Hey folks! This week we chat about Hamilton bookseller Bryan Prince. We then have a feature interview with Emily Robbins, whose debut novel A Word for Love is out via Riverhead / Penguin Random House. Hope you enjoy!
Get Lit
Get Lit Episode 13…and The Captain of Kinnoull Hill EBOOK!
Yeah, don’t click on that. It’s just an image.
With many thanks to the good folks at Palimpsest Press, The Captain of Kinnoull Hill is finally avalable as an ebook! I screencapped Amazon so, you know, I could have an image of some kind with this post…but you can buy it in all ebook formats in most of your favourite ebook sellin’ places. Thanks for your patience.
Speaking of buying books…this week’s episode of Get Lit features an interview with Scott Dagostino, manager at Glad Day Bookstore in Toronto. Glad Day is the world’s oldest LGBT bookstore. Scott’s a thoughtful and well-spoken fellow, and I really enjoyed this interview. Hope you do as well!
Get Lit Episode 11 with Jennifer Gillies (GritLit) and Marnie Woodrow (author of Heyday)
Finally, Get Lit is available at jamietennant.ca!
In case you have no idea what that means, an introduction. In November 2016 – on my 47th birthday, for some reason – I started Get Lit, a weekly 30-minute literary program on 93.3 CFMU FM (Hamilton, ON) and online on Soundcloud. We feature authors, booksellers, publishers, poets – anyone related to books and literature.
I’ll post the show here on a weekly basis, and try to upload some past episodes as well. This episode features GritLit’s Jennifer Gillies and author Marnie Woodrow. Marnie’s exceptional book Heyday won the Hamilton Literary Award for fiction in 2016.
E08 with DAVID LEE
Feature interview with author David Lee. His book The Midnight Games is based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft…sort of? Also, Lee wrote a book about Ornette Coleman, so, instant cred.
Enjoy!
E07 with SEAN MICHAELS
Hey folks!
In the early days of this program, I wasn’t swamped with wonderful reading material as I am today. This is one of the few examples of a filler – i.e. when I took a past interview and “turned it into” an episode of Get Let.
But what filler! 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Sean Michaels!
I had the distinct pleasure of working, however briefly, with Sean Michaels. As he runs the music blog Said the Gramophone, he’s considered a music journo; as Program Director at CFMU and freelancer, I am the same. As such, we’re both on the jury for the Polaris Music Prize. In 2013, the year of the “controversial” Godspeed You! Black Emperor win, both Sean and I were on the grand jury. He was “working on a book” at the time and was remarkably modest about it, even though that book turned out to be the fabulous Us Conductors. If you watched the Gillers that year, that look of shock on his face when he won? 100% genuine. A humble fellow and a cool dude.
Anyhow, I interviewed him a propos of nothing, and here it is now, repackaged as episode seven of Get Lit. Dig!
E06 with ANDREW BAULCOMB
Hey folks! This show features my pal and fellow Hamilton music enthusiast Andrew Baulcomb, talking about his music history/memoir, Evenings and Weekends. Enjoy.
E05 with JOWITA BYDLOWSKA
Jowita Bydlowska gained fame and a bit of notoriety with her memoir Drunk Mum. Her hilarious (yet also pointed and critical) novel, Guy, is available through Hamilton’s Wolsak and Wynn!
E04 with NOELLE ALLEN from WOLSAK AND WYNN
If you’re doing a Hamilton-based literary show/podcast, you have to talk to Noelle Allen. Wolsak and Wynn is the city’s premiere independent publisher and it was a pleasure to talk to Noelle about the house. Noelle is also a tireless supporter of the Hamilton lit scene and is actually the reason I’m published!
You see, Noelle’s one of those publishers who actually takes the time to help you out even though she can’t publish your book. When I first sent The Captain of Kinnoull Hill to publishers (after all the nation’s agencies turned me down, of course), I was overwhelmed at the number of publishers. I decided, for my own sanity, to start local and move outwards. Noelle wasn’t able to publish me, but she thought there was something there, and suggested publishers A, B and C. I sent it to A. A made me an offer. So, Noelle clearly rocks.
Hope you dig.
E03 with EMILY SASO
Back when I first started out on this “published author” gig, I got to travel to Midland, ON to be part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors. It was a travellin’ roadshow kinda deal, a reading featuring myself, Jowita Bydlowska, and Emily Saso. Emily and I swapped books and that’s how I discovered her amazing novel The Weather Inside. You should check it out if you have not already, and keep an eye out for new work from her. She is boss.
E02 with MADELEINE THIEN
This was the second show I ever did, and let me tell you, it was a thrill to be able to talk to someone as amazing and (frankly) popular as Madeleine Thien. She had just won the Giller for Do Not Say We Have Nothing. This fledgling program was not on anyone’s radar yet, so I felt that having her name on E02 would help me garner more guests. It probably did help, but more importantly, Madeleine was wonderful and even took the time to speak to me when she was in Hamilton for her event. I was new to this world; she helped me feel more comfortable in it.
Hope you dig.