Interviews

Published to coincide with the US release of Allen Ginsberg: A Critical Biography (Reaktion Books), this interview covers Finbow's years as Ginsberg's research assistant and archivist in New York, his personal recollections of the poet, and the process of writing the biography.

A conversation about The Mindshaft, Finbow's book based on the infamous members-only BDSM gay leather bar and sex club of the same name, exploring its history and cultural significance.

A wide-ranging conversation covering Finbow's upbringing, his time working as Allen Ginsberg's research assistant, his interest in transgressive literature and limit-experience, the research behind The Mindshaft, and his musical influences from Throbbing Gristle to Les Rallizes Dénudés.

A detailed interview focused on Finbow's own diagnoses — including acute pancreatitis and type-1 diabetes — and how these experiences shaped his writing life, with particular reference to Notes from the Sick Room and the newly illustrated Grave Desire.

Finbow selects the books he would take to the grave, including Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, in a wide-ranging conversation about reading, mortality, and the literary influences that have shaped his work.

An in-depth conversation on the newly illustrated edition of Grave Desire: A Cultural History of Necrophilia, exploring the motivations behind necrophilia and corpse desecration, and examining how taboos become normalised across cultures and centuries.