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Posts Tagged Authors I Admire

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June 29, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Authors I Admire: # 18 David Foster Wallace

It’s become problematic to talk about David Foster Wallace, to rave about his literary prowess because of his behaviour. But there was a time when he loomed large for me. He was one of the best of his generation. A man who channelled irony and earnestness to write hilarious and dark stories, going to places […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Author, Authors I Admire, Authors I Admire started life as a series of posts on the Phantom Billstickers Facebook page Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Authors I Admire: # 18, Authors I Admire: # 18 David Foster Wallace, Blog, Books, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, D/FW, David Foster Wallace, Essay, Infinite Jest, Short Stories, The Girl With The Curious Hair, Writer, Writing ·

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September 7, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

My Favourite Author That I’ve Never Read

I couldn’t know I was doing this at the time, but the day before we went into lockdown I armed myself with a bunch of books by George Saunders. I did this because he’s one of my favourite writers that I’ve never read. You read that correctly. I often write about Authors I Admire but […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Authors I Admire, Books, Favourite Author, George Saunders, https://linktr.ee/Simonsweetman, My Favourite Author That I’ve Never Read, Never Read, Reading, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Writing ·

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June 14, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Roger McGough Had Done Enough – And Long Before He Wrote A Poem To Save My Life

What I said was that I’d first read the poem when I was about 15. And had loved it ever since. Had thought about it – and often – for nearly 30 years. And because that clearly wasn’t lofty enough I added that the poem, this one poem, was in fact a guiding light. I […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged A Poem To Save Your Life, Authors I Admire, Blog, Instagram, Missed, Poem, Poems, Poet, Poetry, Poets, Reading, Roger McGough, Roger McGough Had Done Enough - And Long Before He Wrote A Poem To Save My Life, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Writing ·

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April 24, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Authors I Admire: # 17 Owen Marshall

I’ve been thinking about Owen Marshall a bit lately. I feel like, in some way, I’m often thinking about him, have been since I was about 15 or 16. That’s when I met him – er, on the page, that is. I’ve never met him. I’d like to. I’d love to interview him one day. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged #17, Admiration, Author, Authors I Admire, Authors I Admire: # 17, Authors I Admire: # 17 Owen Marshall, Authors I Admire: Owen Marshall, Kiwi, Marshall, New Zealand, Novel, Novels, NZ, Owen, Owen Marshall, Poem, Poetry, Short Stories, South Island, Timaru, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Writer ·

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May 3, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Authors I Admire: # 16 Willy Vlautin

In 2012 I was on holiday in San Francisco and I stumbled upon a reading at the famous City Lights bookstore. Well, we were visiting the store, checking it out when I saw a flyer advertising the reading. We were back there later that week. Willy Vlautin was there as a friend of the main act, […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged America, American, Americana, Author, Authors I Admire, Authors I Admire # 16, Authors I Admire: # 16 Willy Vlautin, Barry Gifford, Book, City Lights, Country, Novel, Novelist, Reading, Realism, Richmond Fontaine, Short Story, Singer/Songwriter, Spoken Word, Stories, The Delines, Willy Vlautin ·

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March 22, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Authors I Admire: # 15 Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway is one of the great voices of American literature. His raw, gritty take on life was developed through his work as a journalist and war correspondent and his short stories and novels are filled with his, now widely mimicked, take on minimalism and realism. Hemingway cloaked emotional drama in his stories by using […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged $15, Author, Authors, Authors I Admire, Authors I Admire: # 15 Ernest Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway, Journalism, Novel, Short Stories, Short Story, The Old Man And The Sea, Writer, Writing ·

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February 27, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Authors I Admire: # 14 Nik Cohn

It’s hard naming favourite music writers, like being forced to pick a favourite band I guess. You don’t always want to listen to The Beatles or much as Kendrick Lamar might take your fancy you can’t just listen to only that. It’s the same with great writers – you get different things from different people. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged #14, Authors I Admire, Authors I Admire: # 14 Nik Cohn, Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, Fourteen, Greil Marcus, I Am Still The Greatest Says Johnny Angelo, Journalism, Music, Nik Cohn, Number 14, Saturday Night Fever, Sylvie Simmons, The Noise From The Streets, Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night, Triksta: Life and Death and New Orleans Rap, Writing ·

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October 10, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Clive James: Play All – A Bingewatcher’s Notebook

Play All: A Bingewatcher’s Notebook Clive James Yale University Press Writing about television isn’t easy – it’s easier now because TV is better: more people are invested in shows that have our attention in a way the movies used to. It’s easier now too because of Clive James. He’s left his mark on poetry and […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged A Bingewatcher's Notebook, Authors I Admire, Authors I Admire # 4, Book Review, Clive James, Clive James: Play All - A Bingewatcher's Notebook, Critic, Criticism, Essays, Golden Age, Play All, Play All: A Bingewatcher's Notebook, Review, Television, TV ·

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August 23, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast: Episode 29 – Sylvie Simmons

Welcome to episode 29 of Sweetman Podcast brought to you by Phantom Billstickers. This one is a chat with Sylvie Simmons – that’s Sylvie Simmons the music writer, Leonard Cohen biographer and MOJO staff writer, legendary rock writer who was on the tour bus with Black Sabbath and Van Halen, who published the first interview […]
Posted in Blog, Podcasts · Tagged America, Americana, Authors I Admire, Authors I Admire # 5, Britain, England, ep.29, Episode 29, Heavy Metal, Interview, Mojo, Music Journalism, Music Journalist, Podcast, Rock Writer, San Francisco, Simon Sweetman, Sweetman Podcast, Sweetman Podcast: Episode 29 – Sylvie Simmons, Sylvie, Sylvie Simmons, U.S.A, Uke, Ukulele, Writer, Writing ·

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June 2, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Authors I Admire: # 13 Neil LaBute

You might normally find an appreciation of Neil LaBute under film or theatre – rather than discussion of him as an author. Actually, you might not find a written appreciation of Neil LaBute anywhere…his work hardly ever ends happily, barely starts out that way and usually gets toughest in the middle. He works without including […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Author, Authors I Admire, Authors I Admire: # 13 Neil LaBute, Book, Director, Film, Filmmaker, In The Company of Men, Movie, Neil LaBute, Phantom Billstickers, Play, Playwright, Seconds of Pleasure, Some Velvet Morning, The Shape of Things, Theatre, Writer, Writing ·

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April 9, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Greil Marcus: The History of Rock’n’Roll in Ten Songs

The History of Rock’n’Roll in Ten Songs Greil Marcus Yale University Press T-Bone Burnett is quoted, in this book, “Listen, the story of the United States is this: One kid, without anything, walks out of his house, down the road, with nothing but a guitar and conquers the world.” It’s a good quote – but […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Authors I Admire, Authors I Admire: #12, Book, Book Review, Cultural Critic, Greil Marcus, Historian, Lipstick Traces, Music Writer, Music Writing, Mystery Train, Non-FIction, The History of Rock’n’Roll in Ten Songs ·

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September 22, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

Authors I Admire: # 12 Greil Marcus

I’m currently halfway through a book called The History of Rock’n’Roll in Ten Songs – it’s the latest (brand new) book from Greil Marcus. Impossible to chart rock’n’roll’s history through ten songs you say. Well, not if you’re Greil Marcus. Fortunately for him (and us) no one else is Greil Marcus. There is only one […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Author, Authors I Admire, Authors I Admire: # 12 Greil Marcus, Authors I Admire: #12, Book, Greil Marcus, Music, Music Journalist, Music Writing, Phantom Billstickers, Writing ·
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