Joshua James Amberson [Host: Jeff Alessandrelli]

On today's episode of The Lives of Writers, Jeff Alessandrelli interviews Joshua James Amberson.

Joshua James Amberson is the author of Staring Contest: Essays About Eyes (Perfect Day Publishing), How to Forget Almost Everything: A Novel (Korza Books), a series of chapbooks on Two Plum Press, as well as the long-running Basic Paper Airplane zine series. He lives in Portland, Oregon where he runs the Antiquated Future online variety store and record label.

Jeff Alessandrelli is the author of several books, including the poetry collection Fur Not Light. He is also the director and co-editor of the small presses Fonograf Editions and Bunny Presse.

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PART ONE, topics include:

-- an old dog

-- other priorities overtaking writing

-- growing up and living in the Pacific Northwest

-- an influential musical uncle

-- playing musical again after a long break

-- becoming a poetry publisher from 19 - 24

-- playing in bands in Olympia

-- moving to Portland for the writing community

-- the pull to engage in collective concerns and projects

-- recording an audiobook and wanting to edit everything

--  the benefits of working on other projects

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PART TWO, topics include:

-- pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) 

-- retinal hemorrhaging and treatment with needles

-- Joshua's new book Staring Contest: Essays About Eyes

-- our ocular-centric culture and taking sight for granted

-- resisting suggestions to turn essay collection into memoir

-- writing the collection as a book from the beginning

-- approaching one subject from many angles

-- upcoming events and new projects

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Podcast theme music provided by Mike Nagel, author of Duplex. Here's more of his project: Yeah Yeah Cool Cool.

The Lives of Writers is edited and produced by Michael Wheaton.