Derek McCormack

My guest on this episode is Derek McCormack. Derek is the author of more than a dozen books, including Dark Rides, The Haunted Hillbilly, and The Well-Dressed Wound. He has written frequently about fashion and art for places like Artforum and The Believer, and was a regular fashion writer for the National Post. His most recent book is Judy Blame’s Obituary: Writings on Fashion and Death, a collection of his fashion writing published in 2022 by Pilot Press. The Heavy Feather Review called Judy Blame’s Obituary “a furious haberdashery of [McCormack’s] own shining and ghostly obsessions. When writing about fashion, McCormack is writing about his life.”

Derek and I talk about his complicated literary reputation, about writers needing to fight against their natural desire for attention and acceptance, and, not uncoincidentally, about publishing a novel with a title I am too boring and polite to say out loud on a podcast.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.

Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.