All Write in Sin City

Dr. Heidi L.M. Jacobs was born and raised in Edmonton. A graduate of the University of Alberta, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Western University, she is currently the English and History Librarian at the University of Windsor. Those of you who are regular listeners may recall that we interviewed Jacobs last June, just after the release of her debut novel, Molly of the Mall: Literary Lass...

Carlinda D’Alimonte grew up in Amherstburg and has lived in the Windsor area most of her life. She was Head of English at Walkerville Collegiate Institute, where she taught English and Creative Writing. Prior to her teaching career, she worked for CBC television in Windsor researching and writing for a current affairs program, and for the University of Windsor where she wrote and produced instruct...

Brian G. Gilmore was born and raised in Washington, D.C. He is the author of three previous collections of poetry, including We Didn’t Know Any Gangsters, a 2014 NAACP Image Award Nominee. He is both a Cave Canem Fellow and a Kimbilio Fellow, and he currently teaches social justice law at Michigan State University. Brian joins us today to talk about his Michigan Notable Book of poetry, Come See Ab...

Herb Colling has an abiding interest in, and respect for, local history. His first two books deal with the auto industry in Windsor. He cut his teeth in 1993 on Pioneering the Auto Age , about Windsor as an automotive capital of Canada, and went on to write 99 Days: The Ford Strike In Windsor, 1945 , in 1995, and Turning Points: The Detroit Riot of 1967, a Canadian Perspective . His most recent bo...

Dorothy Mahoney is the author of several poetry collections including, Off-Leash (Palimpsest Press, 2016). Her poetry has been included in numerous anthologies, most recently Heartwood, poems for the love of trees (The League of Canadian Poets, 2018). Her haibun, M PATHY, won an Honourable Mention in the Genjuan International Haibun Contest in Japan, 2017.  Dorothy is a former member of the Litera...

The Windsor Review has been in publication for half a century, an important accomplishment for a Canadian literary journal. André Narbonne is a lecturer in English literature and an award-winning poet and fiction writer. He is the fiction editor of the Windsor Review and oversaw the publication of the 50th anniversary issue as the general editor . Marty Gervais is a publisher, poet, developer of t...

Aimée Parent Dunn is the publisher of Palimpsest Press, a local independent literary press. Aimée has a degree in English Literature and Language from the University of Windsor and a graduate certificate in Publishing from Ryerson University. She has over 15 years of experience editing fiction and is the literary fiction editor at Palimpsest. She is on the board for Literary Arts Windsor and the p...

Rebecca Ledingham-Gbadebo grew up in Windsor, Ontario, and attended the University of Windsor. She has been an elementary school teacher since 1995 and a member of Most Precious Blood Catholic Church in Windsor since 1983. She’s also been an avid volunteer around Windsor through the years, committed to causes that benefit children and youth.  Rebecca’s new book, published by Cranberry Tree Press,...

Jeff Kass is a 23-year teaching veteran of Pioneer High School. His book, Teacher/Pizza Guy chronicles Kass’s experiences working as a full-time English teacher, a part-time teen literary arts director, and a part-time pizza delivery driver during the 2016-17 school year. The book travels back and forth between Kass’ experiences in the classroom and the pizza shop.  His poetry addresses some of th...

Born in Somalia, Fartumo Kusow immigrated to Canada in 1991, at the start of the civil war. After arriving in Canada with fluency in Somali and Arabic but with no knowledge of English, she went on to earn an Honours B.A. in English Language and Literature and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Windsor. She is now a high school English teacher for the Greater Essex County District Schoo...

Laurie Smith is a graduate of the Creative Writing program (M.A.) from the University of Windsor.  She has been publishing for over thirty years, as well as editing the work of others and facilitating workshops. She is co-publisher/editor of Cranberry Tree Press in Windsor. Laurie’s work has appeared in many publications across Canada and in the U.S. Collections include menagerie , The Truth about...

Justin Rogers is a Black poet, educator, coach, and editor from Detroit. He most recently has work published in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Gramma Press , is author of micro-zine Nostalgia as Black Matilda (Rinky Dink Press 2017) and he released his chapbook Black, Matilda in 2019 with Glass Poetry Press.  He is also the coordinator of InsideOut’s after school program, Citywide Poets. Justin’s journ...

Dorene O’Brien is a Detroit-based creative writing teacher and writer. Her stories have won the Red Rock Review Mark Twain Award for Short Fiction, the Nelson Algren Award, the New Millennium Writings Fiction Prize, and the international Bridport Prize. She has won fellowships from the NEA and the Vermont Studio Center. Her work has appeared in the Baltimore Review, Madison Review, Chicago Tribune...

Dr. Karl Jirgens was born and raised in Toronto, and attended University of Toronto for his BA, Ontario College of Art for his BFA, and York University for his MA and PhD. He is a specialist in literary theory, contemporary literature with a focus on Canadian literature, and creative writing and publishing. He currently lectures at the University of Windsor. He is the author of several works on li...

Veronique Perrier Mandal has had a long and celebrated career, having won many awards for her work in both radio and print journalism, including Ontario Journalist of the Year, Windsor Woman of the Year, and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal. She currently coordinates and teaches full-time in the Journalism and Media Convergence programs at St. Clair College in Windsor, and she is the host of the show Scr...

Today’s podcast features a live reading from the Explorers Room in the Detroit Public Library main branch. It’s an edition of Poets and Pies, a reading series sponsored by the Detroit Writers Guild and other literary organizations. It features:  A rare treat for fans of rock legend Frank Zappa, a Detroit reading from Los Angeles Poet, Memoirist and Musician Rubén Guevara Detroit Essayist Lori Tuck...

On today’s podcast, we’ll visit the By the River reading series hosted by Urban Farmhouse press. This event took place at historic Mackenzie Hall here in Windsor, and it features readings by three poets: Samantha Badaoa , Windsor' Youth Poet Laureate. Listeners have heard an interview with Samantha on an earlier episode Sandra Ridley, an award-winning writer of four books of poetry: Fallout ,...

Melanie Janisse Barlow is a poet and a visual artist. Her first collection of poetry, Orioles in the Oranges (Guernica, 2009), was listed for the Relit Award, and her essay poems Detroit were listed in Best American Essays (2013). She has published in a variety of anthologies and journals in Canada and the US, and her painting practice includes The Poets Series, a popular portraiture series of con...

On this week’s podcast, we have a group of selected poetry readings from the annual Black History Month celebrations from 2019 and 2020. The 2019 readings were recorded before our All Write in Sin City podcast was launched last May.    Our Windsor-Detroit region is rich with history, including the history of previously enslaved peoples of African descent. Today, it’s also a multicultural area, hom...

This podcast features poet Daniel Lockhart , fresh from his tour of multiple Canadian cities. Lockhart holds degrees from Trent University, Montana State University, and Indiana University, and is the author of four poetry collections, The Gravel Lot That Was Montana , This City at the Crossroads , Big Medicine Comes to Erie , and most recently, Devil in the Woods. He has also written a collection...

Before they become history, historical events are often family stories. Today we have a live recording of the Windsor book launch for To the River: The Remarkable Journey of Caroline Quarlls . It’s about one of the most famous escape stories in Underground Railroad history, and co-author Kimberly Simmons is a direct descendant of the book’s heroine. The event was held at The Historic Sandwich Firs...

On today’s podcast, we feature poetry and the blues on a live recording from Third Man Records in Detroit. It’s more from the fourth All Access Café, and this program brings you two amazing performances that mix the blues with poetry. The All Access Café is a unique spoken word event with a special focus, serving differently-abled artists and audiences. First, we’ll hear from Robert Bradley , a De...

Today’s podcast is a live recording of an event at Third Man Records in Detroit last November. It’s selected performances from the fourth All Access Café, and this program brings you transformative music and poetry performances. The All Access Café is a unique spoken word event with a special focus, serving differently-abled artists and audiences. On this episode you'll hear from: Detroit mus...

Today’s podcast features a live recording of an event last fall with Benedek Totth, author of Dead Heat . It’s a book that has received a lot of positive reviews by major publications, but fair warning to the faint of heart: It’s a book for fans of dark, graphic literature.  Totth studied American literature and now works as an editor and translator in Budapest. His translations into Hungarian inc...

This live recording took place at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts in Windsor, Ontario on October 20, 2019. Part of the BookFest / Festival du livre Windsor celebrations, the annual Books and Brunch was given over to publisher Marty Gervais, who with wife Donna, started Black Moss Press 50 years ago. Peter Hrastovec is the emcee who introduces Marty, there's a special reading by Elise Gervai...