My third person bio
Gregory Kearns is a poet, critic and podcast host based in Liverpool. His work has been published in Bath Magg, The Mersey Review, and was a winner of Northern Poetry Award for Debut Poetry in 2022. He has worked with organisations including No Dice Collective and English Heritage. He is also a reviewer for the Poetry Book Society Bulletin and an alumnus of The Writing Squad. Gregory hosts The Poems We Made Along The Way, a poetry podcast that explores craft and the importance of community in literary development.
Why I love podcasts?
My ears have always been the fulcrum of my relationship with literature. Maybe because I’m dyslexic, the daily event of my mum reading a bed time story persisting to an older age then I suspect did for most of my contemporary (if I didn’t live in a different county and if she returned my phone calls, she’d still be reading bedtime stories to me now). From an early age asking questions was fundamental to how I engaged with books, often asking my mum about words I didn’t understand.
I’ve also have loved audiobooks since as long as I can remember. I treasured my collection of cassettes, CDs and then loving an audiobook subscription service. As I got older I got an iPod Classic, which in my opinion is the peak of human achievement (though other mp3 players available). Having iPod opened up a whole new medium to me… the podcast!
Some other podcasts to check out
Some favourite Poetry Podcasts
I listen to loads of poetry podcasts, I’ve limited myself to five (for now), so that I don’t just end up listing every poetry podcast that exists.
Faber and Faber Poetry Podcast
Rachael Allen and Jack Underwood talk to pairs of poets about their work and their writing totems: usually objects (sometimes rituals) that help the poet stay the course while writing. Particular favourite episode is with guests Mary Jean Chan and Rebecca Tamás.
The VS Podcast
VS are long-form interviews with poets, hosted by two pairs: Ajanaé Dawkins and Brittany Rogers, previously Franny Choi and Danez Smith. Each episode pit the guest against the topic or concept they find themselves wrestling with. Highlight episode is there conversation with Ross Gay.
Arji’s Poetry Pickle Jar
A show where Arji Manuelpillai talks to a poet guest about a poem they particularly love. The only poetry podcast I know of with explosion sound effects. Highlight episode with Yomi Sode.
Planet Poetry
Amazing podcast and one I rely on to research many of my own guests. Peter Kenny and Robin Houghton, the hosts, have wonderful conversations before and after the interviews themselves. A highlight episode is their conversation with Mimi Khalvati.
Poem Talk
Round table discussions focusing on an audio recording of a poet performing their work taken from the PennSound Archive. Each episode is steered by Al Filreis and helped by a handful of poets and academics to close-read (but not too close). A highlight episode for me is them talking about the poem A Bird in the House by Robin Blaser.
Non-Poetry Podcasts
Of course I do like somethings that aren’t poetry related, so here are some of the podcasts that are important to me (and/or have been influential to how The Poems We Made Along The Way came to be).
The Comedian’s Comedian Podcast
I won’t go into loads of details about this podcast as I’ve also covered it a little on the About the Podcast page. It’s a show where comedian Stu Goldsmith talks to other comedians about the craft of comedy.
Song Exploder
Host Hrishikesh Hirway talks to a guest about a song they were instrumental in putting together. They dig deep into the intricacies of song writing, production and the life events that informed track.
The Adam Buxton Podcast/ Adam and Joe
Now technically this is two completely different shows, but I’ve combined them, as much for format variation as well as for their obvious connection.
Adam and Joe was a radio show that I think you could download the episodes (I know in many cases that is still what effectively a podcast is). It was introduced to me by a cousin who would let me listen to episodes on his iPod.
The Adam Buxton podcast, hosted by Adam Buxton formerly of the Adam and Joe radio show. Long-form interviews interrupted by the occasional silly jingle.
The Guardian Books Podcast
They did cover quite a bit of poetry on this podcast, so I’ve maybe I’m playing hard and fast with the arbitrary rules I’ve set up for myself. However, I used to love listening The Guardian Books Podcasts which was regularly hosted by Claire Armistead, Richard Lea and Sian Cain. They covered a smorgasbord of literary topics and guests. Though the highlights for me where when they were disagreeing with each other about something or other (I remember it happening all the time, but I’m sure if I listened through the back catalogue I’m sure it was a rare occurrence).
