Lyle Young

It was terrific for this week’s Nostalgia Interview to meet Lyle Young. Lyle is a research and innovation coordinator for the University of Kent and was formerly a student at Kent where he studied English for his degree. Originally from Hertfordshire, Lyle talks about Canterbury being his adopted home and we learn about his love of literature and of being a novelist.

We learn how he came to work in event organization and comms and about two novels he has written. Lyle wrote for 30 minutes a day on his most recent book which he explains is a work of sci-fi that’s similar to the world of Ready Player One about someone who wants to be a video game streamer. He enjoys writing about young people.

Lyle talks about how his girlfriend has been really good at helping him and he discusses one’s motivations for doing things and whether we ultimately do them for ourselves.

We learn about Lyle’s influences which include Philip K. Dick and Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days and how they’re not about the future but about now. We talk about how we can adapt with the aid of technology and how this applied during lockdown.

Lyle has been playing the guitar since he was 10, and he remembers his dad playing ELO in the car. Lyle reflects on how music can be so tribal especially between indie and metal and how for his generation it will be more common to listen to music on the internet rather than the radio. We find out, too, about the music that Lyle himself puts out.

At the end of the interview, Lyle talks about how his memories are positive and we discuss the nature of the banal as well as why neither looking back nor forward have done him much good.

Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Lyle Young and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.