Show Notes
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.
Alongside favourite reads from Nathan Joe, Sherry Zhang, Saraid de Silva, Josiah Morgan, Laura Vincent and Gabi Lardies, Damien adds in a running commentary and some of his own favourites from the year.
local loser will be back in 2026, but for now, some links you may be interested in are: the preorder link for Childish Palate by Shariff Burke, Damien's The Big Idea article, Torrey Peters and Andrea Long Chu in conversation on Stag Dance, and Josiah's review of Brandon Taylor's The Late Americans.
Damien can be found on Instagram.
The local loser theme song is composed by Karen Hu.
More from local loser
Multi-hyphenate poetic talent Jackson McCarthy streams in to local loser from Wellington to talk about his new book Portrait.
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.
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.)