Thrilled and privileged to have my wonderful friend Saleema Nawaz join the podcast guest roster! Do not miss her new book, Songs for the End of the World, which is available in paperback, audiobook, and ebook TODAY! Writing the Wrong Way with Jonathan Ball, PhD · Saleema Nawaz On Her Accidental Pandemic Novel And Her […]
Podcast
The Seven Seas of Story
How do you move from an idea to a story? To have a story — a strong, well-developed story — you need to first focus on seven things. I call these the “Seven Cs of Story” but that looks bad on a piece of paper so I like the metaphor of the “Seven Seas of […]
Lovecraft and Samurai, Kickstarter and Comics with Jordan Patrick Finn
Comics writer Jordan Patrick Finn on the Kickstarter for his upcoming graphic novel Death Kanji, the influence of Lovecraft, and his love for Kurosawa’s samurai. Jordan Patrick Finn is an indie comic writer and Lovecraft enthusiast from Ajax, Ontario. His debut graphic novel, Hellcraft, was self-published in 2018 with help from Kickstarter. Death Kanji, a samurai horror […]
Robert J. Sawyer on writing science fiction, The Oppenheimer Alternative, and your publishing rights
Science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer talks about his latest novel, The Oppenheimer Alternative, his place in Canadian literature, and how authors should think deeply about their rights and publishing options in the digital age. View the interview on YouTube or listen to the podcast. Find out more about Robert J. Sawyer and his novels […]
Heinlein’s Rules for Writers with GMB Chomichuk
In a 1947 collection of articles titled Of Worlds Beyond: The Science of Science Fiction Writing, edited by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, the author Robert A. Heinlein laid down a series of rules for professional writers. These rules have become something a craft canon and are sometimes blindly followed, sometimes brutally debated. Here are Heinlein’s “rules” […]
Talking to Lisa Robertson: Poet, Essayist, and Novelist
My short list of the best writers in Canadian history would have to include Lisa Robertson, whose most recent book is her debut novel, The Baudelaire Fractal (Coach House Books). I talked to Robertson about her novel, writing poetry, and writing in general. You can read my review of The Baudelaire Fractal below, and also […]
Constraint-Based Poetry with Anthony Etherin
Thrilled to talk to Anthony Etherin, author of the outstanding book Stray Arts and publisher of Penteract Press, about writing constraint-based poetry: anagrams, palindromes, and his own invention, the aelindrome. You may also enjoy my discussion with Anthony on his podcast.
Writing Workshops With Francine Cunningham
My guest this week is author Francine Cunningham, an award-winning Indigenous writer, artist, and educator originally from Calgary, Alberta, but who currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. Francine is a graduate of the Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing from The University of British Columbia. She also has a Bachelor of Arts degree in […]
Dave Bidini of Rheostatics on Writing Across Artforms and in Troubled Times
Thrilled to be joined by Dave Bidini, the only person to have been nominated for Gemini, Genie, and Juno Awards AND have a book featured for CBC’s Canada Reads. A founding member of both Rheostatics and Bidiniband, he has written at least thirteen books, is a threetime National Magazine Award-winner, and the publisher of the West End […]
Writing through Trauma and Collage Poetry with Ian Kinney
Ian Kinney fell seven stories and survived. In AIR SALT (University of Calgary Press, 2019), Kinney writes through trauma using a process of found text and collage poetry, combining material gleaned from his medical records, police reports, and other sources to present a memoir about an event he cannot remember. Subscribe to the podcast: iTunes | Stitcher | GooglePlay | SoundCloud