It Starts With Anger - An Interview With Filmmaker / Author James Spooner On His New Book

Audio interview with James Spooner - filmmaker, author, graphic novelist and tattoo artist. His new book was released in the summer of 2026 and is titled “It Starts With Anger: A Punk Beginning, An AfroPunk Ending.”

Spooner directed the 2003 documentary film “Afro-Punk” and later co-founded the Afro-Punk Festival. By 2009 the festival had grown away from it’s DIY punk roots and into a corporate-sponsored event and Spooner stepped away from being involved with the festival.

“High Desert” is Spooner’s 2022 Graphic novel about growing up in the 80’s grappling with racism and isolation in Apple Valley California and being inspired by the community and ideas of the evolving punk rock scene. Spooner is also co-author of the 2023 book “Black Punk Now” with Chris L. Terry.

James Spooner will be presenting his new book “It Starts With Anger” in Santa Cruz, California on Friday, November 13 at 6:00 PM at the UC Santa Cruz Institute for Arts and Sciences. The evening will be a conversation moderated by cartoonist Johnny Damm.

This interview was originally broadcast on November 5, 2026 on Transformation Highway with John Malkin on KZSC 88.1 FM / kzsc.org, broadcasting from the University of California Santa Cruz. Listen Thursdays at noon PST.