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McMaster University

E161 with LESLIE SHIMOTAKAHARA

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It amazes me, quite honestly, that GET LIT is in its fourth season. The first episode aired on my 47th birthday, and now we’re here, on the cusp of 2020, with the one hundred sixty-first episode. How’d that happen?

What this means is I’m starting to get more and more repeat authors, who have new books available (what a kick in the pants for me to make MY next book happen!) (it’s finished, I just need to shop it).

Today’s guest, back for a second time, is the fantastic Leslie Shimotakahara. We talk about her newest, Red Oblivion. Check it out and if you like it, you can hear her talk about her last novel, After the Bloom, in Episode 24.

Merry merry and happy happy, all!

E160 with DAVE KURUC of KING WEST BOOKS

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Hi everyone! Taking a break from authors this week to make it local. We talk with Dave Kuruc, owner of King West Books, about…well, books, among other things!

Also: the 26th Annual Hamilton Arts Council Literary Awards were held this week, hosted by CBC personality Jeff Goodes. It was the culmination of much effort on the part of the HAC as well as the Literary Committee, of which I am privileged to be a part. I even got to step in on behalf of absent sponsor PV&V Insurance and present this year’s Kerry Schooley Award.

The Schooley award goes to the book that best encapsulates the spirit of Hamilton. This year’s winner was author and poet John Terpstra. It’s possible a collective “oof” was heard at City Hall over the news, as his winning title is Daylighting Chedoke, a work that “weaves the history of the creek with the lyrical observations of nature and humankind’s connections to nature that he is celebrated for, while also examining the reality of our contaminated waterways.” As he pointed out at the podium, it was a timely win, though perhaps not for the greatest reasons, given this is the year of Sewergate. If you don’t know what that means, read this and weep.

(You can listen to John and I chat about the book here!)

Darrell Epp won the poetry award for his collection Sinner’s Dance, the fiction award went to Sylvia McNicoll for her book Body Swap, and the non-fiction award went to legendary playwright Sky Gilbert for small things: a random selection of anti-essays.

Hope you dig this week’s show.

E159 with SEAN MICHAELS (Pt 2)

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Here’s the second half of the Sean Michaels show, recorded in conversation at the Hamilton Public Library. Not only do we talk about The Wagers but there’s a Q&A at the end and an amazing story about luck that involves an infamous software developer. Trust me.

Once again, apologizes for the sound quality; there was no way to monitor as we recorded and any time one of us speaks too loudly there is distortion. The conversation was so good and Sean is so entertaining and insightful that we decided to air it anyway. Dig!

E158 with SEAN MICHAELS (Pt 1)

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Hey folks! A few weeks back, I was given the opportunity to host Sean Michaels in conversation at the Hamilton Public Library. I’ve known Sean since 2013, before his Giller-winning Us Conductors was released; we met on the grand jury for the Polaris Music Prize.

It was fantastic to get to talk to Sean, at length, about his newest novel. The Wagers is a very different book than Us Conductors, but I loved it immensely just the same.

This episode is separated into two parts (the second comes next week). I must apologize for the sound quality; there was no way to monitor as we recorded and any time one of us speaks too loudly there is distortion. I weighed the pros and cons and decided to air it anyhow, as the conversation was so good and Sean is so entertaining and insightful. Enjoy!

E156 with DR. RAM GUHA & DR. CHANDRIMA CHAKRABORTY

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Today’s show involves very little me! Which is a nice change. Instead, the head of McMaster’s Peace Studies program, Dr. Chandrima Chakraborty, interviews Dr. Ram Guha about his epic work, Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World, 1914-1948. Enjoy!

E155 with JESSICA WESTHEAD

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Hey all! OK so I updated WordPress and now have ZERO understanding of how this will all lay out on a screen hahahaha damn I have computers.

Tbat’s OK though because all you need to know, dear listener, is that today’s guest is Jessica Westhead, and we get to talk about her fab new novel Worry.

(See, I want to change the colour on those links, but I don’t know how, computers are dumb).

On a personal level – because after all, this website has my name in it – I am literally less than a week away from a version of the new novel. If only I could find…a…damned…title. It’s exciting though.

Dig!

E153 with LEO DRAGTOE, SHANE NEILSON (ABLE HAMILTON) and LAURA KOOJI

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Hey folks!

More poetry this week! First, we talk to AbleHamilton Poetry Festival participant, poet, and musician Leo Dragtoe (with a cameo appearance by festival organizer Shane Neilson). After that we speak with poet Laura Kooji about her collection No Rainbow.  Both amazing people and amazing talents (who managed to get into the studio in person, which means they both got to read on the show, too!) Hope you dig our conversations.

E152 with GEOFFREY TAYLOR and JACLYN DESFORGES

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Hey all!

Got to spend last night having dinner with Sean Michaels and his excellent publicist Ruta from Penguin Random House. After that Sean and I were in conversation at the Hamilton Public Library, talking about his new book, The Wagers. It was a great time, and you’ll hear our chat on an upcoming episode.

This week we talk with Geoffrey Taylor. He’s stepping down as director of the Toronto International Festival of Authors, so we had one last conversation on the topic. The festival starts Oct 24 and runs through Nov 3.

We also speak with poet Jaclyn Desforges, who talks about (and reads from) her chapbook Hello Nice Man. Enjoy the show!

E151 with SHANE NEILSON and GREGORY BETTS

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Hey all!

Two big changes this week. First, Get Lit will now be available in real podcast form. So, if listening here isn’t working for you and you prefer to dig it via other platforms, you can check it out on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.   So they’ve told me. It might take a day or two…their timeslines are kinda funky. Found it on Stitcher though 😀  For now I’m putting recent shows but I’ll be upping all my past shows too.

Second, I’m not hosting this week! Guest host Shane Neilson (physician, editor, poet, writer, sage) interviews Gregory Betts, co-editor of Avant Canada: Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries. Tune in and enjoy!

E150 with STEVEN PRICE

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Awards season has fallen on us faster than September prairie snow. Is that a saying? Does it even make sense? Anyway, the GG Award finalists were announced this week, as was the short list of the Scotiabank Giller Prize. A few weeks ago we spoke to K.D. Miller, who was announced as a GG finalist, though she didn’t appear on the Giller short list.

A name you will see on the short list is that of this week’s guest, Steven Price. Tune in as we talk about his novel Lampedusa, a fictional look at real-life author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (whose posthumously published novel The Leopard became a classic of Italian literature).  Two notes to make: Steven took at least 20 minutes to chat after the interview, asking about my own work, so: cool, classy dude. Also: when he refers to his spouse Esi, yes, he means Esi Edugyan, if you were wondering 😀

Enjoy the show