Today’s show is another two-for-one of excellent poets! I met Elizabeth Ross when she was working for my publisher. She’s now a Hamilton resident which meant we got to chat in person, in the CFMU studios, about her newest collection, After Birth. Our second guest today is John Wall Barger, whose collection The Mean Game is also absolutely super…listen below!
fiction
E130 with LARISSA LAI
Attention, local types! The Hamilton Arts Council is now taking submissions for this year’s Hamilton Literary Awards. Check out the info here.
During this year’s Grit Lit festival I was lucky enough to host an event featuring Waubgeshig Rice, Thea Lim and this week’s guest, Larissa Lai. Larissa’s book, The Tiger Flu, is a fascinating story of a world in the future…so strange and wonderful. Larissa herself is amazing, and I really enjoyed our conversation. I hope you do too!
E129 with DOYALI ISLAM and CASSIDY McFADZEAN
April was poetry month, and now you’re getting the fruits of that in Get Lit land. The first of several interviews today, featuring two poets whose work came out with McClelland and Stewart this year. We’ll talk with Doyali Islam about her new collection Heft, and Cassidy McFadzean about her newest, Drolleries. Both great books, both thoughtful, wonderful people in my limited experiernce! Hope you enjoy our chats.
E128 with AMANDA LEDUC from the FOLD
Hey all! Hope life’s treating you well. No new news on my end, other than the continued attempt to finish a readable draft.
Despite a busy weekend (an old friend and former bandmate* is getting married) I’m gonna make some time to get out to Brampton, ON this weekend for the FOLD. The Festival of Literary Diversity has a stacked line-up this year so if you want to go hear some amazing writers speak and read, get yourself to Brampton May 2 – 5.
FOLD Communications and Development Coordinator, Hamilton author Amanda Leduc, joins us this week to discuss the festival. Dig!
* Yes I was in a band. We were called five becomes four (yes, all lower case, because ’90s). It was so long ago and we recorded so little that I can’t even link to anything to prove it. The best I could find was this. And that ain’t much.
E127 with ALICIA ELLIOTT
Hey folks!
I continue to forge forward on the new novel. I think I’m almost at a beta-reader-ready stage. It could be better – far better – but at the same time, how many hours do I want to spend polishing a draft that’s going to change anyway?
This week’s show features Alicia Elliott, whose collection of essays, A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, has been on the Canadian non-fiction bestseller list for weeks. I’ve seen Alicia speak and follow her on Twitter, so I knew she was passionate about indigenous issues, feminist issues, and more; in this book she illustrates that passion but also her compassion (sorry, couldn’t resist the italics). It’s an eye-opening book, “urgent and visceral” as the CBC said (better words than I could find as I dash off this post). Learn more in our conversation, and hope you dig.
E126 with KRISTEN WORLEY
Hey everyone
Helluva weekend for lit folk in Hamilton this past weekend. The Grit Lit festival was another great success. I got to meet and talk with authors such as Claudia Dey, Farzana Doctor, Waubgeshig Rice, Thea Lim, Larissa Lai, and see readings from so many others, including Andre Alexis, Randy Boyagoda, and OK, I’ll stop listing, there’s too many (I won’t even mention the may Hamilton folk and Get Lit supporters!) If you’re in the area next April, I highly recommend this festival.
This week we talk to author, designer and human rights activist Kristin Worley. Her book, Woman Enough: How a Boy Became A Woman and Changed the World of Sport, is available now, and it’s fascinating in all kinds of ways – the legal battles, the personal struggles, the science, the realities of being a trans person. Hope you enjoy the show.
E125 with THEA LIM
Hey all!
So, last week I spent five nights at a 20th floor AirBnB condo in Ottawa, ON. Why? Strictly to get cracking on the new book, get a lot of work done at once, and if possible, ride that momentum forward. I’m thrilled to say: achievement unlocked. I did four weeks’ worth of work in four days, and have managed to write every day since my return on Friday. It’s exciting, even if it’s scary as hell. I made some major changes and now, once again, I’m not 100% sure how my book ends! I guess I could plot it all out but…eh, we’ll find out when we get there. Yay, adventure!
The guest on GET LIT this week is Thea Lim. We talk about her first novel, also short-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, An Ocean of Minutes. Incredible book and a great conversation! She was amazing. If you are a fan, she’ll be doing TWO events in Hamilton this weekend (April 11 -1 4) including one I’ll plug because it’s mine. If you’re in the Hamilton area, you should come to this incredible event – Saturday April 13 at 9 pm.
Confronting the Apocalypse
In worlds devastated by disease and destruction, what does it take to survive? Resistance, resilience, rebirth, and the enduring, fearless power of hope shape post-apocalyptic tales by Larissa Lai (The Tiger Flu), Thea Lim (An Ocean of Minutes) and Waubgeshig Rice (Moon on the Crusted Snow). Hosted by Author and CFMU Presenter Jamie Tennant. (That’s me.)
For more information and to purchase tickets, click here. Otherwise, enjoy this week’s show!
E123 with JONATHAN ROTONDO
Hey folks!
Just a quick note about the show this week, that’s all…busy prepared for a mini-retreat to dive headlong into a new draft of the current novel.
Our guest is writer, former journalist and biplane pilot Jonathan Rotondo. Airborne: Finding Foxtrot Alpha Mike is a result of all three of those descriptors. Hope you enjoy the show!
E122 with HELEN MARSHALL
Hey folks!
This week our guest is Helen Marshall. Originally from Ontario, she now lives in the U.K. Her novel is entitled The Migration, and it’s a strange tale of…well, I don’t want to get into any of it because if you don’t know what’s coming, it’s better. Hope you enjoy our conversation!
E121 with AMY SPURWAY
Hey folks!
The wonders of publishing never cease. Incredibly, two and a half years after publication, The Captain of Kinnoull Hill has received a review in the University of Toronto Quarterly. It was an overdue issue, by about nine months. Still, will the wonders never cease? I have posted it in another blog – as the Quarterly is not free and I can’t post a link, the author has given me permission to cut and paste. Read it here.
This week’s guest is Dartmouth-based author Amy Spurway. Her book, Crow, is a wonderful read, I enjoyed getting to know its titular character. There’s a lot of personality in this one, and I hope you dig the interview.