Listen "Episode 22: Kyle Beachy"
Episode Synopsis
The Interview: Kyle Beachy has been skateboarding for as long as he’s been creating stories. For him, the two have always been intertwined. After releasing the coming-of-age novel The Slide in 2009, he began to write more seriously about skateboarding, as aficionado, critic, and essayist. A decade’s worth of this material is now included in The Most Fun Thing (Grand Central Publishing), his second, book-length collection. The Most Fun Thing delves deep into skateboarding's origins and ethos. What is skateboarding? What does it mean to continue skateboarding after the age of 40, four decades after the kickflip was invented? How does one live authentically as an adult while staying true to a passion hatched in childhood? How does skateboarding shape one's understanding of contemporary American life? Contemplating these questions and more, Beachy offers a deep exploration of a pastime—often overlooked, regularly maligned—whose seeming simplicity conceals universal truths.Beachy is a professor of English and Creative Writing at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where he has taught for more than a decade. He sat down with J.C. Gabel earlier this fall to discuss the new book, nonfiction vs. fiction writing, and how exactly skateboarding has shaped his life. The Reading: Kyle Beachy reads from his latest collection, The Most Fun Thing. Music by Hieroglyphics
More episodes of the podcast Big Table
Episode 56: Evelyn McDonnell on Joan Didion
19/06/2024
Episode 54: Prudence Peiffer
08/03/2024
Episode 53: Two Poets in Conversation
31/08/2023
Episode 52: A Chapter about Slime
20/07/2023
Episode 50: dublab: Live from NeueHouse
04/05/2023
Episode 49: Tim Carpenter
27/03/2023
Episode 48: Steven Heller
24/02/2023
Episode 47: Bruce Adams
03/02/2023
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.