In this extended conversation with Andy Warner, we take an extra 20 minutes to nerd out about independent publishing, cultural diplomacy, raves in Iran, sex and drugs in Beirut, and the reverberations of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Andy is an artist and writer of non-fiction comics, and an editor for international cartoon platform The Nib. His books include Brief Histories of Everyday Objects, This Land Is My Land, and Spring Rain: A Graphic Memoir of Love, Madness, and Revolution.
Spring Rain is Andy's memoir of his undergraduate sojourn in Beirut in 2005, studying Arab literature and joining with fellow expatrates to explore Lebanon's diverse culture. When he arrived, the nation had enjoyed years of relative peace, but within weeks he found himself in the middle of a popular uprising. As the political fault lines fractured, Warner found his own mental state fracturing as well, with both situations growing increasingly tenuous.
The original broadcast version of this episode can be found at this link.
- KBOO