Quote: “The only thing he knows what to do with a bad feeling is to turn it into anger.”

• Djamel White reads from All Them Dogs, introducing Tony Ward and the gritty, immediate voice that drives the novel.
• White reacts to the Booker Prize longlisting, describing the experience as exciting, overwhelming, and stomach turning.
• He talks about growing up without books in the house, and how school first introduced him to reading and stories.
• The novel’s structure comes from Tony’s voice, with White explaining how the extended monologue creates an “all gas, no brakes” momentum.
• White describes writing while managing a tattoo shop and finishing college, balancing a full degree with work after COVID.
• Tony Ward returns to Dublin after five years away, trying to re-enter a criminal world that has moved on without him.
• The discussion explores the collapse of moral codes in modern Dublin crime, and how capitalism, money, and survival have replaced older gangland loyalties.
• White reflects on the housing crisis and young adult frustration in Ireland, noting how Tony’s instability mirrors a wider generational experience.
• Motherhood and fatherhood are central themes, especially the different maternal figures in the book and the damaging absence of fathers.
• White explains Tony’s anger, vulnerability, and arrested development, showing how fear, shame, and desire for belonging drive him forward.
• Image, taste, and identity matter throughout the novel, from clothes and watches to music and aesthetic self-awareness.
• White discusses literary influences, including Enda O’Brien, Joyce Carol Oates, and Carson McCullers.

Timestamps

00:00 - Is “Pray I’ll Be a Failure” a real song?

02:27 - Reading from All Them Dogs and the voice of Tony Ward

05:55 - Booker Prize longlisting and the emotional fallout

06:25 - Discovering books as the first reader in his family

08:18 - Writing a novel that feels like watching a movie

09:46 - Working in a tattoo shop while writing

11:00 - Tony Ward returns to a gangland that has moved on

14:28 - Dublin crime, old moral codes, and their collapse

16:24 - The housing crisis and a generation with little to show

16:51 - Tony’s narrow choices and emotional vulnerability

18:34 - Why Tony is in arrested development

19:30 - Anger as Tony’s engine and survival tool

21:05 - The mothers in the novel and what they reveal

22:43 - Fathers, absence, and family damage

24:27 - Grooming, mentorship, and boys drawn into crime

25:56 - Clothes, watches, and Tony’s aesthetic instincts

27:54 - Tony’s taste, identity, and the image-obsessed world

29:16 - Chekhov’s gun and why the book uses a policeman instead

31:16 - Books on the shelf: Enda O’Brien, Joyce Carol Oates, Carson McCullers

32:41 - Why Carson McCullers matters to White

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