If you've got an hour to spare...

... you could do a lot worse than listen to novelist George Saunders and songwriter Jason Isbell's recent Epic Conversation for GQ.

The conversation catches both of them reflecting on their craft at an interesting time in both their careers. Isbell's been on a great run of solo albums recently – his record Southeastern isone of the best records of the last 5 or so years - while Saunders, who I know a little less about, has just won the Man Booker prize for his novel Lincoln on the Bardo. I haven't read his short stories but Lincoln is a wonderful book. So the conversation catches them at a pretty high point in both their lives.

I've never heard a bad Isbell interview. He's thoughtful and considerate about his life and work - but free of any real pretension about any of it. The same can, it would seem, be said about Saunders too. There's no great talk about the struggle - they talk more about hard work and learning how to recognise the value of mistakes and where they can take you. The sort of thing that can only be learnt, I suppose, by spending an awful lot of time at a keyboard or guitar string. 

In fact the whole thing is so free of waffle that you'd almost believe that, with a bit of effort and determination, you could do the same thing too if you liked. If only it was that easy!

https://www.gq.com/story/jason-isbell-george-saunders-in-conversation?mbid=social_twitter