Reading Around the Margins

"Permeable boundaries with Lindsay Lerman"

Naomi is joined by Berlin-based novelist, philosopher, and translator Lindsay Lerman for a discussion that winds through Lindsay's experience with Perfume by Patrick Süskind and explores the physical experiences of reading, and reading as a practice of writing; how a book can open up a field that sparks the need to do or make something in response, whether it's a course, a book, a painting, or a devoted reading group; how permeability makes you a good storyteller; the necessary risks of being radically open to the world; and how the things we try to push away are the very things with which we must engage. Reading List + selected works from Lindsay Lerman Perfume [https://bookshop.org/p/books/perfume-the-story-of-murder-patrick-suskind/d60fd260ab194203?ean=9780375725845], Patrick Süskind The Knowable Unknown: "Dark Philosophy" and Fiction [https://thephilosophicalsalon.com/the-knowable-unknown-dark-philosophy-and-fiction/], Lindsay Lerman Your Life is Your Work of Art: on John Dewey's Art as Experience [https://web.archive.org/web/20220307170511/https://uncontemporaryreview.com/?p=490], Lindsay Lerman Lindsay's books [https://lindsaylerman.com/index.php/books/] Lindsay Lerman is a novelist, philosopher, and translator. Her first book, I'm From Nowhere, was published in 2019. Her second book, What Are You, was published in 2022. She has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Her short stories, interviews, essays, and occasional poems have been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, New York Tyrant, The Creative Independent, and elsewhere. Her work has been translated into German, French, and Greek. She lives in Berlin. Find a copy of Marginalia: an autobiography from Autofocus Books [https://autofocusbooks.com/store/p/marginalia], New York University Press [https://nyupress.org/9781957392394/marginalia/], or your local independent bookstore. Subscribe to Process Notes [https://naomiwasher.substack.com/] for further reflections on reading, subjectivity, and psychoanalysis.

"A letter outwards with Oonagh Devitt Tremblay"

Naomi is joined by writer and reader Oonagh Devitt Tremblay for a conversation that begins with Samuel Richardson's epistolary novel Clarissa and ends with Miriam Toews' recent epistolary memoir, A Truce that is Not Peace. Beginning with the fact of Tremblay's original copy of Clarissa having burned in a fire, we reflect on the impact of loss and lost objects, and how our relationship to loss changes over time; epistolary practice as a mode for processing experience, as diaries you can send away while also holding onto them; the links between epistolary practice and rejection; and writing book reviews as a true response and a letter outwards. Reading List Clarissa [https://bookshop.org/p/books/clarissa-or-the-history-of-a-young-lady-samuel-richardson/a29ae63b973e6a41?ean=9780140432152&next=t], Samuel Richardson A Truce that is Not Peace [https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-truce-that-is-not-peace-miriam-toews/01b05fd3265f2567?ean=9781639734740&next=t], Miriam Toews Iza's Ballad [https://bookshop.org/p/books/iza-s-ballad-magda-szabo/2b9ca2c657525715?ean=9781681370347&next=t], Magda Szabó Slouching Towards Bethlehem [https://bookshop.org/p/books/slouching-towards-bethlehem-essays-joan-didion/9438ff2599ebe53b?ean=9780374531386&next=t], Joan Didion Selected writing by Oonagh Devitt Tremblay Westward Glances: Home and the Crisis of Language in the Work of Miriam Toews [https://www.oonaghdt.com/westward-glances] Lauren Elkin's 'Scaffolding' Analyses Our Unconscious Desires [https://www.frieze.com/article/lauren-elkin-scaffolding-review-2024] Interview with babaà [https://babaa.es/blog/on-books-with-oonagh-devitt/] Oonagh Devitt Tremblay is a writer based in London. She writes novels and reviews books. Her criticism can be found in The Times Literary Supplement, Frieze, The London Magazine and Literary Review. She was born in France and raised in Canada and has lived in the UK since 2018.  Find a copy of Marginalia: an autobiography from Autofocus Books [https://autofocusbooks.com/store/p/marginalia], New York University Press [https://nyupress.org/9781957392394/marginalia/], or your local independent bookstore. Subscribe to Process Notes [https://naomiwasher.substack.com/] for further reflections on reading, subjectivity, and psychoanalysis.

"A habit of mind with Mark Haber"

Naomi is joined by writer Mark Haber for a conversation about the habit of mind cultivated through reading. We discuss the kind of writer who opens a door for other writers, tracing a thread through Haber’s early encounter with Kurt Vonengut to a later encounter and friendship with the Argentinian writer Rodrigo Fresán. We talk about voice-driven novels over plot-driven novels, books in conversation with each other, and books that don’t shy away from their influences, along with the American obsession with the myth of originality, of what’s never been done before. Our conversation is framed by Haber’s reading of Rodrigo Fresán’s book The Invented Part, translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden. Reading List The Invented Part [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-invented-part-rodrigo-fres-n/19ba61c74c6b61c1?ean=9781940953564&next=t], Rodrigo Fresán Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut Lesser Ruins [https://bookshop.org/p/books/lesser-ruins-mark-haber/31a9e7aa2aaaa7e5?ean=9781566897198&next=t], Mark Haber Reinhardt’s Garden [https://bookshop.org/p/books/reinhardt-s-garden-mark-haber/767e24968a7294b5?ean=9781566895620&next=t], Mark Haber Saint Sebastian’s Abyss [https://bookshop.org/p/books/saint-sebastian-s-abyss-mark-haber/0b50a8dece6f5a9c?ean=9781566896368&next=t], Mark Haber Pre-order Haber’s new novel ADA [https://coffeehousepress.org/products/ada], out July 14, 2026 with Coffee House Press here. Other Selected writing by Mark Haber How to Read Kafka [https://southwestreview.com/how-to-read-kafka/] César Aira Makes the Impossible Possible [https://lithub.com/cesar-aira-makes-the-impossible-possible/] The Writer You’ve Never Heard of that Made My Book Possible, on the life and writing of Mila Menendez Krause [https://lithub.com/the-writer-youve-never-heard-of-that-made-my-book-possible/] Mark Haber was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Florida. His debut novel, Reinhardt’s Garden (2019), was longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award. His second novel, Saint Sebastian’s Abyss (2022), and third, Lesser Ruins (2024) were both named as a best book of the year by the New York Public Library. His fourth novel, Ada, will be published this July. Mark's fiction has appeared in Guernica, Southwest Review, and LitHub, among others. Mark lives in Minneapolis. Find a copy of Marginalia: an autobiography from Autofocus Books [https://autofocusbooks.com/store/p/marginalia], New York University Press [https://nyupress.org/9781957392394/marginalia/], or your local independent bookstore. Subscribe to Process Notes [https://naomiwasher.substack.com/] for further reflections on reading, subjectivity, and psychoanalysis.

"Who speaks and who listens with Akshi Singh"

Naomi is joined by writer and psychoanalyst Akshi Singh. They speak about the kind of associations that prompt more writing in the margins versus the moments of significance that are less immediately available in words; teaching oneself to write dialogue in a novel; how a listener can fade into listening; the problems we're embroiled in while reading; how the carrying-on of one version of a life can involve the repression of one's own thoughts and wishes; and psychoanalysis, friendships, and diaries as spaces where speech and writing can create new experiences of thinking. Reading List Voices in the Evening [https://bookshop.org/p/books/voices-in-the-evening-natalia-ginzburg/3e37b6f16a9b0280?ean=9780811231008&next=t], Natalia Ginzburg A Life of One's Own [https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-life-of-one-s-own-marion-milner/d40fc030bcb11a2e?ean=9781032757551&next=t], Marion Milner How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978-1998 [https://bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-end-a-story-collected-diaries-1978-1998-helen-garner/3e07073663e3e055?ean=9780553387490&next=t], Helen Garner Selection of related essays by Akshi Singh When Raising Your Voice is Not Enough to be Heard [https://artreview.com/when-raising-your-voice-is-not-enough-to-be-heard-opinion-akshi-singh-anne-carson-gender-sound-laila-soueif/] Issey Miyake [https://granta.com/issey-miyake/] X [https://granta.com/x/] Akshi Singh is a writer and psychoanalyst. Born in India, she lives in Glasgow. Akshi is the author of In Defence of Leisure: Experiments in Living with Marion Milner (Jonathan Cape, 2025). She works across genres, writing memoir, criticism, fiction, and poetry. Her writing on psychoanalysis, art, and politics has appeared in Granta, Parapraxis, The London Review of Books, Art Review and elsewhere. She has a PhD in literature from the University of London. She was previously a Wellcome Trust funded postdoctoral fellow at Queen Mary, University of London, and Lecturer in Global Migrations at the University of Glasgow. She is Associate Editor at Parapraxis magazine and Deputy Editor at Critical Quarterly. Find a copy of Marginalia: an autobiography from Autofocus Books [https://autofocusbooks.com/store/p/marginalia], New York University Press [https://nyupress.org/9781957392394/marginalia/], or your local independent bookstore. Subscribe to Process Notes [https://naomiwasher.substack.com/] for further reflections on reading, subjectivity, and psychoanalysis.

"One word gives way to the next with Emily LaBarge"

For the first episode of Season 2, Naomi is joined by writer and art critic Emily LaBarge. We revisit marginalia from her copies of Amy Hempel's The Dog of the Marriage, Joan Didion's The White Album, Sylvia Plath's The Unabridged Journals, and Alice Munro's Who Do You Think You Are? exploring a lineage of library-keeping; book titles lost in translation across continents; forms of intertextual desire; marginalia as a record of life outside the book; the complexity of memory; and the internal rhythms of our prose style, as they develop consciously and unconsciously through our practice of reading and thinking. Reading List The Dog of the Marriage [https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-dog-of-the-marriage-stories_amy-hempel/433497/?srsltid=AfmBOoq0g-mLlBlJBmFzmiTCW8cF8GEPgTKUHQbw0aTcL7czp0Og6uC7#edition=3408785&idiq=2881129], Amy Hempel The White Album [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-white-album-essays-joan-didion/a7700f62bf86cd3d?ean=9780374532079&next=t], Joan Didion The Unabridged Journals [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-unabridged-journals-of-sylvia-plath-sylvia-plath/f107200eef314774?ean=9780385720250&next=t], Sylvia Plath Who Do You Think You Are? [https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/who-do-you-think-you-are_alice-munro/274305/item/83627195/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=LCE_low_vol_f%2fm%2fs_standard_shopping_customer_aquisition_22591097975&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=754049995133&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22591097975&gbraid=0AAAAADwY45gWYXvE4lssj0pjDE2he0vac&gclid=CjwKCAjwtvvPBhBuEiwAPMijr4N8fkwsqYvuTWMwKuJLSTyyh14IqMRPs8LpVICrqME4qpVXzAUPiBoCSFoQAvD_BwE#idiq=83627195&edition=65398465], Alice Munro Selection of related essays by Emily LaBarge "Best Book of 1978: Who Do You Think You Are?" [https://granta.com/best-book-of-1978-who-do-you-think-you-are/] "Chantal Akerman's Elusive Interiors: what the filmmaker's portrayal of women reveals--and withholds" [https://yalereview.org/article/emily-labarge-chantal-akerman] "What Wasn't There" [https://www.affidavit.art/articles/what-wasnt-there] Purchase LaBarge's debut DOG DAYS [https://www.emilylabarge.co.uk/work/dog-days] Emily LaBarge is a Canadian writer living in London. Her essays and criticism have appeared in Granta, the London Review of Books, Artforum, mousse, Bookforum, Frieze, The Observer, and The Paris Review, among others. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times and 4Columns. She is the author of Dog Days (Peninsula Press, 2025; Transit and Hamish Hamilton Canada, 2026). Find a copy of Marginalia: an autobiography from Autofocus Books [https://autofocusbooks.com/store/p/marginalia], New York University Press [https://nyupress.org/9781957392394/marginalia/], or your local independent bookstore. Subscribe to Process Notes [https://naomiwasher.substack.com/] for further reflections on reading, subjectivity, and psychoanalysis.