Bookspo

My conversation with Kirti Bhadresa begins with reflections about our mutual friend Melanie Masterson, who died in December 2021 after years of living with metastatic breast cancer. Kirti tells me how Melanie’s example inspired her to make the most of her own time and prioritize completing her first book, AN ASTONISHMENT OF STARS. And then she reveals her BOOKSPO pick, Naben Ruthum’s CURRY, a book...

Marilynne Robinson’s debut novel never actually came to mind while I was reading Anne Hawk’s THE PAGES OF THE SEA (which The Guardian called “evocative of the beauty of the Caribbean and full of sparkling observation" when it was published in the UK in July), but when I learned that HOUSEKEEPING was Hawk’s BOOKSPO pick, it made such perfect sense. The everpresence of water, Robinson’s lake and Haw...

Oh my goodness, this is a good one, a conversation beginning with Jennifer Whiteford expounding on the literary qualities of the mixtape, music (both making it and loving it) being the foundation of her wonderful new novel MAKE ME A MIXTAPE, the perfect book for October, a story that manages to be cozy and edgy at the very same time. And the book Jennifer chose for her BOOKSPO pick? Why, it’s the...

This episode of BOOKSPO is brought to you by COPIBEC, and their new three-part podcast series COPYRIGHT ACT: A CENTURY OF STORIES , a fascinating journey through the 100-year history of copyright in Canada—and even beyond it. Rich, immersive, and also FUN (!), COPYRIGHT ACT: A CENTURY OF STORIES , a series funded by the Government of Canada, is available now wherever you get your podcasts. Visit h...

This is a really special BOOKSPO for me, to have the opportunity to share a conversation with my friend Marissa Stapley, who has followed up her New York Times bestselling LUCKY (a Reese’s pick!) with THE LIGHTNING BOTTLES, a fiercely feminist trip back to the ‘90s music scene and Marissa’s best book yet. We talked about the magic of A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, and how that novel comprising conne...

COLOURS IN HER HANDS is a brand new Montreal novel from Alice Zorn (following 2016’s FIVE ROSES), a story of family, art, community and good intentions gone awry, and I was so pleased to speak to Alice about the book, and to learn how it all began with the 30+ year relationship she had with her late sister-in-law, Jo, who had Down syndrome. Jo’s own perspective on the world (and the limits imposed...

Ayelet Tsabari’s SONGS FOR THE BROKENHEARTED is out this week in North America, and I’m so thrilled for the opportunity to talk to her about this beautiful book, which began as a story about Yemeni Jewish mothers and daughters and became ever richer once Tsabari came upon the long tradition of Yemeni women’s songs—she even found her own voice by joining a choir! But long before she knew these song...

BOOKSPO is back for a spectacular second season, kicking off with Corinna Chong and her latest, BAD LAND, a novel which, she tells me, began with a curious dream, along with her childhood memories of the unique topography of Drumheller, Alberta, and (however unconsciously) took inspiration from the extraordinary progragonist of Jeanette Winterson’s 1989 novel SEXING THE CHERRY. Pickle Me This is a...

First episode drops Wednesday September 5… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kerryreads.substack.com/subscribe

We break ALL THE RULES (okay, there was only ever one rule, but still) with our season finale and the magnificent Andrea Warner’s appearance on the podcast. It’s one of my favourite writers talking about my favourite movie, and how it was foundational to Andrea’s own experience and inspired her compelling new homage/memoir/cultural-criticism hybrid, THE TIME OF MY LIFE: DIRTY DANCING, a book I ado...

Deepa Rajagopalan is the author of the short story collection PEACOCKS OF INSTAGRAM, a book that’s so great it’s got me accosting strangers in the street , and she came to our conversation with a very cool twist on the Bookspo format. Her Bookspo pick is Alice Munro’s short story “Corrie” (which was included in her 2012 DEAR LIFE), which she used as inspiration for her own same-but-different story...

This episode of BOOKSPO is guaranteed to put a song in your head, as Michelle Hébert tells me all about how revisiting Emma Donoghue’s 1997 story collection KISSING THE WITCH helped her discover solutions to problems she was facing in developing the characters in EVERYTHING LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC, her debut novel, which is out this week and pretty magic in its own right. Hébert tells me ab...

Oh, wow, get ready for Adrienne Gruber’s amazing conversation about her fourth book, which is also her first essay collection, MONSTERS, MARTYRS AND MARIONETTES: ESSAYS ABOUT MOTHERHOOD, and the numerous threads that connect it to Sarah Manguso’s memoir ONGOINGNESS: THE END OF A DIARY. We talk about Gruber’s movement from poetry to prose, about the expansiveness of Manguso’s memoir, the lack of ex...

Okay, buckle up for this one. Robin Lefler’s sophmore novel NOT HOW I PICTURED IT is the shipwreck rom-com you’ve been waiting for, a pitch perfect DREAM of a book whose wacky premise brings some real heft to the table. And I’m so happy to be able to talk to her about NINE PERFECT STRANGERS, by Lianne Moriarty, the novel about a group of people isolated together at a wellness centre that inspired...

Today I’m thrilled to be bringing you my conversation with award-winning writer Leslie Shimotakahara about her new novel SISTERS OF THE SPRUCE, set during World War One in Haida Gwaii (then known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) and loosely inspired by her grandmother’s experiences, and how the spirit of Charlotte Bronte’s classic JANE EYRE both infuses the novel’s atmosphere and also helped inspir...

What a delight to bring you this conversation with Emily Austin about her beautiful and hilarious new novel INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SPACE, how some interesting feedback on her first novel inspired her to deepen her own understanding of love, and how ideas from bell hooks’ ALL ABOUT LOVE found their way into her fiction. BOOKSPO/ Pickle Me This is a reader-supported publication. To receive new post...

This week I’m talking with Waubgeshig Rice about his new novel MOON OF THE TURNING LEAVES, which came out in Canada last fall and was just published in the United States, and how he was inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s 1985 novel BLOOD MERIDIAN to craft a narrative in which the land guides the story. BOOKSPO/Pickle Me This is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, c...

This time I’m talking with Ashley Tate, bestselling debut author of TWENTY-SEVEN MINUTES, about how reading Iain Reid’s smash hit novel I’M THINKING OF ENDINGS gave her permission to write the blendy psychological thriller-literary mash-up of her dreams (or worst nightmares?). In our conversation, Ashley talks about stumbling upon Reid’s debut novel without any idea of what she was getting into, h...

Another week, another BOOKSPO pairing. I’m so excited to bring you my conversation with Shawna Lemay all about how a chance encounter with Annie Dillard’s PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK at an Edmonton bookshop in the 1990s created a path that’s led all the way to here and Lemay’s latest book, the essay collection APPLES ON THE WINDOWSILL. Shawna talks about the notion of pre-internet books, why she likes...

Welcome BACK to BOOKSPO. This time I’m talking to novelist Charlene Carr (“the Canadian Jodi Picoult,” in case you didn’t know) about her new novel WE RIP THE WORLD APART, and how her bookspo was David Chariandy’s 2018 memoir I’VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU: A LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER. Charlene talks about how David Chariandy’s memoir gave her permission to write the story she needed to tell, why she c...

The first episode of BOOKSPO begins with a splash as I’m joined by the authors of brand new mystery novel BURY THE LEAD , co-written by bestsellers Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti, whose “bookspo” was the smash-hit novel THURSDAY MURDER CLUB , by Richard Osman. In our conversation, Kate and Liz tell their origin stories as mystery readers, discuss what inspired them about Osman’s book, outline...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kerryreads.substack.com/subscribe