Episode Eight: Johnny Temple (Akashic Books, Girls Against Boys)

We met with Johnny Temple at Akashic Books’ Brooklyn office for a conversation that covered noir, curating, selling books, the current state of affairs in print media (not the usual opinion you’d expect), and Akashic’s unique vision for what a publishing house should be.  If you’re not familiar with it, Akashic is “dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors who are either ignored by the mainstream, or who have no interest in working within the ever-consolidating ranks of the major corporate publishers.”  So, the original indie record label template, but for books.  The starting point for our conversation was Akashic’s slogan, “Reverse Gentrification of the Literary World,” which I love.

Track List: “The Go From Tactical” from Populations; “Stockhausen Serves Imperialism” from Populations.