Hi everyone, hope your summer is going. Here in southern Ontario, the weather’s decidedly unsummery many days, but at least you can leave the house without risking frostbite, so my complaints are fairly muted.<\/p>\n
Work on the new novel continues. Waking early in the morning is far less painful now. The new pain is one some of you know all too well – grant applications. The Canada Council<\/span><\/a> <\/span>generously offers grants for research and creation, so I’m applying for one of those to cover the costs of heading to Japan for research. I missed the deadline that would have me approved\/declined in September, but I’m going whether or not I get the grant, so I’m going to apply and find out if I get money in March. Why not. Still, grant writing.\u00a0Ugh.<\/em><\/p>\n Today’s show is a great one because it features Mark<\/span> Sampson<\/span><\/a><\/span>, poet and author of Sad Peninsula<\/span><\/a><\/span> and The Slip<\/span><\/a><\/span>, his most recent novel (with Dundurn Press<\/span><\/a>). I met Mark at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference<\/span><\/a><\/span>, as we share a publisher (not Dundurn, but Palimpsest<\/span><\/a><\/span>). I’m happy to have had the privilege. There’s also that weird little bit of serendipity involving his wife Rebecca Rosenblum<\/span><\/a><\/span>, which you might recall from episode 25<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n You’ll also notice that there’s a weird technical glitch two or three minutes from the end. Turns out you can work in a place for almost twenty years and still forget about the existence of an important power switch (and, hence, not think about it when your guest back his chair into it).<\/p>\n Enjoy the show!<\/p>\n