Podcasts about culture laser productions

This month, Ryan talks to the Australian poet, Ouyang Yu. Born in China, Yu is a controversial figure within Australian literature, often exploring the dilemmas of transnational artists caught between different literary, cultural and linguistic traditions in a raw, uncompromising style that he has made his own (Yu himself refers to the ‘polished’ poem as “an arse wiped clean”). In this interview, Ryan and Ouyang discuss language barriers, mis-prints and the importance of making 'creative mistakes'. Plus, more poetry sparks! Listeners to The Line Break can also join the The Line Break group on CAMPUS, the Poetry School’s free online community for poets. http://campus.poetryschool.com Produced by Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

Award-winning poet, essayist, and translator Jane Hirshfield is our guest this week. Jane reads from her work, and shares the body, heart and mind that informs her deceptively clear, attentive poetry, asking why 'how happy we are, how unhappy we are, doesn't matter'. And Ryan offers some more 'poetry sparks' to nourish your own ideas. Listeners to The Line Break can also join the The Line Break group on CAMPUS, the Poetry School’s free online community for poets. http://campus.poetryschool.com Produced by Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

We're starting the New Year on a high. This month, The Line Break listens in on the wonderful Mark Doty, poet and author of Deep Lane, recently nominated for the T S Eliot Prize. And back with two more poetry sparks, Ryan has you writing transcendentally about the mundane, and exploring the things you shouldn't say. Listeners to The Line Break can also join the The Line Break group on CAMPUS, the Poetry School’s free online community for poets. http://campus.poetryschool.com Produced by Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

Is there joy in sorrow? Can tragedy ever be funny? This month, our guest is Caroline Bird, a poet who delights in troubling sensibilities and leading her audience down the garden path before swiftly turning the hose on them. Where other poets might tell it like it is, Ryan and Caroline explore how the most meaningful poems can often be found at the far corners of things, and how poetry finds truth in a world of ‘no facts’ and ‘not saying’. Plus, more poetry sparks from Ryan! So lean in, listener, but be careful – there’s a fist aimed at your heart. Listeners to The Line Break can also join the The Line Break group on CAMPUS, the Poetry School’s free online community for poets. http://campus.poetryschool.com Produced by Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

The power of poetry comes partly from its ability to explode a language when it no longer feels adequate enough to explain the extraordinary times we live in. This month on The Line Break, Ryan talks to the Singapore-born poet, editor and translator - Alvin Pang - about multiculturalism and poetry as a force of resistance: against public expectations, political oppression and cultural efficiencies, as well as our own longings, ambivalences, lost hopes, fears and anxieties. Alvin recites a few of his extraordinary poems, and Ryan sets two more poetry sparks for you all to try out: writing family, and lashing out against bullies, bosses, and dictators. Listeners to The Line Break can also join the The Line Break group on CAMPUS, the Poetry School’s free online community for poets. http://campus.poetryschool.com Produced by Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

For our third episode, Ryan talks to the American poet Mary Ruefle about finding the joy in the solitary act of writing poetry, the need to talk to yourself, and we hear Mary read from a selection of her incredibly distinctive work. And there’s more poetry sparks for you to try out, re-working found text with Tippex, and getting lost in language. Listeners to The Line Break can also join the The Line Break group on CAMPUS, the Poetry School’s free online community for poets. This episode is produced by Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser with thanks to the Scottish Poetry Library for their support.

This month on The Line Break, Ryan re-visits an interview with poet and journalist Kwame Dawes and discusses the challenges of writing poetry about often painful world events, and how to find beauty, happiness and truth in the 'cesspools of experience' that follow. And Ryan sets out more of his 'poetry sparks', including how to write a blues poem. Listeners to The Line Break can also join the The Line Break group on CAMPUS, the Poetry School’s free online community for poets. http://campus.poetryschool.com This episode is produced by Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser with thanks to the Scottish Poetry Library for their support.

The Poetry School welcomes you to a new poetry podcast, our very first (be gentle). For our pilot outing, host Ryan Van Winkle re-visits his 2013 Scottish Poetry Library podcast interview with TS Eliot-prize winner, Philip Gross, ranging across making up names for colours, comparing the similarities of poetry and making scones, and asking what happens in the thought vortex of ‘What if? And then?’ Listeners can also join The Line Break group on CAMPUS, the Poetry School’s free online community for poets http://campus.poetryschool.com. This episode is produced by Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com with thanks to the Scottish Poetry Library for their support.

In the last regular podcast to feature the founder host of the Scottish Poetry Library podcast, Ryan Van Winkle looks back at some of his favourite interviews since he started the podcast in 2008 as part of his Reader in Residence position at the SPL. Featuring Robert Pinsky, Caroline Bird, Sarah Broom, Owen Sheers, Jed Milroy, Matthew Zapruder, Jane Hirshfield, Golan Haji, Sabreen Khadim, Krystelle Bamford, John Glenday, Mark Doty, Paula Meehan, Adam Zagajewski and Mary Ruefle. This podcast was produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm and presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable of Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

We talk to poet, novelist, sailor and storyteller Ian Stephen about one of his unfinished projects on today's episode as well as revisit a vintage interview with the poet and activist Mandy Haggith about her book on the paper industry, Paper Trails. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://www.culturelaser.com

To mark the retirement of one Scotland's last full time literary critics, we're featuring short interviews with Lesley Glaister, Francis Bickmore, Jenny Brown and Claire Stewart on the future of criticism. And we're also including one of our favourite interviews from the CL archives - with playwright Jo Clifford. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://www.culturelaser.com. We acknowledge Creative Scotland funding for our 2014 season.

We're at StAnza this weekend and caught up with two Poet Laureates about some of the projects they have abandoned - Glasgow Makar Jim Carruth and Edinburgh Makar Christine De Luca. We also feature our interview with writer & theatre maker Hannah Silva that we recorded at StAnza a couple of years ago. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://www.culturelaser.com We acknowledge the financial support of Creative Scotland for our 2014 season,

Ryan Van Winkle talks with poet Thomas Lux on this week's episode. Winner of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, a Guggenheim fellowship as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Thomas was at the SPL for our Sympoetry event last year. We get the opportunity to hear some of Thomas's work and he discusses his approach to writing and his inspiring thoughts on teaching creative writing. His recently published Selected Poems is available now from Bloodaxe Books. This episode is presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

We decided to try something new on the Laser this week and so invited two artists - musician Billy Liar www.billyliarmusic.com/ and designer Emily Millichip http://www.emilymillichip.com - to discuss their unfinished projects with us. Also we're featuring our interview with novelists Ben Marcus and Mark Z Danielewski that we recorded last year in the stacks of the Mitchell Library at the Aye Write festival in Glasgow. Culture Laser acknowledges the financial support of Creative Scotland for its 2014 season. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle and produced by Colin Fraser of Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

Ryan Van Winkle talks to the poet Sasha Dugdale, who is also editor of Modern Poetry in Translation. She tells us about how some of her poems come from 'failed translations' and she discusses how sound plays a much more important role in her own writing than other factors. She also discusses the problems involved with being a poet and a poetry translator. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle and produced by Colin Fraser of Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

Ryan Van Winkle caught up with poet Donna Stonecipher in Berlin. They discuss her fascination with Model Cities and how the changing nature of Berlin has affected her poetry. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

This episode was recorded as part of the VERSschmuggel project at the Poesie festival in Berlin this year. The aim of this cross-cultural collaboration was to pair Scottish and German language poets together to produce "cover versions" of each other's poems, where you can hear the original but you also appreciate the new voice too. As organiser Aurelie Maurin says of the process it shows how "it's possible to have two tongues in the mouth of one poem." Featuring Don Paterson, J.O. Morgan, Katharina Schultens, Peter Mackay, Dagmara Kraus, Björn Kuhligk, Odile Kennel, Michael Donhauser, Anna Crowe and Ryan Van Winkle. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://www.culturelaser.com

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 http://www.culturelaser.com

Miriam Gamble talks with Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable about her new collection Pirate Music. She reads a number of her poems and tells us about her approach to writing. Miriam also talks about how being a critic impacts on her work and the pressures of being part of the Northern Irish poetic tradition. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle and produced by Colin Fraser of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://www.culturelaser.com

We features two Korean poets on this episode - Sim Bo-Seon & Kim So-Yeon - with interpretation from Brother Anthony and Jonathan Cameron. They discuss the genesis of their work, how poets are perceived in Korean and read a few of their poems for us. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://www.culturelaser.com

In an episode recorded at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, we speak with the organiser of The Great Bloody Border Ballad Project, Lorne Campbell, and two of its six participants, the poet Chris Thorpe and theatre practitioner Lucy Ellinson, about their involvement in what was a fascinating exploration of the artistic potential of borders and a reimagining of the modern ballad. We also speak with Catalan poets Josep Lluís Aguiló and Carles Torner who appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival together with Gaelic poets Padraig MacAoidh and Niall O'Gallagher. They discuss writing in their respective minority languages and how the situation with Gaelic publishing is almost the opposite of that enjoyed by Catalan. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser.

We talk with two poet editors on this episode: Michael Schmidt, founder, editor and director of Carcanet Books and editor of the PN Review, and Peter Rose, editor of the Australian Book Review. Both read us a selection of their poems and discuss their approach to editing and to writing. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser. Photo: Ben Schmidt

We talked with Caroline Bird after her recent reading at The Sutton Gallery in Edinburgh. She discusses her latest collection The Hat-Stand Union and reads a couple of her poems. She also talks about the importance of reading for a poet and how an Arvon course she attended when she was 13 persuaded her to transform her readings habits. It obviously worked as she published her first collection at just 15 years of age. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://culturelaser.com

On this episode we talk with Korean poet Lee Si-Young and his translator, Brother Anthony of Taize. He reads some of his poems and reflects on how his work has evolved since the military dictatorship in South Korea when it was dangerous and extremely difficult to publish poetry. It 'was a responsibility that young poets had to take to stand up and dare take the risk to oppose and indicate there was another way ahead.' He also discusses his views on political poetry - 'without something that emerges from the human heart you cannot have a poem... If I am simply angry then nothing will come out in terms of poetry. It has to be transformed.' You may find more information about Lee Si-Young and other Korean poets on Brother Anthony's website http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/ We also feature one of the collaborations from SJ Fowler's Camerade project with Marcus Slease and Claire Potter. Listen to more of the collaborations at http://bit.ly/LaserCam and find out more at: http://sjfowlerpoetry.com. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://www.culturelaser.com

Mark Doty speaks with Ryan Van Winkle about daring to do the things in poems that others are scared to do and bringing aspects of your own personality into your writing and your readings. In this wide ranging discussion we cover such topics as Alec Baldwin, dogs, celebration and the importance of reading widely to develop as a writer. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser.

Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable talks with Luke Wright @lukewrightpoet about his first collection Mondeo Man in this interview recorded just after his sell out event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Luke reads a couple of his poems and discusses how he has evolved as a poet, why he felt the need to publish a collection now and how becoming a parent changed his attitude to his own work. http://www.lukewright.co.uk We also feature the track 'Gospel According to the Purple Cotton Dress' by C.R. Avery. http://www.cravery.com Produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://www.culturelaser.com Photo: Steve Ullathorne

Sweden based poet Ghayath Almadhoun talks to Ryan Van Winkle about being a Palestinian refuge and his Damascus club The House of Poetry that was a very special kind of open mic poetry event that challenged the authorities prior to the outbreak of the current Syrian conflict. He also reads excerpts from his long poem The City, which is about Damascus - for him, "the only city." Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

We discuss translation, identity, the value of mistakes and the virtues of bad poetry with the prolific novelist, translator and poet Ouyang Yu, who Ryan interviewed in Darwin, Australia earlier this year. Ouyang reads a number of his poems and discusses the experience of being a Chinese poet who has been living and working in Australia for the past 20 years and how this affects his practice. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://www.culturelaser.com

Ryan Van Winkle recently visited Prague with Literature Across Frontiers and chatted to a selection of poets he met there. We begin with Tomáš Míka, a poet, hip-hop artist and translator of many works including James Hogg and Samuel Beckett, who reads his poem 'If we do not entertain ourselves, they will entertain us' and discusses his chaotic 'maximalist' approach to poetry performance. Translator, poet and episodic essayist Ondřej Buddeus‎ reads his poem 'bit-poetics', tells us why Google is both a poetic and hilarious word and how he is exploring how language adapts to new technology. Playwright and poet Kerry Shawn Keys reads one of his poems and tells us about how he used to experiment with 'trance' states. Glasgow born and Prague based writer Christopher Crawford, the editor of online magazine Body http://bodyliterature.com reads one of his poems and talks about his approach to editing. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable and produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://culturelaser.com

Ryan Van Winkle interviews J.O. Morgan at his home in the Scottish Borders. His latest book, At Maldon by CB Editions, will be launched on 8 October at Looking Glass Books in Edinburgh. They discuss his approach to writing and talk in detail about his first book length narrative poem, the award-winning Natural Mechanical. He also discusses the intriguing story of how At Maldon started out as a translation of an Anglo-Saxon poem and how he was fascinated by the fact that it is a form of historical document written by the losers rather then the winners of the battle. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle and produced by Colin Fraser, both of Culture Laser Productions http://culturelaser.com @culturelaser. Music by Ragland.

Irish poet Paula Meehan has been called "that rare and precious thing – a vocational poet of courage and integrity" by Carol Ann Duffy, and in this wide ranging interview with Ryan Van Winkle you will see why. "I think poetry acts as lightning rod to earth the energies of the Zeitgeist that you are living through... Often to get real, true peace you have to actually nearly reopen the wound to clean it." They discuss the troubles in Ireland, issues with the priesthood, witchcraft, abuse and suicide, but at all times Paula remains sparklingly eloquent, thoughtful and maintains a sense of intense wonder and joy with the world. Her many accolades include the Irish American Cultural Institute’s Butler Award, the Denis Devlin Award and the Marten Toonder Award. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle and produced by Colin Fraser of Culture Laser Productions http://culturelaser.com Recorded at the StAnza poetry festival. Photo by user Copynoir on Wikipedia.

We travel around the world in this episode of the podcast. First up, from merry Cornwall, we have performance artist and poet Sally Crabtree, aka the Poetry Postie, who we caught up with at the StAnza poetry festival. Also at StAnza we recorded three poems from the Romanian poet and TV presenter Robert Serban. And we speak with Persis Karim from the Bay Area in San Francisco about Iranian poetry and the importance of translation. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable. Produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser http://culturelaser.com Music by Ragland.

In January this year Reel Festivals http://reelfestivals.org organised a series of events and translation workshops in Erbil, Iraq with Scottish and Iraqi poets. They then came over to Scotland in March (with one exception) and gave readings of the translations they had worked on earlier in the year. This podcast features all of the participants talking about their experience and reading from a selection of the translations and includes the following poets: John Glenday, Jen Hadfield, Ghareeb Iskander, William Letford, Krystelle Bamford, Awezan Nouri, Sabreen Kadhim, Zaher Mousa with support from Dina Mousawi and Lauren Pyott. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable. Produced by Colin Fraser @kailworm of Culture Laser Productions http://culturelaser.com @culturelaser. Music by Khyam Allami.

Tusiata Avia is a poet and performer from New Zealand and a recent Fulbright Pacific Writer at the University of Hawai’i. She performs her poems and talks with Ryan Van Winkle about her work and influences, including how she rediscovered poetry in her 30s. Her two collections of poetry are Wild Dogs Under My Skirt (2004) and Bloodclot (2009). David Stavanger aka Ghostboy is a poet and one of Australia’s premier young adult and children’s spoken word presenters. As well as reading a few of his poems, David also talks about his love of poetry, how he is developing his voice and the way he plays with genre and audience expectations. We also include one of his music tracks with the Golden Virtues, 'The Woman Who Is All Heart'. http://www.ghostboy.net Presented by Ryan Van Winkle http://www.ryanvanwinkle.com. Produced by Colin Fraser of Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com. Music by Ewen Maclean.

Erín Moure discusses her recent book The Unmemntioable, an exploration of her complex family history and subsequent travel to western Ukraine. In conversation with Ryan Van Winkle at the StAnza poetry festival, where she was the poet in residence, they discuss "how you can identify who you are and where you come from when your mother says you come from nowhere." And nowhere, she discovered, was western Ukraine. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle http://www.ryanvanwinkle.com @rvwable Produced by Colin Fraser of Culture Laser Productions htto://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser. Music by Ewen Maclean.

Ryan Van Winkle discusses language identity, Singapore literature and poetic practice with Alvin Pang at the StAnza 2013 poetry festival. We get a chance to hear a few of Alvin's poems and a selection from his anthology TUMASIK: Contemporary Writing from Singapore. Alvin talks to Ryan about how Seamus Heaney has influenced his work, his grandmother's deadly Cantonese aphorisms and he reads a poem of his written in the distinctive unofficial language of Singapore, Singlish. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle @rvwable. Produced by Colin Fraser of Culture Laser Productions @culturelaser. Music by Ewen Maclean.