For the latest SWH! podcast Ali caught up with previous guest, writer Iain Maloney. A visit from Iain is always a special occasion as he resides in Japan, and his latest book, The Only Gaijin In The Village, is all about his experiences of moving to and living in another country, and coming to terms with the resulting clash of cultures.
Maloney may be better known as a novelist, but the The Only Gaijin In The Village is a fascinating book, and arguably his best yet. It is similar in tone to the travelogues of Bill Bryson or the writing of Clive James (and he certainly shares a love of a pun and one-liner with the latter), and is a pleasure to read from start to finish.
As such it was illuminating to talk to Iain about why he decided to write this book, discuss favourite sections and stories, and dig a bit deeper into many of the themes and ideas contained. Hopefully it will persuade you that if you are to buy only one book about life in Japan, it will be The Only Gaijin In The Village (out now on Polygon Books).
Iain will be appearing at Aye Write!, 6-7pm, 12th March, and you can get your tickets here – Iain Maloney at Aye Write!
If you are new round these parts there is quite a substantial back-catalogue of podcasts for you to discover. If you aren’t yet a subscriber you can do so, (or simply listen) at iTunes, on Podbean, with Spotify, by RSS (but you’ll need to have an RSS reader to do so) or on MixCloud.
You can also download the podcast by clicking on the relevant link to the right of this post, or, if you want it right here, right now, you can listen on SoundCloud…
..or on YouTube:
There are many SWH! podcasts coming your way in March, including the latest in our Scottish Opera series, as well as other in-depth interviews with various movers and shakers in Scottish culture…