Ep.31: DJAMEL WHITE

Irish debut novelist Djamel White joins host Elena Lappin to discuss his soulful novel All Them Dogs, a Booker Prize longlisted book set in contemporary West Dublin gangland. The conversation covers the author's love of reading, the raw voice and momentum of the novel, and the social and emotional forces shaping his vulnerable and violent young protagonist, Tony Ward.

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

Key topics

• 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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