Fate of the Arts, with Anthony Etherin

In this conversation from 2021, Anthony Etherin and Ian McMillan discuss poems, unusual words, puns, and building a career in poetry. Ian McMillan is a celebrated British poet. Known as the “Bard of Barnsley”, he is also an accomplished broadcaster and presenter of BBC Radio 3’s The Verb. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus epis...

In this conversation from 2021, Anthony Etherin and Clara Etherin speak with two of Anthony’s fellow palindromists — standup comedian Mark Saltveit and bassoonist Lori Wike. This extensive episode traces the history of palindromes. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anthonyetherin.substack.com

Anthony Etherin and Lori Wike meet to discuss the challenges and new opportunities facing today’s symphony orchestras, the merits and pitfalls of AI, and the artistic value of imperfection. Lori Wike is a musician, palindromist, writer, and puzzler based in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is principal bassoon of the Utah Symphony and teaches at the University of Utah and Westminster College. This is a p...

This is a reupload of a 2022 conversation between Anthony Etherin, Andrew Hugill, and Christian Bök. In this episode, Anthony Etherin speaks with Andrew Hugill, author of ‘Pataphysics: A Useless Guide (MIT Press, 2012), and Christian Bök, author of ‘Pataphysics: The Poetics of an Imaginary Science (Northwestern University Press, 2001). The three pataphysicians present an introduction to ‘Pataphysi...

This is a reupload of a conversation between Anthony Etherin and Sasha Stiles from 2023. Topics of conversation include AI-generated poetry, NFTs, transhumanism, and the future of poetry. Sasha Stiles is an award-winning Kalmyk-American poet, artist, and AI researcher whose work uses language to explore what it means to be human in an increasingly more-than-human age. This is a public episode. If...

Anthony Etherin and Christian Bök meet to discuss the completion of Christian’s Xenotext project, AI as a creative force, and the future of art. Christian Bök is the author of Eunoia (Coach House Books, 2001) – a work of unorthodox literature, which has won the Griffin Poetry Prize. Bök has received worldwide attention for his ongoing project, The Xenotext (which requires him to encode poetry into...

This is a reupload of a conversation between Anthony Etherin and Anthony Horowitz from 2022. Topics of conversation include wordplay and structure, genre and tradition, and adapting novels for film and TV. Anthony Horowitz is a British novelist and screenwriter, best known for his popular children’s and young adult fiction as well as crime novels for adults. He is the creator of the Alex Rider ser...

Anthony Etherin and Rob Watts meet to discuss their mutual interests in linguistics and etymology, the success of Rob’s YouTube channel RobWords , and the future of YouTube as a platform. Rob Watts runs the popular YouTube channel RobWords, where he tells stories about word origins and the quirks of the English language. Before becoming a full-time word nerd, he worked as a newsreader for the BBC...

This is a reupload of a conversation between Anthony Etherin and Jane Espenson from 2022. In Episode 1 of Fate of the Arts , Anthony and Jane discussed the present and future of television. In this more wordplay-focussed episode, topics include conceptual metaphor, sound symbolism, word games, literary constraints, branding, and ‘Buffy Speak’. Jane Espenson is an Emmy-nominated and Hugo-award winn...

Anthony Etherin meets with Jane Espenson to discuss the ways new media and streaming have changed TV writing — and the innovations set to shape the future of television. Jane Espenson is an Emmy-nominated and Hugo-award winning television writer best known for her work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Gilmore Girls, Game of Thrones, Battlestar Galactica, and Foundation , among other series. S...