I really enjoyed talking to Tom about his work a few weeks back, hosted by Sam Kelly at the MIT Press Podcast. Tom and I have been friends for a few years now, since Cave Twitter coalesced into the Vast Abrupt. The last time we saw each other, he and Laurie Kent came round for dinner at XG HQ after the Mark Fisher Memorial Lecture and we broke bread with the Gruppo Ni Nun. I’m very much looking forward to pints when we return to the before-times.
Having known each other for a while, it was quite strange to come together like this and talk business, but it was also a good excuse to just gush over Tom’s work for an hour, which I hugely admire. Listening back, my questions for Tom were big — perhaps a little too big — but that is why his work is so interesting. To think about things at the biggest possible scale is something I struggle with — a lot of my own work struggles with this quite openly, actually. But Tom’s work makes it look very easy, and it is thrilling for that.
Check the podcast out below or search “MIT Press Podcast” wherever you get your podcasts.