Show Notes
Multi-hyphenate poetic talent Jackson McCarthy streams in to local loser from Wellington to talk about his new book Portrait.
Damien Levi does his due diligence and pulls some of his favourite lines to chat about, as well as getting into pop music, blonde boys, Toni Morrison, and perk butts wrapped up like presents, among other engaging topics.
Some links you may be interested in from this episode include one to purchase Portrait, Paula Green's chat with Jackson on NZ Poetry Shelf, and Jackson on Instagram.
Books mentioned: Portrait by Jackson McCarthy The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton Lucky Creatures by Joseph Trinidad Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James Distinction by Pierre Bourdieu No Name in the Street by James Baldwin What to Wear by Jenny Bornholdt How to Be Happy Though Human: New and Selected Poems by Kate Camp Mixed Feelings by Maddie Ballard The New Animals by Pip Adam kluge by Pip Adam
Other notable figures mentioned: James Tate, James Brown, Dougal McNeill, Frank O'Hara, Anthony Zemke, Toni Morrison, Charlie Rose, Kura Forrester, Graham Tipene, Edward Glissant, Simon Frith, Cadence Chung, Chris Tse, Keira Batten Coogan.
Damien can be found on Instagram.
The local loser theme song is composed by Karen Hu.
More from local loser
Joseph Trinidad joins the local loser family as he visits Tāmaki Makaurau for the Auckland Writers Festival.
Damien Levi and local loser are back for a second season! Is the audio still unreliable? Yes! Should you still listen anyway? Please! For the first episode of season two, Damien chats with playwright/zinemaker/artiste Nuanzhi Zheng about receiving Creative New Zealand money for something unexpected, the role of Head Girls in society, art schools, eating disrespectfully, and more. As always, we can only hope the guest's audio improves across the season, but we thank you nonetheless for listening. You may want to find Nuanzhi on Instagram or Substack, by a copy of her play Yang/Young/杨 (cowritten with Sherry Zhang) in Traces, or look at her website. Damien can be found on Instagram or at his website. The local loser theme song is composed by Karen Hu.
Damien is solo in the local loser studio today, recording a round-up/recap of reading in 2025, thanks to voice notes from past guests.
It's a surprise Friday episode from Damien Levi to coincide with the official publication date of Hoods Landing, the debut novel from his guest, Laura Vincent.
Damien Levi is on uncle duties this week as he records with writer, editor and publisher Faith Wilson (and her baby boy, Mo.)