Forms of masculinity and coming of age with Avi Duckor-Jones

Better Words

Avi Duckor-Jones trained as a lawyer before gaining his MA in creative writing from Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters in 2013. His travel writing has been published with BBC Travel, The NZ Listener and Lonely Planet, among others. Avi has worked as a writing instructor and trip leader for National Geographic, directed a school in Ghana, and is the winner of the reality television competition Survivor New Zealand. His first book, Swim, won the 2018 Viva la Novella award. He currently lives on Waiheke Island with his wife and two children, where he enjoys open-water distance swimming and works as an English Teacher

Our interview begins at 25.00

We've got a Substack publication now! On the last day of the month, we share recommendations for two things we reckon you should read/watch/listen to. The beauty of Substack is you can revisit all our old editions and comment on our episode updates to share your thoughts. Come say hi!

Caitlin recommends: I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue*

An incredibly funny and relatable workplace comedy where a woman gets access to the emails of everyone in her company.

Michelle recommends: Family Politics by John O'Farrell

A left-wing campaigning couple's son comes home from uni and tells them he's... a conservative. If you've read a comment thread that's been controversial online in the past few years, you'll relate to many of the conversations.

In this interview, we chat about:

• The duality of identity, and exploring this through the character of Max
• Choosing the time period to set the book and how changing this affected the story
• Masculinity and the influence of the 'Southern Man' advertising campaign in New Zealand
• Exploring bisexuality and the feeling of needing to 'choose'
• Max's journey to finding and connecting with his birth parents
• The character of Busby and the found family that supports Max
• Avi's long and winding road to becoming a writer

Books and other things mentioned:

• Making It by Laura Kay (a friend of the pod, listen to our previous episode here)
• Experienced by Kate Young
• We Are History (podcast)
• The VB advertising campaign
• I Kissed A Boy and I Kissed A Girl (TV series)
• The Primal Wound by Nancy Verrier

Follow @aviduckorjones on Instagram

Max is available in Australia and New Zealand. Thank you to the publisher for providing us copies of the books in preparation for the interview.

Connect with us on Instagram: @betterwordspod