Nathan spoke with novelist Kiley Reid, author of the 2020 novel, Such a Fun Age. Her new book, Come and Get It is set on the campus of the University of Arkansas, specifically at a dormitory called Belgrade, and it follows Millie Cousins, a 24-year-old Resident Advisor or RA to folks familiar with dorm life, who’s launching a second run at the final year of her degree after taking time off to look after her mother, while quietly inching towards buying a little house.
Nathan spoke with Dr Jen Gunter, OB/GYN and bestselling author of several books on health, anatomy, and medicine: The Vagina Bible, The Menopause Manifesto, and most recently a new book called Blood: The science, medicine, and mythology of menstruation.
Nathan spoke with R. F. Kuang, author of the epic historical fantasy trilogy The Poppy War, as well as the 2022 novel, also a work of historical fantasy called Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution.
R. F. Kuang’s latest novel is Yellowface. It’s the story of June Hayward and Athena Liu, a pair of writers on the rise—one of whom is rising significantly faster than the other, until a fatal freak accident leaves the survivor holding an unfinished manuscript and facing a very tempting proposition.
Michael spoke with R.H. Thomson: actor, director, playwright, and author of By The Ghost Light: Wars, Memory, and Families. Part memoir, part travelogue, part history, it’s a thoughtful and impassioned consideration of war and the stories we tell one another about it
In January of 2023 our host and producer Nathan Maharaj spoke with Kai Thomas, author of the novel In the Upper Country. It's a story set in the fictional Canadian town of Dunmore, a place where people fleeing slavery in the southern United States build new lives.
In our roundup of the best books we read in 2023, Nathan called out In the Upper Country as the book that stayed with him the whole year and which he most wants to read again. And this past November, In the Upper Country won the 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. So for all of those reasons, plus it's Black History Month, we're replaying that conversation for you.
We'll be back with all-new episodes soon.
Nathan spoke with novelist Ashley Audrain, author of the 2021 international bestseller The Push. Her new book The Whispers is a story about marriage, mothers and motherhood and parenthood generally, and also women’s rage.
Ashley Audrain on bringing rage from the group chat to the page
Michael spoke with journalist and human rights advocate Rowan Jetté Knox, author of the 2019 memoir Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family, as well as a new memoir that came out this year: One Sunny Afternoon: A Memoir of Trauma and Healing.
Michael spoke with Mohawk writer and editor, Alicia Elliott, author of an award-winning book of essays, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, and a new novel, And Then She Fell. It is the story of a young woman named Alice experiencing the stress of new motherhood, feeling isolated in Toronto, which feels far away, culturally more than physically, from where she grew up on Six Nations. There she's trying to carve out time for writing and keeping up appearances as the wife of a rising academic star.
Alicia Elliott on telling the truth through the lens of fiction
Nathan joined Giller Prize-winning novelist Sean Michaels on stage at the Toronto International Festival of Authors to talk about his new novel Do You Remember Being Born? and the role of technology in the creation of art—from automated spellchecking to ChatGPT.
Nathan welcomed Waubgeshig Rice to the Kobo studio to talk about the sequel to his 2018 novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, the story of an Anishinaabe community slowly realizing that what at first appeared to be a power outage might be the end of the world as we know it. In Moon of the Turning Leaves the community realizes their time in this place may be at an end, so they send out a band of walkers to find them a new home.
Michael spoke with writer and activist Naomi Klein, author of highly influential and bestselling books including No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, and the new book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World. Like all of her books, it’s an accessible yet complex work of socioeconomic and political criticism... but it’s also funny, at times disturbing, deeply rooted in its author’s personal experience, but for any of us that spend time online or with a steady diet of media, it can feel joltingly familiar.
Michael welcomed poet and novelist Michael Crummey to the Kobo office studio to talk about his new novel, The Adversary. Set in a fictional Newfoundland village called Mockbeggar, it's the story of a lifelong rivalry between two entrepreneurs that escalates into violence and revenge.
Nathan spoke with novelist Zalika Reid-Benta, 2020 winner of the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for her debut book Frying Plantain, and author of the new novel River Mumma. It’s the story of a young woman named Alicia, who we meet at a time in her life when things are no longer going as well as they used to. Then Alicia meets a water deity named River Mumma who tasks her with recovering a precious object—and she’s got just 24 hours to do it.
Zalika Reid-Benta on becoming the "weird writer" she's always wanted to be
Michael spoke with crime novelist S. A. Cosby, author of the 2021 breakout bestseller Razorblade Tears. His new book is All the Sinners Bleed, the story of Titus Crown, former FBI agent and Charon County Virginia’s first ever Black sheriff, who’s moved back to the county to live with his aging father. On the first anniversary of his election to sheriff he’s called to a school shooting. The investigation into the shooter's motivation leads Sheriff Crown into the darkest corners of Charon to reckon with the ghosts of its past and present.
We're taking a little bit of time off for summer, so this episode is a re-release of one we put out early last year. It's with science writer Britt Wray. Nathan spoke with her last May about her book Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis, which deals with the psychological and emotional implications of climate change, a topic that has only grown in relevance since it was first published.
Michael spoke with writer John Vaillant, author of page-turning non-fiction that examines the relationship between humans and the natural world. His new book is Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast. At its heart is the 2016 wildfire that ravaged Fort McMurray, a city that stands at the heart of Canada’s petroleum industry—but it’s really about every city, every home, and the lives of every one of us inhabiting this increasingly flammable planet.
On stage in downtown Toronto, Nathan interviewed authors Kevin Powers and Ausma Zehanat Khan about their latest novels, which introduce us to people working in the criminal justice system to solve violent crimes with far-reaching geopolitical causes—informed by each author’s own unique perspective and expertise.
In this episode recorded in-person in Kobo’s new office in downtown Toronto, Nathan spoke with novelist Tom Rachman, author of books including The Imperfectionists and The Italian Teacher. It’s our first in-person episode of Kobo in Conversation since 2020—and that’s why it sounds a little different from the episodes we’ve been making over Zoom over the past few years.
The Imposters is a novel about a novelist, but a novelist unlike most you'll meet in fiction. Dora Frenhofer was once successful and well-known, but that was some time ago; we meet her in old age, as she feels some cognitive decline that probably stands out a little more to a person who trades on feats of imagination and memory—and though she’d be the first to declare that the world doesn’t need another Dora Frenhofer book, she’s pushing herself to finish this one final novel.
Tom Rachman on inhabiting the roles of others in The Imposters
Nathan spoke with Samantha Irby, screenwriter on the TV series Shrill and most recently the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That..., and the author of books including We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, Wow, No Thank You, as well as the new essay collection Quietly Hostile. They chatted about joining a TV writers' room as a superfan and why she hasn't (yet) written a book called "Garbage Time" or "Trench Mouth".
Michael spoke with Rithu Bhasin, social justice advocate, entrepreneur, and author of We’ve Got This: Unlocking the Beauty of Belonging, a book about building a culture where everyone feels welcome to show up with their whole self. And it’s also a very personal book, in which she shares her own difficult journey towards a sense of belonging.
We spoke with Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of the new novel The Three of Us. It’s a story about three people: a husband and wife, and the wife’s friend, who is definitely not the husband’s friend. It’s a wickedly funny book told through three voices in tension with one another, and possibly also objective reality.
Ore Agbaje-Williams on writing a character who says it all out loud
We spoke with Canadian journalist and bestselling romance novelist Carley Fortune, author of the new book Meet Me at the Lake. It’s a summer love story about Fern Brookbanks, who's forced to grieve the sudden death of her mother while trying to run her family’s lakeside resort, alongside the manager who happens to be her ex. Unbeknownst to her, Fern’s mom had hired a consultant just before she died; and unfortunately it turns out to be Will Baxter, the guy who stole Fern's young heart years ago and then vanished from her life, but never her thoughts.
We spoke with David Grann, author of non-fiction page-turners including The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon and Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, to say nothing of his many incredible articles about crime and adventure that he’s written over the past twenty years for The New Yorker. And he has a new book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder. It’s about seafaring, nautical battles, castaways on the brink of starvation, but it’s also about the very fabric of society.
Shelley Read is the author of the novel Go as a River, a story set in the 1940s on a peach farm in a Colorado town called Iola. She spoke with us about finding the voices of her quiet characters through her deep knowledge of the history and geography of the region.
We spoke with Zoe Whittall, poet, screenwriter, and novelist. Her new book The Fake is a novel about a liar named Cammie and two people who fall under her spell—and then have to pick up the pieces of their lives when they fall out of it.
We spoke with writer Hua Hsu, author of Stay True: A Memoir. It’s a heartfelt, thoughtful book about family, friendship, and figuring out who you are—and was widely lauded as one of the best non-fiction books of 2022.
We spoke with Lindsay Wong, author of the memoir The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family, which was a finalist for Canada Reads in 2019, and the YA novel My Summer of Love and Misfortune.
And she has a marvelously macabre new short story collection, Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality.
We were joined by novelist Cherie Dimaline, author of The Marrow Thieves, its sequel Hunting by Stars, and the acclaimed literary novel Empire of Wild. Her new book is VenCo, a work of speculative fiction in which a secretive corporation named VenCo hires a powerful witch to assemble an elite coven—before the recruits are found by an ancient witch hunter.
We're bringing you a conversation from the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, where writers talk about how they're navigating the many publishing options available to authors today. Check out Jackie Lau on the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, with links to Jackie's books and the books discussed in this episode: KWL – 310 – Writing Romance, Working with Kobo Originals, and More with Jackie Lau
And here's our Q&A with Jackie on the Kobo blog: Jackie Lau on writing romance, fake dating, and Asian representation
We spoke with author and book designer CS Richardson, whose first novel The End of the Alphabet won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best 1st Book. His new book, All the Colour in the World is a kaleidoscopic novel about a boy’s love affair with art and a man’s struggle with loss. And while we had him on the line, we took the opportunity to talk a bit about his other career as one of Canada’s most celebrate d book designers.
We spoke with Kai Thomas, author of the novel In the Upper Country. It's a story set in the fictional Canadian town of Dunmore, a place where people fleeing slavery in the southern United States build new lives.
Kai Thomas conjures fiction from the history of the upper country
Because you can never hear about too many great books, here's another batch of the best books Kobo staff read in 2022. There's memoir, investigative journalism, fun facts, romance, and more (also moors)!
We asked the staff of Kobo about the best eBooks and audiobooks they read in 2022, and we heard about memoirs, literary masterpieces, page-turning non-fiction, family sagas, mind-opening nature writing, sci-fi love stories across time, and so much more.
We spoke with award-winning science writer Harold McGee, author of the new book Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World’s Smells, a wondrous and entertaining guide to the smells of food, yes, but also of our surroundings—indoor as well as outdoor, from rotten eggs and wet dogs to coffee and perfume—and offers readers a whiff of the very building blocks of the universe itself.
The final of three interviews we recorded at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors.
With novelists André Forget author of In the City of Pigs, and Naben Ruthnum author of A Hero of Our Time we spoke about their darkly comic novels that play with themes of work, art, and the unreality of even so-called real estate.
The second of three interviews we recorded at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors.
We interviewed novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz, author of several critically acclaimed bestselling novels, but most recently The Latecomer. It's the story of the Oppenheimer family, who are materially very comfortable, and fairly uncomfortable in just about every other way.
Over the next few weeks we'll be sharing recordings of live interviews conducted at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors.
The first of these features international bestselling author Marian Keyes speaking about her pandemic project, Again, Rachel, the unexpected (to her) sequel to her breakout 90s bestseller Rachel's Holiday.
We spoke with Marian back in 2020 as well: Marian Keyes on getting older... but never feeling grown up
We were joined by actor, playwright, and novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald, author of the international bestseller Fall on Your Knees, to talk about her new novel, Fayne, a work of historical fiction about a girl named Charlotte, her father Henry, a painting of Charlotte’s late mother and infant brother—and a secret that lies between them.
We spoke with Chief Robert Joseph, a Hereditary chief of the Gwawaenuk First Nation and honourary witness to Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission about his new book Namwayut: A Pathway to Reconciliation. In the book and in this episode, Chief Joseph shares an intimate view of his own life while making an impassioned plea to readers to embrace vulnerability, summon the courage to recognize truth and trauma, and take steps towards reconciliation.
Chief Robert Joseph on the need and desire for reconciliation
Novelist Hernan Diaz is a professor at Columbia University and the author of In the Distance, a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize. We spoke with him about a range of topics that inform his new novel Trust, a fractured, multi-layered book about the life and ambitions of the fictional tycoon Andrew Bevel.
Deon Meyer is the author of The Dark Flood, the newest installment in his Benny Griessel series of detective novels set in South Africa. We spoke with Deon as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors' Mystery & Crime Festival: MOTIVE.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Enjoy this conversation with non-fiction thriller author Ben Mezrich, author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House about his new historical fiction novel The Midnight Ride, which started out as a wildly ambitious project taken up in the early days of the pandemic. We spoke with Ben as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors' Mystery & Crime Festival: MOTIVE.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
We spoke with Cory Silverberg, educator, entrepreneur, researcher, and author of the books What Makes a Baby, Sex is a Funny Word, and the new book, You Know, Sex. These books are approachable and factual guides to sex and bodies, but also grown-up feelings, experiences, and all kinds of stuff that can be really hard for anyone to talk about. Supported by Fiona Smyth’s vivid and playful illustrations, Cory Silverberg’s writing always finds a humane and plain-spoken way to explain everything from the functioning of reproductive organs to the nuances of consent and everything else anybody could want to know about how to use their body.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Some listeners may recognize the voice of our guest Elamin Abdelmahmoud from the CBC podcasts Party Lines and Pop Chat. He joined us to talk about his new book, Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces in which he writes movingly of his relationship to his personal elsewhere, the Sudanese city of Khartoum from which he came to Kingston, Ontario as a child. He also writes beautifully about his passion for country music and affinity for the American South, and mounts a convincing defense of the much-maligned musical genre known as Nu Metal.
In the course of our conversation he snuck into the interviewer's seat, proving just how much he wants to know about everyone's story about their own personal elsewhere—and what their favourite Carly Rae Jepsen song is.
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We were joined by science writer Riley Black, author of several bestsellers on paleontology including My Beloved Brontosaurus, Written in Stone, and Skeleton Keys. And if you've read literally anything anywhere about dinosaurs in the last decade, you’ve probably happened upon pieces by her in National Geographic, WIRED, Smithsonian Magazine, and Scientific American.
Her new book is The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World. It’s a richly narrated story that starts with the end of the world, and also depicts the beginnings of the world where our mammal forebears would learn to thrive—and it represents a new beginning for the author as well.
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Sheila Heti is a novelist, playwright, and former interviews editor for the literary magazine The Believer. We spoke with her (and her dog Feldman) about her new novel Pure Colour and how her novels come into being.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
We spoke with Britt Wray, broadcaster, science writer, and researcher at the intersection of mental health and climate change. Her new book is Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis which is a deeply felt and thoroughly-researched study of what it means to wake up every day and live our lives on this warming planet of ours—without succumbing to despair about it all.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.Podcast aficionados may recognize our guest Stephanie Foo from her work on This American Life, Snap Judgment, and 99% Invisible, to name just a few of her credits. And now she has written a book called What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma that's both a memoir of growing up in an abusive and neglectful environment and also an explainer on complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), a condition that’s not as well-known as it should be—though its effects could be extremely broad.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
NoViolet Bulawayo is the Booker Prize shortlisted author of We Need New Names and the new novel Glory, a fable-like retelling of the two years between the overthrow of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and his death. It's moving, provocative, and surprisingly funny.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
We spoke with Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton series of Regency romance novels. She told us about what it was like to see her characters come to life on-screen, and we asked her whether we'll eventually see a cinematic interpretation of a Smythe-Smith musicale. (Originally released February 12, 2021)
We'll be back soon with new episodes of Kobo in Conversation.
Kathryn Schulz is a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, and author of the 2010 nonfiction bestseller, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error. Her new book is a memoir, Lost & Found, which chronicles the grief of losing her father as well as the joy of finding love--with some surprising and fascinating lessons about typography, meteorites, and the philosophy of finding along the way.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and 2021 McArthur "Genius" Fellowship recipient. We spoke with him about his newest book, A Little Devil in America: Notes on Black Performance, and we learned about this book's evolution, how he's handling his recent run of successes, and which books he's been re-reading since childhood.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
What happens when you ask around a global digital bookselling company about the best books its staff read in the past year? You get more books than you can fit into one episode.
Enjoy more of the best books we read in 2021!
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
We asked the staff of Kobo about the best eBooks and audiobooks they read in 2021.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Our friends at the Kobo Writing Life podcast spoke with romance writer Chloe Liese, author of The Mistletoe Motive.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Writing duo Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham are better known to fans as James S. A. Corey, author of The Expanse, the epic science fiction series that has just concluded with Leviathan Falls. We spoke with them about the surprising seed of the 9-volume series and what they learned from working on The Expanse TV show, which is also drawing to a close.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is a theoretical physicist and the author of The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred. In that book she not only explains in layperson's terms the phenomena she observes as a scientist, but also how she observes science as a social and fundamentally human activity, with all the messiness that entails. We spoke with her about many things, including her East LA upbringing, and how she sees herself and people like her among the generations of humans watching the stars.
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Janelle Shane writes the blog AI Weirdness, where she delights readers with broken outcomes of the latest developments in artificial intelligence, ranging from computer-generated recipes like horseradish brownies, to pickup lines like, "You look like a thing, and I love you." She's also the author of the book, You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place. We spoke with her about the uses and abuses of artificial intelligence, and we learned why it's unlikely anybody's going to read a wholly AI-written novel anytime soon.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Edward Rutherfurd is the author of epic works of historical fiction including London, Russka, The Dublin Saga, and the new novel, China. We spoke with him about how he finds the right scale for his enormous books and when one of the many projects he has simmering is ready to be fleshed out into a manuscript of many hundreds of pages. And he shared with us his perspective on how he confronts the challenge of getting inside the minds of characters who would have lived centuries ago and half a world away.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
In this special episode of Kobo In Conversation Michael spoke with Shari Lapena, the Canadian queen of domestic suspense, as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors with an audience watching online and asking questions.
Listen to hear about Lapena's award-nominated false start as a novelist, where she got the idea for her new book Not A Happy Family, and why--unlike other mystery writers--she doesn't work with a "murder wall."
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
We're back with a new season of Kobo in Conversation! This week, Ian Rankin, author of the Inspector Rebus series of Scottish crime novels, joins us to talk about his new novel The Dark Remains, which he wrote with assistance from, and in tribute to his literary hero, the late William McIlvanney. He spoke about how life under covid lockdown unlocked a wave of writing productivity, and which books helped him get his reading mojo back.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Phenderson Djèlí Clark's books take readers into places in history that feel familiar, but have spun off of the timeline we exist on. In Ring Shout we meet a militia fighting in Georgia against the Ku Klux Klan, which has invited actual demons into its hooded ranks with the help of the magical cinema of D. W. Griffith. But he's also written about a steampunk version of early 20th century Cairo in the Dead Djinn Universe and an alternate history of New Orleans during the US Civil War in The Black God's Drums. We spoke with him about writing (and overwriting), his mythologically-rich upbringing, and how he (an academic historian in his day job) picks points in history to tweak in his novels and novellas.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation
As we draw Season 4 of Kobo in Conversation to a close, we bring you a conversation with theoretical cosmologist Katie Mack on a wholly different kind of ending. Listeners may recall host Michael Tamblyn's praise for The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) in our year-end Staff Picks episode, where he found that during 2020, it helped to have a sense of time and space and the forces acting on every particle throughout the universe. Michael spoke with Katie about the 5 theoretical ways the universe will end, and we learned why for her the study of astrophysics is preferably a "social" science.
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Torrey Peters' debut novel Detransition, Baby wasn't supposed to be a novel. She'd self-published a pair of novellas and was planning on doing the same for this book -- until it outgrew her plans for it. She spoke with us about her writing career, how she navigates expectations of representation, and why Detransition, Baby is perfectly suited to a mainstream publisher who doesn't specialize in reaching transgender readers. Plus, she told us about the surprising direction she's going in with her next novel.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Paleontologist Steve Brusatte joined us to talk about his new book for young readers, The Age of Dinosaurs as well as his 2018 book for adults, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. We learned about his passion for giving readers a sense of dinosaurs as living, breathing animals, and what his hopes are for the future of paleontology.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Helen Oyeyemi, author of Gingerbread and the playful new novel Peaces, spoke with us about the importance to her writing process of taking long book-free breaks, and how serving on juries for literary prizes has made her certain that she'll never win a major award.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Dr. Suzanne Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree, spoke with us about the astonishing science of how trees communicate with one another. And she gave us a view into the hard work, dirty hands, and heartbreak of a life spent living in and studying forests.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Natalie Zina Walschots spoke with us about her novel Hench, the day-to-day work of supervillainy, and why fanfic is her marker of success as a writer.
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With the publication of his first book in 2000, Malcolm Gladwell pioneered and proceeded to dominate a whole genre of non-fiction where concepts explored in academic research were made presentable to a mass audience. But to write his latest book The Bomber Mafia, he approached his craft in a new way.
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In this final episode of Season 3 of Kobo in Conversation, we spoke with Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton series of Regency romance novels. She told us about what it was like to see her characters come to life on-screen, and we asked her whether we'll eventually see a cinematic interpretation of a Smythe-Smith musicale.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
In Gutter Child Jael Richardson creates a dystopian world where disadvantage for some is written into law. In this wide-ranging conversation we spoke with her about this new novel, as well as the past and future of her writing career, and we learned how she conceives of her roles as a broadcaster and literary festival director who can bring a lot of attention to books and authors.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
In her novel Little Threats, Emily Schultz transports readers to the summer of 1993, when a terrible crime was committed -- and possibly a miscarriage of justice. We spoke with Emily about her inspiration for this story of crime and punishment, how she sees the style of this book in connection to her other books, and why she set out not to write just another crime novel about a dead girl.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
We spoke with actor Joanne Vannicola about their memoir, All We Knew But Couldn't Say and learned how they turned painful memories of their upbringing into a story of growth and self-discovery.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Journalist and novelist Linden MacIntyre joined us to talk about his new audiobook, The Wake: The Deadly Legacy of a Newfoundland Tsunami.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
We spoke with poet and scholar Billy-Ray Belcourt about his new book, A History of My Brief Body, a poetic, intellectual work of theory, essay, and memoir. He explained how he builds on the work of others in his own writing and what drives his mission to locate joy at the centre of Indigenous stories.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
As epic as our staff picks roundup was last week, we just couldn’t stop once we got started.
In 2020, even the most avid readers struggled to find the time and focus amid new routines to immerse themselves in the comfort of books. Fortunately, some of us at Kobo found a way through and got to spend time reading great things -- and we’re happy to share them with you here.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Our friends at the Kobo Writing Life podcast spoke with romance writer Talia Hibbert, author of Wrapped Up in You.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Read Wrapped Up in You on Kobo.
Marian Keyes joined us to talk about Grown-Ups, her new book about money, family, love, and the pressure to meet the expectations of others, even the ones we love.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
We spoke with Vicki Laveau-Harvie, author of The Erratics, about why she doesn't see her book as a misery memoir, the proper place for catharsis, and why we're unlikely to ever find her on Twitter.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Toronto journalist Eternity Martis spoke with us about her memoir, They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
In Tobly McSmith's debut Stay Gold, a young adult novel about a transgender boy named Pony, he tells the story of a character who embraces the truth of his gender identity in his teens, much earlier than the author did himself. In our conversation we learn that he was creating a world that might have been and offering comfort to the next trans guy growing up in central Texas.
Learn more about and contribute to Tobly's foundation for gender-affirming healthcare at staygoldfund.org
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, joined us to talk about his new book, Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis. In this wide-ranging discussion Jared speaks about the COVID-19 crisis, as well as authoritarianism, and the need for nations to have the humility to see their errors -- and hopefully learn from them.
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We're back, safely ensconced with microphones and broadband internet, bringing you a new season of conversations with authors about books!
To kick things off, we spoke with Eden Robinson, author of the Trickster trilogy.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Listen to Kerri's pick, I'm Just a Person by Tig Notaro.
To end our second season, we spoke with Timothy Caulfield, public health expert and the author of The Science of Celebrity... Or, is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation and subscribe to be sure to hear all that we've got coming in Season 3.
Read Deepika's pick, Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.
Listen to Deandra's pick, Untamed by Glennon Doyle.
We spoke with neuroscientist, musician, and author Daniel Levitin about his latest book, Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Listen to Nastaran's pick, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.
Read Courtney's pick, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh.
We spoke with thriller writer (and former newspaper columnist and humourist) Linwood Barclay about the myth of writer's block and the discipline required to rein in his comic gifts.
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Listen to Delina's pick, Dominicana by Angie Cruz.
Hello, fellow reader. We thought that right now, when we're all getting less human contact than ever, it would be a good time to get as personal as we can with you, our listeners.
So for the next little while, we'll be popping bonus episodes into this feed where you'll hear from our staff of readers and booksellers, and they're going to tell you all about a book they recommend.
Read Simon's pick, Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
Read Michael's note on why and how Kobo transitioned to being 100% work-from-home for the next while: Why we're now working remotely, and how we'll make it work
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Screenwriter and novelist Lori Lansens sat down with us to talk about her latest book This Little Light and how hard it was to write a dystopian novel in 2019 -- and how to play "spiritual double-dutch".
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Lauren McKeon, author of No More Nice Girls and Kobo Emerging Writer Prize nominee for her 2018 book F-Bomb spoke with us about where feminism is now, the meaning of success in a rigged game, and what to do with the energy of anger.
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We spoke with Jesse Thistle, Métis-Cree scholar and author, about his moving, poetic memoir, From the Ashes.
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Investigative journalist Robyn Doolittle on fairness, ethics, and the law in the realm of sexual consent and how attitudes have shifted since #MeToo.
Content warning: this episode discusses sexual assault. Though there's nothing explicitly violent mentioned, this episode may not be suitable for all listeners.
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British crime novelist Ann Cleeves discusses her new book The Long Call, why she's drawn to small places yet itches to change scenery, why reading literature in translation helps predict the future, and how libraries prop up whole sectors of the economy.
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Julie Evelyn Joyce tells us about the inspiration behind her debut novel, Steeped In Love, and what it was like to win the 2019 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Romance.
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In this special live episode, poet Saeed Jones joins host maxine bailey on stage to talk about his memoir, How We Fight For Our Lives.
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Kobo CEO, Michael Tamblyn, speaks with the Canadian broadcast personality and writer Ziya Tong about her debut nonfiction book, The Reality Bubble.
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We chatted with novelist and essayist Jonathan Safran Foer about his newest book, We Are The Weather.
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In this special episode of Kobo in Conversation, Kobo staff share their top book recommendations for the holiday season.
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In this episode, Michael is joined by Andrew Solomon, as they discuss his latest book, Far and Away: Reporting from the Brink of Change, as well as his 2012 best-seller, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity.
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In this episode, Michael is joined by Zalika Reid-Benta, as they discuss her debut novel, eye-opening books, and navigating different backgrounds. Zalika also treats us by reading an excerpt from her book.
Andreas Souvaliotis, founder of Carrot Rewards, joins Michael to discuss his life, lessons, and the books that shaped both him and his recent memoir Misfit.
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In this episode, Michael is joined by Karen McManus (and another special guest). The three discuss her latest novel Two Can Keep a Secret, her love of The Hunger Games and other favourite reads.
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In this episode, Michael is joined by Dr. Julia Shaw and they discuss her latest book Evil: The Science Behind Humanity's Dark Side as well as some of her favourite reads.
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In 2015, when French readers were asked to name their favourite author, Marc Levy tied with Victor Hugo. Today he talks with Michael about his most recent work, the value of dreaming, and the importance of curiosity.
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The winner of the 2018 Kobo Emerging Writers Prize for Mystery and Crime Fiction for her debut novel The Lost Ones talks with Michael about her lifelong love of books, her creative drive, and how trying to break into the world of screenwriting led to her writing her first book.
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Craig Davidson is a literary shapeshifter, with several novels in multiple genres. He speaks with Michael about writing for children, his family's reaction to his horror writing, and his first work of nonfiction, the CBC Canada Reads 2018 nominated Precious Cargo: My Year of Driving the Kids on School Bus 3077.
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Maria Qamar, winner of the 2018 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Nonfiction for her book Trust no Aunty, and the creative brain behind Instagram's @hatecopy, spoke with Michael about the power of aunties in our lives, her love of superheroes, and how hating copywriting led to becoming an artist in the age of the internet.
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Our guest is an award-winning journalist and the author of American War, winner of the 2018 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction and a CBC Canada Reads 2018 nominee. Learn how Omar's experiences in the field informed his debut novel about a second US Civil War.
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Michael speaks with the author of Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents, winner of CBC Canada Reads 2018, about empathy, loss, and how his family let light shine in after one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history.
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In this special episode of Kobo in Conversation, Kobo staff share their top book recommendations for the holiday season.