On Margins

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**On Margins**

On Margins is a podcast about making books and “book shaped” things. Hosted by Craig Mod.

Latest Episodes:

W. David Marx — The Culture of Fashion in Japan Sep 03, 2021

W. David Marx and I talk about his book Ametora, Japanese culture, and books in translation.

Full transcript is available online:

https://craigmod.com/onmargins/s02e03/

Noted:

Sam Anderson (Part 2) Feb 09, 2021

Sam Anderson is back, 10 months later, discussing his 2020 pandemic writing life. We cover his Weird Al essay, his NBA bubble excursion, how closely observing something makes for a wonderful writing exercise, and! we reveal our extremely obvious One Wild Trick to getting everything done in life.

Show notes:

Sam Anderson on Twitter
Boom Town, Sam Anderson
Descript, visual podcast editing
“The Weirdly Enduring Appeal of Weird Al Yankovic”, Sam Anderson
“What I Learned Inside the N.B.A. Bubble”, Sam Anderson
The Last Two Northern White Rhinos On Earth, Sam Anderson
“Watch This Snowball Fight From 1897 for a Jolt of Pure Joy”, Sam Anderson
“I Recommend Eating Chips”, Sam Anderson
Ursula K. Le Guin (Author)
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin illustrated by t-shirt
Audrey Lorde, “Anger is loaded with information and energy."

As always, a full transcript is available at: https://craigmod.com/onmargins/s02e02/

Sam Anderson (Part 1/2) Feb 03, 2021

Sam Anderson is a New York Times Magazine staff writer and the author of Boom Town, a book about the "great minor city of America" — Oklahoma City. This is part one of a two part interview. We recorded this conversation in March, 2020, just as the first lockdown of the pandemic had gone into effect.

Sam Anderson on Twitter
Boom Town, Sam Anderson
New Sentences
Annie Dillard (Author)
The Writing Life, Annie Dillard
The Abundance, Annie Dillard
John McPhee (Author)
“The Fierce Imagination of Haruki Murakami”

Full transcript online at: https://craigmod.com/onmargins/s02e01/

Gray318 (Jon Gray) Jul 08, 2019

An extended interview with Jon Gray, aka Gray318, the award winning, London based, book designer. Gray318 has designed covers for William Gibson, Zadie Smith, Salman Rushdie, David Foster Wallace, Robin Sloan, and perhaps most famously, for Jonathan Safran Foer.

Show links:

Full transcript online at: https://craigmod.com/onmargins/010

Lynne Tillman and What She Would Do Apr 11, 2019

An interview with novelist, essayist, and cultural critic, Lynne Tillman.

Craig Mod sits down with Lynne Tillman at her apartment in Manhattan and they go through the covers of her novels, essay collections, and non-fiction books.

Show Links:

Lynne on Twitter
Lynne's Books
Lynne's Wikipedia
Artist Babara Kruger
Artist Nan Goldin
Artist Peter Drerer
Artist Sadie Benning
Artist Barbara Ess
Charles Orr, designer
Soft Skull Press
Publisher / Editor Richard Nash
What Would Lynne Tillman Do, the website
3am Magazine interview with Lynne
“On Lynne Tillman” by Colm Toibin for The New Yorker
An Interview With Lynne Tillman, Believer Mag

Jessica Hische, Tomorrow I'll Be Brave Mar 09, 2019

In this episode we're talking with designer and letterer, Jessica Hische, author of the New York Times best-selling children's book: Tomorrow I'll Be Brave.

You've almost certainly seen Jessica's work. She refreshed logos for MailChimp, Southern Living, Eventbrite. She did a logo for the incredible "California Sunday Magazine." She did titles for Wes Anderson's "Moonlight Kingdom." She designed covers for books like Dave Eggers' "The Circle" and "Hologram for the King," and for Elizabeth Gilbert's, "Committed" among many, many more books.

We discuss her unique production and marketing strategy for the book, how she chose her publisher, and how to respect the heck out of contacts you've built up over the years.

Lisa Brennan-Jobs, the designing and writing of Small Fry Jan 24, 2019

An interview with Lisa Brennan-Jobs, author of the best selling memoir, Small Fry. Lisa and Craig Mod discuss the design, production, and writing of this fascinating book about family, identity, and growing up in Palo Alto as the daughter of Steve Jobs.

Lisa on Twitter
Small Fry the book
Hera Big font
Book designer, Alison Forner
The Subtle Genius of Elena Ferrante’s Bad Book Covers

Full transcript and audio online at: https://craigmod.com/onmargins/007/

A walk in the woods with Craig Mod discussing his book Koya Bound Jun 05, 2018

Craig Mod has been walking the historical mountains and paths of Japan for the last five years. In April of 2018 he went on a solo Kumano Kodo walk and made this recording discussing the economics and production of his 2016 book, Koya Bound: Eight days on the Kumano Kodo. The book was made in collaboration with Dan Rubin and was sponsored by Leica Cameras.

Full transcript and audio online at: https://craigmod.com/onmargins/006/

Jason Kottke and Twenty Years of kottke.org Apr 30, 2018

Kottke.org is a website. It is not an app. It is not a product. It is simply a static website, updated daily, running some rickety old blogging software.

As of March of 2018 it's been consistently updated for twenty years. It is largely the product of a single mind: Jason Kottke. Kottke.org has shaped the way many of us have thought about news, blogging, and linking.

On Margins talks with Jason about his two decades of blogging, influences in his life that shaped how he works today, and what kottke.org would look like were it a book.

Show Links:

Full transcript and audio online at: https://craigmod.com/onmargins/005/

Elena Favilli, the making of Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls Apr 09, 2018

An extended interview with Goodnight Stories for Rebel girls co-creator, Elena Favilli.

Co-founder of Timbuktu Labs, Elena Favilli, delves into how the company went from an award winning but ultimately unprofitable children's magazine app company, to an international bestselling publisher of physical books around the world.

We dig into why the iPad is perhaps not the best platform for publishers. How everything seemed so rosy back in 2011 for digital publishing. And how, ultimately, to build a strong and engaged community, they had to print a physical book.

Show links:

Full transcript and audio online at: https://craigmod.com/onmargins/004/

Kevin Kelly, Photographing and Backpacking Asia in the 1970s Oct 22, 2017

Technologist, futurist, author, and photographer Kevin Kelly discusses traveling during the golden age of global exploration.

We cover how photography has changed over the years, his decades investigating Asia in the 1970s and 80s, and how he self-produced (eventually getting it published by Taschen!) his Asia Grace book in the 90s.

Show Links:

Full transcript and audio online at: https://craigmod.com/onmargins/003/

Frank Chimero Jul 14, 2017

Designer and author Frank Chimero discusses the process behind his book, "The Shape of Design." We also dig into the normalization of paying creative people to make things via crowdfunding or patronage platforms, and why there's never been a better time to make books.

Show Links:

Full transcript and audio online at: https://craigmod.com/onmargins/002/

Jan Chipchase May 13, 2017

Episode 001 of On Margins — a podcast discussing the margins of making books — with Craig Mod and Jan Chipchase.

Researcher, ethnographer, and author Jan Chipchase has a new book — "The Field Study Handbook." We discuss how he came to produce this 500+ page magnum opus — a distillation of his life's work — and why he is self publishing.

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