journey into the lives of people he met on travels over the last forty years. These are tales aching to be told. Tales of hardship, of yearning and of celebration. Tales that span the globe, and bring us back to Melbourne to the powerful and heartbreaking story of Amal—her flight from Baghdad, her fears boarding the unseaworthy SIEV X, her survival when it went down, and her desire to have her story told.

Arnold Zable was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and grew up in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton. He has travelled and lived in the USA, India, Papua New Guinea, Europe, Southeast Asia and China, and now lives in Melbourne with his wife and son. His books include Jewels and Ashes, Café Scheherazade, The Fig Tree, Scraps of Heaven and Sea of Many Returns. Arnold is president of the International PEN, Melbourne, and is a human rights advocate.

It was just incredible talking to Arnold, he just has the most wonderful stories to tell... I hope he tells more of them soon!

This interview looks at the way in which "Violin Lessons" came into being, how writers hone their craft, and the importance of story telling today.

You can find out more about Arnold at his website:

http://www.arnoldzable.com

It’s 1952 and the Scott family has moved unexpectedly from Los Angeles to London. Janie feels uncomfortable in her strange new school, until the local apothecary promises her a remedy for homesickness. But the real cure is meeting the apothecary’s son Benjamin, a curiously defiant boy who dreams of becoming a spy.

Benjamin’s father is no ordinary apothecary, and when he’s kidnapped, Benjamin and Janie find themselves entrusted with his sacred book, the Pharmacopoeia. And it seems that Russian spies are intent on getting their hands on it.

What secrets does the book contain? Who is the Chinese chemist Jin Lo? And can they trust a skinny pickpocket called Pip to help them?

Discovering transformative elixirs they never imagined could exist, Janie and Benjamin embark on a dangerous quest to save the apothecary and prevent an impending nuclear disaster. The Apothecary sparkles with life and possibility. This is a story that will delight kids and return not-so-young readers to the magic of childhood.

Maile Meloy is the award-winning author of the short story collections Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It and Half in Love and the novels Liars and Saints and A Family Daughter. The Apothecary is her first novel for young readers.

It was wonderful to talk to Maile, and we chatted about not only her new book, but also her book of short stories, "Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It". This interview ranges over lots of topics, such as working as working in Disney's sequel department, the importance of having time to write, and how graduate programmes are really helping new writers to emerge.

You can find out more about Maile at her website:

http://www.mailemeloy.com

Burma, 1930.

At their final marriage lesson, when the priest had talked on and on, Desmond bent his head to hers and whispered, ‘Our world is newer, faster and better—you will see.’ She took his hand in hers then and squeezed it. His skin had a peppery, meaty sweetness, a smell that seemed to stick to her dress, her hair and skin. She named it ‘the scent of men’. Beside her, he snored gently in his sleep, his face no more than an outline, rising and falling in the dim light. She decided that she liked the sound.

Winsome is just married and filled with anticipation. Her new husband is a stranger—one of the suitors chosen for her and the other mixed-race girls from the men who apply to the orphanage. But as the night train rattles towards her new home she sees possibility in this uncertain destiny. She knows she is headed for a new life in the metropolis.

She does not know about Rangoon, this city cradled in the arms of rivers. That it is about to be torn apart in the struggle between its ancient owners and new masters. That it will seduce her, possess her senses and change utterly her notion of what kind of woman she can be. When she meets Jonathan—when the monsoon comes—she begins to find out.

Michelle Aung Thin was born in Rangoon the same year as the coup d’état (1962) and brought up in Canada; she now lives in Melbourne. The Monsoon Bride, her first novel, was shortlisted for the Unpublished Manuscript Fellowship of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2010 and is the product of her PHD in creative writing under the mentorship of Brian Castro.

It ws great to talk to Michelle, and the interview ranges over the creative process, how the novel was researched, the influence of Burma on her work, and what she does for fun!

You can find out more about Michell and her work at:

facebook.com/michelle.aungthin

Wil is a stand up first and foremost, touring Australia and the world at every opportunity, performing more than a hundred shows a year. His stand up is a densely written, high-speed ride though one of the most wonderful comedic imaginations in the country. Politics, pop and the banal come together in a Wil Anderson routine, always delivered with more conviction and enthusiasm than any man’s vocal chords can take.

Previously host of ABC-TVs AFI Award winning program, The Glass House, Wil returns to TV once again in 2011, with the third season of the ABC runaway hit, The Gruen Transfer. The show proved to be such a success in its initial year that the series was released straight onto DVD.

In amongst the TV hosting, and constant touring, Wil writes a highly popular regular column for Australia’s most highly read magazine, The Sunday Magazine, His first book, ‘Survival Of The Dumbest’ was released by Random House.

Wil has also appeared regularly on Chelsea Lately, and recently toured America.

In this interview, we look at how much hard work goes into making comedy appear effortless, how The Gruen Transfer came to be, and why stand up comedy is the best job in the world.

It also touches on some of the problems in taking an Australian act overseas, and how jokes can be refined.

Will is an amazingly funny bloke, and it's an absolute pleasure to talk with him - I hope you enjoy this interview.

For more information about Wil, his tour and his podcast, "Thirty Odd Foot Of Pod", head to:

http://www.wilanderson.com.au

Two brothers - one black, one white - and a colony at the end of the world

It′s 1789, and as the new colony in Sydney Cove is established, Surgeon John White defies convention and adopts Nanberry, an Aboriginal boy, to raise as his son. Nanberry is clever and uses his unique gifts as an interpreter to bridge the two worlds he lives in. With his white brother, Andrew, he witnesses the struggles of the colonists to keep their precarious grip on a hostile wilderness. And yet he is haunted by the memories of the Cadigal warriors who will one day come to claim him as one of their own.

This true story follows the brothers as they make their way in the world - one as a sailor, serving in the Royal Navy, the other a hero of the Battle of Waterloo.

No less incredible is the enduring love between the gentleman surgeon and the convict girl who was saved from the death penalty and became a great lady in her own right.

Jackie and her husband Bryan live in the Araluen valley, a deep valley on the edge of the Deua wilderness area, in a stone house they built themselves , with a home made waterwheel as well as solar panels to power their house (and computers). Their garden rambles over about 4 hectares, with roses dripping from the trees, 800 fruit trees, and about 270 different kinds of fruit (not counting 125 varieties of apple) , so there is never a time when there aren't basketsfull of fruit to pick. Jackie also describes herself as a 'wombat negotiator' and has spent three decades studying the wombats in her valley.

She is also the 2011 Australian Literacy Ambassador - and very, very busy.

It is always an absolute delight to speak to Jackie about her work, and the passion she puts into it. An absolutely amazing lady, I think she's one of Australia's Living Literary Treasures.

And there's also a sneak peek at what her upcoming Wombat book will contain!

You can find out more about Jackie (and Mothball the wombat) at her websites:

http://www.jackiefrench.com and http://www.jackiefrench.com.au

Rod Quantock is one of the reasons that Melbourne is the live comedy capital of Australia. As a pioneer of stand up comedy, Rod has more than thirty years experience working in cabaret, theatre, television, radio, advertising and the corporate sector. For an old boy, Rod is still doing extremely well, thank you very much. His live shows are predictably box office hits at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and the Adelaide Fringe Festival and he is an evergreen favourite at corporate events.

The truly remarkable thing about Rod is that for more than thirty years he has remained a contemporary stand up comedian, evolving and staying at the forefront of the craft. His contribution to Australian cultural life was rewarded when he received the Individual Award at the 2004 Sydney Myer Performing Arts Awards, putting him in the company of such arts luminaries as Geoffrey Rush, Robyn Nevin, Nick Enright, Lucy Guerin & Paul Grabowsky. That he continues to build new, younger audiences all the time is testament to possibly the most impressive career in Australian comedy.

His work on "Australia: You're Standing In It!" introduced me to a world of comedy that didn't rely on cheap visual gags, sexist chase scenes or easy inuendo to get a laugh. He made me sit up and think about how comedy could be used to make people look at an issue seriously - in fact, he made me sit up and think about a lot of things.

Rod's influenced not only me, but a whole generation of Australian stand up comedians and writers. His work on TV shows such as "Backberner" featured some truly wonderful satire, and he is still an incredibly funny man.

But he won't admit it.

This is Rod's first interview in about a year, and I really enjoyed it - huge thanks must got to Erin at Token Events for putting it together, and especially to Rod for agreeing to talk to me!

Justin Hamilton has carved out an incredibly successful career as a stand up comedian, writer and director while maintaining his unique voice within the Australian Comedy scene.

In 2010, Justin not only continued his live stand up career, but appeared in the Librarians as the recurring character Biscuit. A regular guest on television and radio has seen Justin expand his popularity and following. Whether it is as co-host of Triple M’s weekend breakfast team Toast alongside Charlie Pickering and Terri Psiakis which Justin did up until 2009, or regular movie reviewer for Perth’s number one rated Mix FM, he has brandished a unique voice in the radio landscape.

Not content with standing still, Justin has allowed his desire to push the boundaries take their full flight at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and beyond. In 2009 year he wrote and starred in “Goodbye Ruby Tuesday” a play that Aussie Theatre Review stated was “…intelligent and surprising storytelling” while the UK based site Chortle claimed it was a “…touching story as warm as it is witty, building delicately to a satisfyingly uplifting conclusion.”

2010 saw Justin return to what he does best with his stand up show “Idiot Man Child” touring all over Australia in the first half of the year. Justin has not only sold out numerous solo seasons at the Adelaide Fringe and the Melbourne Comedy Festival but also won awards and nominations to go along with them. He won the 2007 Melbourne Comedy Festival Director’s Award for his show “Three Colours Hammo”, a show that also won the Adelaide Advertiser’s best show award at the 2008 Adelaide Fringe. His 2008 stand up comedy show “The Killing Joke” was nominated for best show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival that year.

He has toured Australia as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow from 2002 to 2011,. And he has also supported Wil Anderson on his national tours from 2006-2010.

Justin's an incredibly funny guy (and writer... and podcaster!), and I loved doing this interview - it just took me back to a simpler time.

We also talked about Judith Lucy's new TV show, "Spiritual Journeys", and how Justin started out writing and performing.

You can find out more about Justin, his writing and his podcasts at:

http://justinhamilton.com.au/

and

http://canyoutakethisphoto.com/

A series of laugh-out-loud funny tales about Troy Harvey′s visits to various doctors for a variety of ailments.

From hypnotherapists to psychologists and GPs, men will relate, and women will enjoy getting a man′s perspective on health matters.

It′s a known fact that males don′t like going to the doctor′s. Whether it′s the discomfort of having a stranger ′get intimate′ with you, or just sitting in a waiting room that′s infested with germs - most men will go to extreme lengths to put off the inevitable.

That′s because when we are finally made to go - usually under pressure from someone just trying to stop us complaining - the little things we convince ourselves are nothing serious become blown out of proportion.

Indigestion becomes a heart attack.

Knee pain becomes MS.

A small itch becomes a flesh-eating virus.

The possibilities are endless - and in Troy Harvey′s case, hilarious ...

Troy Harvey has worked in the advertising industry as a copywriter for the last 12 years. He has previously worked in radio in a number of capacities: he was the midnight-til-dawn announcer on 2CH, then the panel operator and unofficial ‘small comments’ sidekick for Clive Robertson’s breakfast show on 2GB and Bob Roger’s morning show on 2CH. After this he moved to 2MMM where he was a Rock Patrol driver (aka Black Thunders) doing 4 live crosses a day on air. While at MMM he was also often sent as the station representative to open and host events.

It was great talking to Troy, as he's a funny and creative guy - which shines through in his book. We managed to wander as far afield as "The Gruen Transfer", which he's written a "The Pitch" ad for, and how he first took up writing.

I really enjoyed doing this interview, and I hope you enjoy listening to it!

Go the F**k to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don’t always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland.

Profane, affectionate, and radically honest, California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach’s verses perfectly capture the familiar—and unspoken—tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night. In the process, they open up a conversation about parenting, granting us permission to admit our frustrations, and laugh at their absurdity.

With illustrations by Ricardo Cortés, Go the F**k to Sleep is beautiful, subversive and pants-wettingly funny—a book for parents new, old and expectant. You probably should not read it to your children.

Adam Mansbach’s novels include The End of the Jews, winner of the California Book Award, and the best-selling Angry Black White Boy, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2005. His fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Believer, Granta, the Los Angeles Times and many other publications. He was the 2010–11 New Voices Professor of Fiction at Rutgers University, New Jersey. His daughter, Vivien, is three.

Adam is an amazing guy to talk to! This interview ranges over a wide area, covering hip hop, poetry, the importance of books and their influence, through to getting kids to sleep, graffiti and the very nature of writing itself.

This has to be one of my favourite interviews that I've done - to find out more about Adam, check out:

http://adammansbach.com

This is a story about a snow-covered island you won’t find on any map.

It’s Minou’s story. She’s twelve. A year ago, the morning after the circus, her mama walked out into the rain with a black umbrella and never came back.

It’s a story about a magician and a priest and a dog called No Name. It’s about Papa’s endless hunt for the truth.

It’s about a dead boy who listens, and Minou’s search for Mama’s voice. And it’s about discovering what love is.

The Vanishing Act, Mette Jakobsen’s spellbinding debut novel, is a story you will never forget.

Mette Jakobsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1964 but now lives in Newtown, Sydney. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and a BA in philosophy. In 2004 she graduated from NIDA’s Playwrights Studio and several of her plays have been broadcast on ABC national radio. The Vanishing Act is her first novel.

Mette was fantastic to talk to, and her book is just brilliant - I really enjoyed this interview, and I hope you will too!

"They say we fall in love. But really we fall in sickness. I lost appetite for food in those two nights with Tilda. My stomach was sunken in its wishbone cavity. Me, I was never sick, but I was sick now, the strangest sickness that made my eyes gleam green with excellent health. They had shiny white edges. My cheeks were glossed in a fresh oil of pink."

Colin dreams of escaping his parents’ New Zealand farm for a grand stage career. He makes it to London and a disastrous audition before meeting Tilda—beautiful Tilda, older, an artist—who brings his future with her.

A heady romance leads to a new home in a decaying former bank in a small town hours from Melbourne. They are building a life together—but there are cracks in the foundation.

This is a love story, told from passionate beginning to spectacular end. It is intimate and honest, blackly funny and emotionally devastating.

Craig Sherborne’s memoir Hoi Polloi was shortlisted for the Queensland and Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. The follow-up, Muck, won the Queensland Literary Award for Non-fiction. Sherborne has also written two volumes of poetry, and his journalism and poetry have appeared in most of Australia’s leading literary journals and anthologies.

I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Craig, and taking in his ideas about how important story telling is to our culture. This is a fascinating interview, encompassing so much about what it is to write, and the methods of writing - and what it is to live.

It's not often that I want to race outside and say, "Read this book. Listen to this interview. It will change the way you look at the way we write!", but this is the time for me to do so!

Nothing tastes sweeter than a second chance

The Tuscan town of Montevedova is famous for its rolling green hills, long lazy lunches and delectable cantucci biscuits. It even has its own patron saint. But Manhattan workaholic Lily Turner is not interested in any of that. She′s only there to find her cheating husband. What Lily doesn′t know, however, is that beneath the cobbled lanes of this charming hilltop village, an underground network of ancient widows is working tirelessly on finding her a happy ending - whether she wants it or not.

Suddenly everything she loved about her old life goes up in a puff of smoke - just like the cantucci the widows are getting too old to make. Then a mischievous six-year-old girl, full of the joys of baking, skips into Lily′s world - igniting the demons of her past ... and the promise of the future.

When journalist Sarah-Kate Lynch was told by a former editor that she was only employed to tell jokes in the canteen, she started looking for another career. Twenty years later (it was a really good canteen), she found one: writing novels. She also writes two columns in the New Zealand WOMAN'S WEEKLY, New Zealand's best-read magazine. One is about nothing and the other is about books.

Sarah-Kate usually lives in a cliff top house on the wild west coast of New Zealand but likes to escape whenever possible for "research" purposes to far-flung spots in pretty parts of the world where she enjoys the local cuisine and the odd glass of wine.

An absolutely wonderful interview, with such a magic lady - I haven't enjoyed myself this much in ages! Her books are alive with the smells of wonderful food, and they just make me drool... picking one up doesn't help my waistline at all.

You can find out more about Sarah-Kate (and her great recipe for cantucci)at:

http://www.sarah-katelynch.com/

Christine wakes in a strange bed beside a man she does not recognise. In the bathroom she finds a photograph of him taped to the mirror, and beneath it the words ‘Your husband’.

Each day, Christine wakes knowing nothing of her life. Each night, her mind erases the day. But before she goes to sleep, she will recover fragments from her past, flashbacks to the accident that damaged her, and then—mercifully—she will forget.

Chilling, exquisitely crafted and compulsively readable, S. J. Watson’s debut novel Before I Go to Sleep is a psychological thriller of the highest order. It asks primary questions. Are there things best not remembered? Who are we if we do not know our own history? How do we love without memory?

S. J. Watson was born in the Midlands, lives in London and worked in the UK National Health Service for a number of years. In 2008 Watson was accepted into the first Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ Course, a program that covers all aspects of the novel-writing process. Before I Go to Sleep is the result.

Now sold in over 30 languages around the world, Before I Go to Sleep has also been acquired for film by Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free, with Rowan Joffe to direct. Filming is scheduled to begin later this year.

S.J. (Steve) was great to talk to, even though somewhere along the way, the phone cut out... twice. Despite that, we covered everything from where the novel began, through learning to write creatively, and onto his upcoming work.

A lovely bloke, and well worth the listen - and make sure you read his book before it gets turned into a film!

You can find out more at:

http://www.sjwatson-books.com/

A veil of melancholy has fallen over Jacob Marlowe. He’s the last of his kind. Hunted by his enemies and haunted by his past, he is worn out by centuries of decadence and debauchery, and by the demands of his lunatic appetites. He decides to submit to the authorities at the next full moon.

However, as Jacob counts down to suicide, a violent murder and an extraordinary meeting plunge him straight back into the desperate pursuit of life.

Gory and sexy, The Last Werewolf is a thrilling take on our relationship with the wild side, what it means to be alone and the transformative possibilities of love.

Glen Duncan is a highly regarded literary novelist and readers will find that The Last Werewolf—erudite, playful, ironic, intelligently frightening and frighteningly intelligent—is to the bulk of werewolf literature as Moby Dick is to Anglers’ Weekly.

He was born in 1965 and studied philosophy and literature at Lancaster University. His first novel, Hope, was published in 1997 and has been followed by six further novels. l, Lucifer (2002) was shortlisted for the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Glen was named by the Times Literary Supplement as one of Britain’s twenty best young novelists. He lives in London - and is a wonderful bloke to talk to.

I thoroughly enjoyed this interview, Glen made me not only think (something I'm not doing a lot of lately), but he made me laugh. This is one of those rare opportunities to speak to someone who is not only good at his craft, but enjoys doing it - and I'd recommend having a couple of listens to this!

You can watch the book trailer or check out the spinning moon at www.thelastwerewolf.org, a site dedicated to finding Jake Marlowe.

What if the man you loved betrayed your brother?

Two thousand years ago, while a young Jewish preacher from Nazareth was gathering followers among the people of Galilee, his sister swept floors and dreamed of learning to read.

In Leslie Cannold’s story, it is the women of Nazareth who take centre stage.

The rebellious, gifted Rachael, consigned by her sex to a life of drudgery.

Bindy, the crone who teaches her the skills of the healer.

Shona her sister, the victim of a harsh social code, and their mother Miriame, a woman seemingly unable to love.

When Rachael falls in love with her brother’s dearest friend, the rebel Judah of Iscariot, it seems that at least one of the women of Nazareth may find happiness. Then a message comes from her brother in Jerusalem. And the events begin to unfold that will change not just Rachael’s life, but the world—forever.

Dr Leslie Cannold is a an author, commentator, ethicist, researcher and social activist. Her non-fiction works include the award-winning The Abortion Myth and What, No Baby? She is a regular guest on Radio 702 ABC Sydney and Radio 4BC in Brisbane. Her Moral Maze column appears fortnightly in the Sun-Herald and she is the resident ethicist on Channel 10’s 7pm Project. In 2005, Leslie was listed alongside Professor Peter Singer, Professor Gustav Nossal and Inga Clendinnen as one of Australia’s top 20 public intellectuals.

In 2011 Leslie has been named the Australian Humanist of the Year by The Council of Australian Humanist Societies. This award has been bestowed on Leslie in recognition of her valuable contribution to public debates on a wide range of ethical issues, particularly to do with women and family life.

Leslie is an adjunct Fellow at the School of Philosophy, Anthropology & Social Inquiry at the University of Melbourne and senior lecturer at the Monash Institute of Health Services Research. She is President of Reproductive Choice Australia, a national coalition of pro-choice organisations that played a key role in removing the ban on the abortion drug RU486 in 2006 and of Pro Choice Victoria, which was instrumental in the decriminalisation of abortion in Victoria in 2008. She is also a Dying with Dignity ambassador for law reform.

Leslie is the lead singer of the Melbourne-based rock cover band Speedy Fish.

It's not every day I sit down and enjoy doing an interview as much as I did this one - Leslie made me laugh, but her book really made me think...

And I hope that this interview makes you do the same.

She was just absolutely fabulous to talk to, and I hope to catch up with her again some day!

You can find out more about Leslie, her work and her books at

http://cannold.com/

Of reluctant fixed abode, Xu has long inhabited the flight path connecting New York, Hong Kong and the South Island of New Zealand. Since her return to Hong Kong last year, she regularly haunts the district of Tsimshatsui, trying to locate her childhood footsteps around these familiar streets she still loves. On most days, she finds herself on the MTR path connecting Festival Walk to the Avenue of the Stars.

Xu Xi is the author of eight books of fiction & essays, and editor of three anthologies of Hong Kong literature in English. A Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong, the city was home until her mid-twenties, after which she led a peripatetic existence around Europe, America and Asia. She was inhabiting the flight path connecting New York, Hong Kong and New Zealand, but is now more or less squatting atop a Hong Kong rooftop again for a spell, with dental benefits, amazingly, since a foolish consistency is not her idea of how to conduct a life.

The New York Times once named her (on Christmas Day, no less) a "pioneer writer from Asia in English" and the Voice Of America featured her on their Chinese TV documentary series "Cultural Odyssey" (who knew that a voice was also a moving image?). Singapore’s Business Times dubs her passion "Asia as it is today – gritty, modern and confused" (because even business readers read fiction, presumably). According to some other reviewers, her work explains "the paradox that is Hong Kong" that avoids "the sex and drug and triad stereotypes . . . portraying the city more accurately and realistically for it." Her "new and innovative diasporic global language" is "uncluttered" and "arrestingly poignant." She is "an alchemist of observation" whose sensibility is "generous and compassionate."

There are a few awards, including an O. Henry prize story, the shortlist for the inaugural MAN Asian Literary Award, the Cohen Award from PLOUGHSHARES for best story, a NYFA fiction fellowship, the South China Morning Post story contest winner, among others. She has also been writer-in-residence at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, Chateau de Lavigny in Switzerland, Kulturhuset USF in Norway, the Jack Kerouac Project of Orlando and the Anderson Center in Minnesota. SUNY Plattsburgh, where she earned her BA, accorded her their distinguished alumni award in 2004. In 2009, she was the Bedell Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Iowa's nonfiction program.

Her MFA (fiction) is from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

For eighteen years, the author had a parallel career in international marketing and management with various multinationals. In 1998, she finally surrendered completely to the writing life.

In 2009, she was elected faculty chair at Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing, the first woman, ethnic minority and foreign-born U.S. national to hold the position. In March, 2010, she became the first Writer-In-Residence at the English Department of The City University of Hong Kong, overseeing a new, international, low-residency MFA program that specializes in Asian Writing in English.

Sometimes, if a thing has never existed before, except in the imagination of pioneers and other dreamers, SOMEONE might as well bring it to life in this wired, wacky, weird & wonderous world that is home for now.

I had the very great fortune to meet Xu Xi at The Bookworm in Beijing, where she was taking part in a discussion with Brian Castro, and this interview stems from that chance encounter.

An amazing lady to talk to, I really enjoyed doing this interview, and having the chance to chat about "Habit Of A Foreign Sky", and her just completed new novel - as well as a range of other things.

To find out more about Xu Xi, check out:

http://www.xuxiwriter.com

Shirley Shackleton grew up in Adelaide, South Australia, and has worked variously as a dressmaker, nurse and publicity director. She married journalist Greg Shackleton in 1966. When Greg was killed in East Timor in 1975, Shirley was launched into an unexpected life as an activist, to uncover the truth behind the death of the ‘Balibo Five’ and to fight for the independence of East Timor. Today she lives in Melbourne and continues to advocate for democracy and freedom in East Timor and for the repatriation of Greg’s remains.

Her book, "Circle Of Silence" won a Walkley Award, and she is the nicest, most passionate person I've spoken to. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did!

Shirley is in China as a guest of Australian Writers' Week, and you can find out more information about AWW at:

http://www.imagineaustralia.net

Brian Castro was born in Hong Kong in 1950 of Portuguese, Chinese and English parentage. He is the author of nine novels, including the multi award-winning Double-Wolf and Shanghai Dancing. His novels have been translated into French, German and Chinese. He has also published a volume of essays. His latest novel is The Bath Fugues (Giramondo), which was shortlisted for four prizes, including the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Brian holds the Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide.

This interview was recorded at The Bookworm, in Beijing, which accounts for the music in the background - however, both Brian and I are perfectly audible!

Brian is a lovely, warm, wonderful man, and his books are just amazing. It was a great pleasure to talk to him about his books, and his work at Adelaide Uni.

If you get the chance to hear Brian talk, take it - and try and read his "Bath Fugues"!

For more information about Australian Writers' Week in China, check out:

http://www.imagineaustralia.net

Mabel Lee is Adjunct Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney and co-founder of Wild Peony, a publishing enterprise aimed at fostering a better understanding of Asian cultures in the English-speaking world.

As a literary translator, she won international recognition for Gao Xingjian’s Nobel Prize-winning novel Soul Mountain, chosen as one of the 50 outstanding translations of the last half-century by the UK Translation Association of the Society of Authors in 2008.

She has worked on the editorial teams of several Australian literary journals, and serves on editorial boards including University of Sydney’s Southerly and Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Renditions: A Chinese-English Translation Magazine

A wonderful lady to talk to, Mabel's translations and publications are an excellent read for anyone even remotely interested in Asian arts and culture.

You can find out more about her at:

http://www.wildpeonybooks.com.au

And the Australian Writers' Week Festival at:

http://www.imagineaustralia.net

Julia Leigh’s first novel, The Hunter – described as ‘in the best tradition of Tasmanian gothic’ – was internationally shortlisted for many prizes and won a Betty Trask Award (UK), the Prix de L’Astrolabe Etonnants Voyageurs (France), and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her novella Disquiet won the Encore Award (UK), was a France Culture/Télérama rentrée selection (France), and was an LA Times Favourite Book and Kirkus Best Book of the year (US). Both books are published in Chinese by Shanghai99 Reader. Julia lives in Sydney.

Julia's very keen to come to China, and this interview touched on everything from wildlife conservation to her up coming film, through what actually is "Gothic" and all points in between.

To find out more about Australian Writers' Week in China check out:

http://www.imagineaustralia.net

Christos Tsiolkas is the author of four novels: Loaded, which was made into the feature film Head-On, The Jesus Man and Dead Europe, which won the 2006 Age Fiction Prize and the 2006 Melbourne Best Writing Award. He won Overall Best Book in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2009, was shortlisted for the 2009 Miles Franklin Literary Award and won the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal for his latest novel, The Slap. He is also a playwright, essayist and screen writer. He lives in Melbourne.

Christos is also taking part in the Australian Writers' Week Festival, and he's very keen to explore the idea of the emerging "middle class", and to talk to local artists and writers about a wide range of things.

His books have always fascinated me, and I'm pleased to see that "The Slap" is being turned into a mini-series, which is something I'm looking forward to seeing.

A great bloke to talk to, this interview is highly entertaining!

For more information about Australian Writers' Week, check out:

http://www.imagineaustralia.net

Kate Jennings is a poet, essayist, short-story writer and novelist. Both her novels, Snake and Moral Hazard, were New York Times Notable Books of the Year. She has won the ALS Gold Medal, the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and the Adelaide Festival fiction prize. Born in rural New South Wales, she has lived in New York since 1979. Her most recent books are Stanley and Sophie and Trouble: Evolution of a Radical and she is a regular contributor to the Monthly magazine, writing on topics as various as the global financial crisis, Australian film and recently, a history of swimming.

This is a fascinating interview about perceptions of what it is to be Australian, and what defines us as a culture - is it geographical location or mental attitude?

A wonderful person to talk to, I really, really enjoyed spending time on the phone with her. I just wish I'd had longer!

Kate is coming to China as part of Australian Writers' Week in early March, and I hope you get the chance to go along and hear her in person.

For more information, check out:

http://www.imagineaustralia.net

Haigh's Chocolates are some of the world's finest, made by hand in small batches in their Adelaide factories.

They are unique in that Haigh's start with the raw cocoa bean, and process it every step of the way, making sure that you only end up with the very best chocolate experience.

Alister Haigh is the current joint managing director, and is the fourth generation chocolate making Haigh. He very kindly took time out of his busy schedule to sit down with me, and talk about just what makes Haigh's chocolates so superb.

If you like chocolate, you'll love this interview!

For more information, check out:

http://www.haighschocolates.com.au

There are few things in human history that have availed themselves to the expression of the soul and passions of the mind like coffee. Warm companion to the sharpest wits who have pondered our greatest awakenings in thought and deed. Revolution and social reinvention in smoky Parisian Café. Powerful intrigue and splendor in Viennese soiree. Intrepid cultural collision in art deco African cities.

The heart of most City, Town or Village throughout the world affords us a place were the spirit of the human condition flows and interacts with a buzzing vitality of contemporary vigor. Coffee has never, since its marriage to the human mind, been anywhere else but at the vanguard of our expression. This is the inspiration that drives mahalia coffee. A connection not only to the lively world of coffee connoisseurs but also the exotic passions of the lands where it grows and the rich histories it has infused.

Their master roaster, Mahalia Layzell and her husband Paul are both chefs with over 30 years experience in hospitality between them. They have cooked their way around the world and toiled in the kitchens and dining rooms of some of Melbourne's finest restaurants and cafés. Mahalia's namesake, (Mahalia Jackson) sang to her mother's soul and no name could have suited her better - it is with nothing short of soul and passion with which Mahalia roasts and monitors every bean and blend.

It was with their constant striving for perfection in their own Café/Restaurant, started in the mid 1990's that ultimately lured Mahalia toward roasting. With their policy of making and baking all food on the premises it seemed only logical that the same should apply to coffee. It wasn't long before what began as an in-house quality drive accelerated into a separate business, Mahalia coffee was born and for Mahalia an all consuming passion began.

The core philosophies of mahalia coffee are the pursuit of perfection and variety in flavour through the natural intrinsic flavours of coffee. They use no artificial flavour enhancers or additions. Each coffee origin used in our blends is chosen for its own integral flavour qualities and sourced from the entire global coffee farm. There is no compromise in the pursuit of perfect diversified flavour with their sources embracing all doctrines within the industry, rainforest alliance, fair trade, organics, shade grown, Swiss water method, or none of the above. And from all coffee growing countries including Australia. In short, if it tastes good, it's in! mahalia coffee is and intends to remain an epicurean roasting house. Focusing on quality rather than quantity, and flavour over cost.

As master roaster Mahalia has chosen to pursue and explore the path of profile roasting. An intricate and intense road to follow. Profile roasting demands the exacting scrutiny and personal attention to detail which appeals to few, but exposes the disciplines of a chef trained in the art of haute cuisine.

The results reflect the effort invested with their four blends each expressing their unique flavour profile from Blend No 1's "Organic and Sweet" all the way through to Blend No 4's "European Dark Roast". All are tailored to the diverse tastes of the coffee connoisseur and packaged to compliment the contemporary gourmet kitchen. Their coffee has won prestigious awards such as at The Golden Award in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010 and also at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show in 2007, 2009, and 2010.

Mahalia has also just won the prestigious CSR Golden Bean award for her magic coffee!

I've been drinking Mahalia coffee for a long time now, so this interview was an absolute treat for me - Mahalia is a great person to listen to, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

To find out more about Mahalia and her coffee, head to:

http://www.mahaliacoffee.com.au

“I want to create a new genre of music that is hilarious but also seriously good, so I turned to some of my music heroes to help me out,” says Margaret Cho in reference to her forthcoming album Cho-Dependent. “I have wanted to make an album like this forever. I love comedy music!”

The lyrics on Cho Dependent, which tackle issues of sex, drugs, rock & roll – and lice, may be laugh-inducing, but Cho has made no compromises when it comes to the quality of the songwriting and production. After “My Puss,” a hilarious rap parody Cho recorded impromptu-style with friends, became a surprise YouTube hit, Cho began to integrate more comedy music into her live stand-up shows. With Cho Dependent, her first comedy music album, Cho got a chance to hone her craft with some of the top names in the business.

“Over the years of being an intense music geek I got to meet a lot of my heroes and I tricked them all into writing songs with me,” explains Cho. “Most comics want to be rock stars, and most rock stars want to be comics, so it was an easy exchange.”

“There are so many amazing people I got to work with on this album,” Cho continues, “Jon Brion, Fiona Apple, Tegan and Sara, Andrew Bird, Ani DiFranco, Garrison Starr, Meghan Toohey, Brendan Benson, Rachael Yamagata, Carl Newman, Grant Lee Phillips, Patty Griffin, Ben Lee, Kevin Barnes -- I still have to pinch myself!”

Conversely, the many collaborators on Cho Dependent seem to be equally excited about working with Cho. In a blog published on The Huffington Post, Australian indie-pop artist Ben Lee, said that working with her was “one of the most surprising and unexpected turns” in his career.

“When I heard Margaret was making her own music last year, I reached out to her and said I'd love to be involved,” reveals Lee, who co-wrote and produced several songs on the album. “The process of working with Margaret has been a complete revelation and joy for me. She started learning guitar at age 40 after seeing Madonna play guitar and thinking, ‘If that bitch can do it, it can't be that hard.’ It's this punk-rock enthusiasm that has informed every step of the writing and recording process.”

Canadian folk-rock duo Tegan and Sara, also blogged about their experiences recording with the taboo-busting funnywoman, whom they called “outrageously talented and funny.” Their Cho Dependent track, “Intervention,” was recorded over two days in Vancouver with producer Howard Redekopp, who’d just finished co-producing the girl’s sixth studio album, Sainthood.

“Imagine 10 hours of laughing, singing, eating, laughing, talking, eating and laughing and you might have a bit of a clearer picture of what our two days and nights were like,” writes T&S’s Tegan Quin. “The song itself turned out amazing. Margaret has a great voice and was so easy to work with. Definitely a budding musician!”

Ultimately Cho hopes to raise the bar for the genre as a whole – and get a little recognition for her contribution to the cause. Her motivations for this latter goal however are naturally as subversive as her humor. “I want to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and on Elvis Costello's Spectacle so I can talk all serious about my songwriting ‘process’ -- which is basically trying to figure out what rhymes with ‘dick.’”

Many of the songs on Cho Dependent will have a video directed by YouTube sensation Liam Kyle Sullivan. Cho and Sullivan previously collaborated on Cho’s 2008 Beautiful tour and on several online videos. Sullivan is best known for “Shoes,” a comedy music video and YouTube record-breaker, which has garnered over 34 million views.

To support the release of the album, Cho will be heading out on the road with her guitar in hand for a major nationwide US tour, which will kick off on August 26 and run thru December 12. The Cho Dependent shows will be a special evening of brand new stand up comedy, mixed with a few live performances of Cho’s comedy songs. Check www.margaretcho.com for further info and for special VIP ticket packages.

The second season of Cho's hit Lifetime TV series Drop Dead Diva is screening now. When the show debuted in July/Aug 2009, it was the highest rated first season of an original Lifetime series since Army Wives in 2007, and the new season promises even more out of this world fun.

Revered for her crass in-your-face style, Margaret Cho burst onto the scene in 1994 with her sitcom All American Girl and has since become one of the most prolific and critically acclaimed comedians of our time.

Margaret Cho was born December 5, 1968 and raised in San Francisco. “It was different than any other place on Earth,” she says. “I grew up and went to grammar school on Haight Street during the ’70s. There were old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the ’60s, drag queens, and Chinese people. To say it was a melting pot – that’s the least of it. It was a really confusing, enlightening, wonderful time.”

Her grandfather was a Methodist minister who ran an orphanage in Seoul during the Korean War. Ignoring the traditions of her patriarchal culture, her mother bravely resisted an arranged marriage in Korea and married Margaret’s father who writes joke books – in Korean. “Books like 1001 Jokes for Public Speakers – real corny stuff,” Margaret says. “I guess we’re in the same line of work. But we don’t understand each other that way. I don’t know why the things he says are funny and the same for him.”

Margaret started performing stand-up at age 16 in a comedy club called The Rose & Thistle above a bookstore her parents ran. Soon after, she won a comedy contest where first prize was opening for Jerry Seinfeld. She moved to Los Angeles in the early ’90s and lived in a house with several other young performers.

A brilliant, taboo-busting comedian in the spirit of Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and George Carlin, Margaret Cho is known as much for her enormous contributions as a social equalizer as she is for her raunchy humor. She has been honored by the ACLU of Southern California, the National Organization for Women (NOW), GLAAD, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), and PFLAG for making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for all, regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender identity.

A wonderful interview, spanning an array of subjects from singing to acting, and all points in between!

I'm so happy to have had the chance to talk to Margaret - big thanks must go to Ken Phillips (www.kenphillipsgroup.com)for making it happen.

Go and swing by www.margaretcho.com for more info!

Why did I do this interview?

That's a good question...

I did it because I wanted to.

Because I like Doug Stanhope, and I want to introduce him to other people.

Doug Stanhope is a stand-up comic. Has been since 1990.

His material ranges from true-life graphic perversion to volatile social criticism. Doug is vulgar, opinionated, brutally honest and shockingly uninhibited and is certainly not for everybody.

He started his career in Las Vegas doing jack-off jokes for free drinks. Not much has changed, save for the mullet.

Doug has built a wide-ranging television resume of dubious achievement. He hosted The Man Show on Comedy Central as well as the ubiquitous pseudo-porn for the sexually crippled, "Girls Gone Wild", both solely and shamelessly for financial gain. He has appeared on "The Howard Stern Show", "Comedy Central Presents", "Premium Blend", NBC's "Late Friday", "Spy TV" BBC's "Floor Show Live" while on ecstasy and wrote, produced and starred in Fox's "Invasion of the Hidden Cameras" and has even popped up on "Fox News with Greta Van Sustern" and "The Jerry Springer Show". But none of it compares to seeing him live.

He’s appeared at major comedy festivals including the Montreal Just For Laughs, Aspen US Comedy Arts, Chicago Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, where he won the Strathmore Press Award in 2002.

Also in 2002, he was named as one of the Top Ten Comics To Watch by both Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. He has released three CDs and three DVDs including the latest through Showtime, "No Refunds" in 2008.

"Ask anyone whose opinion matters, and they'll tell you Doug Stanhope is one of the top ten stand-ups in the world today.

Stanhope's confrontational stance comes from the rough, blistered underbelly of America's trailer parks; he's a feral, aggressive man full fuelled by primal urges to drink, fight and screw ­ and the corrosive material has all the venomous aggression you might expect from that background.

But what underlines it, and makes it so untouchably good, is the passion and conviction with which he holds his intelligent beliefs, informed by sensibilities that might seem alien to such a no-nonsense, pig-headed persona. -Chortle UK

"Stanhope shocks you with the virulence of his lucidity; he shocks you into realising how transparent the confidence trick of western propaganda can be made to seem. What he has in abundance is the charm, don't-give-a-damn swagger and aggressive intelligence that make for important, exciting comedy." -Guardian, UK

"Some of the sharpest and most biting cultural commentary you'll see in a comedy club." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The Austin Chronicle says, "Let me tell you something, friends. Doug Stanhope is one funny sumbitch. He's also one of the most twisted individuals I've ever met, but that's part of his charm. He's one of those comics that doesn't make shit up. He lives a mad, mad life and what he remembers he reports back to us. He's been known to bare his soul, and other things, right there on the stage. If you're easily offended, stay home this week. Watch Matlock or something. But if you like your comedy rough, raw, and rowdy, there's no one better than Doug Stanhope. Have I made myself clear?"

"Sharp, off color, and howlingly funny" - The San Francisco Chronicle

"Stanhope breaks down the walls of decency. He uses profanity, but nothing he says is meant to shock. Everything he says is designed to make the audience laugh. Stanhope has worked his way to become one of the best comics around" - The Reno Gazette Journal

Doug Stanhope makes me laugh.

I hope he makes you laugh, too... he's a very funny guy, despite his protesting otherwise.

I enjoyed doing this.

I took a punt, and it paid off.

And if you don't like it, email me.

Or Doug.

And if you want to know more, check out:

http://www.dougstanhope.com

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