“Instagram is like Methodone to Twitter’s heroin” Burroughs helps rewire his brain, and the great anonymous allure of the first-time novelist. We also talk about his critique of global capitalism, the problems with permanent austerity, American and UK tabloid culture, standing up David Bowie (twice), returning to Ulysses every few years, the ways William S. “I think it’s good for me as a writer not to be hanging out with writers all the time.”
We caught up in his Chicago home and talked about writing, boxing, the art world, the White Sox, the creative flourish that’s seen him publish three novels in four years, the perils of success and exhausting your autobiography, the periods of life he’s interested in writing about, his first meeting with Iggy Pop, his childhood and the school-days’ balance of being a reader and being a jock, the narcissism of online living, Trainspotting over the years, Edinburgh’s failed gentrification, the ways that America’s friendlier than Scotland, and more! Give it a listen! Irvine Welsh has created unforgettable characters in his novels, beginning with the cast of Trainspotting in 1993. “What would young, pre-Trainspotting Irvine Welsh think of you now?” Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | RSS