Coffee Break with Rishi Dastidar | Cherry Blossom at Nightbreak

In our last Coffee Break episode before we break for the summer, Nadine sits down with poet Rishi Dastidar to talk about his path into poetry (starting cold at age 30 after discovering Durs Grünbein's Ashes for Breakfast), the making of his new collection Cherry Blossom at Night Break, and how he's learned to let go of controlling what readers take from his work. They also get into his creative routine, why ambient noise beats silence, and his enduring, occasionally MRI-scanned, devotion to Everton FC.Highlights:2:30 – Discovering poetry by accident at a Borders bookstore9:00 – The funniest misinterpretation of one of his poems13:00 – Curating "Cherry Blossom at Night Break" from 100+ poems21:00 – Why you can write poetry anywhere, including the bus to Ikea39:00 – Hitting the wall, and why nothing gets thrown away44:00 – Redefining what "success" means as a writer49:00 – Everton, identity, and an MRI brain-scan football experimentRishi Dastidar's Recommendations:Ashes for Breakfast by Durs GrünbeinGrand Partita by Matthew McDonaldMartini Shot podcast by Rob LongFollow Rishi DastidarBuy Cherry Blossom at NightbreakBuy the Book: The Shadow CarverBuy me a cup of coffee ☕️ | Buy books by my guestsFollow Me Bluesky | Substack | Instagram | Facebook | Threads Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.