Can't Lit

We made it to 50 episodes! And to celebrate Dina and Jen got a lot of snacks together and welcomed Adèle Barclay, Juliane Okot Bitek, Raoul Fernandes , Leah Horlick, Nancy Lee, Ben Rawluk and Beni Xiao back to the podcast. With a very special speaker phone call from Daniel Zomparelli this episode has all the feelings, book talk, tangents and valid complaints your ears have been hearing for 50 glor...

Don't lament summer ending because we have the two most lovely guests: Paul Vermeersch and Bianca Spence! While visiting Vancouver from Toronto they made time to talk to Jen and me about karaoke, Degrassi, diversity panels, friendliness in literary community and fries. We also bring back Literary Would You Rather?

This episode with writer Michael V. Smith is a joyful summer treat! He writes great poems, prose and tweets. Jen and Dina talk to him about his new poetry book, Bad Ideas, dreams, why we write, navigating the exclusion and power imbalances of the literary community, Disneyland and even Daniel's wedding. We have so many laughs. Also, we talk about Jen's new book, Gentlemen of the Shade. Read both o...

Three amazing guests in one super episode! Finalists Kai Cheng Thom and Ali Blythe along with event MC Leah Horlick join Dina and Jen the day after the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers ceremony. We talk poetry (a lot, in so many ways), exclusion in canlit, the problem with "universal" stories, and so much more. This episodes has laughs, lots of emotions and ends in a real lovefest. T...

Things get spicy in this episode because Dina and Daniel get to talk to poet, photographer and general delight Tenille Campbell! We talk about that writing life, surprise yoga, and culture, sex, desire in her wonderful debut poetry collection #IndianLovePoems. Come for the hook up stories, stay for the fun cackling throughout. Also, Daniel deals with reviews of his new book, Dina survived a year o...

A short bonus episode! Jen and Dina wished they'd had more time with Deborah Willis, but we all still had a fun time and great a conversation about Deborah's amazing new short story collection, The Dark and Other Love Stories, hypochondria, Riverdale, and quite a bit of gross body stuff. HOT TIP: This episode was recorded in February! A real blast from the near past. 

It may be Poetry Month, but we pull a short story switcheroo! Daniel is the guest, along with Carleigh Baker. Jen Sookfong Lee is your guest host. Dina is up to the same old tricks. In this whopper of an episode we talk about Daniel's book of short stories Everything Is Awful and You're a Terrible Person, and Carleigh's Bad Endings. Other topics covered include: reviews, Canada Reads, putting biog...

Live from Growing Room: A Feminist Literary Festival we have two mega-talented and wonderful guests, Juliane Okot Bitek and Leah Horlick! In our second live outing we talk about rejection, free labour, jumpsuit anxiety, book award red carpet fashion, broken heaters, their books, 100 Days (Juliane) and For Your Own Good (Leah), and of course Dina and Daniel's anxiety. We also debut our newest segme...

When Daniel's away Dina gets to co-host with podcast guest host superstar Jen Sookfong Lee! They talk to complete talent and delight Eden Robinson. Be prepared for so much boisterous laughter. Their conversation touches on her new novel, Son of a Trickster, otters and other animals, humour, swearing, dietary restrictions and Dina talks about her Danielversary. 

No guest? No problem. It's just Dina and Daniel! They went to Kelowna and lived to tell the tale. This episode has so much: spring books we're excited about, a literary festival/winery recap, so much singing, and a very special CanLit Feud featuring one of the hosts. 

Happy New Year, listeners! Daniel has a post-vacation glow and Dina beams from an amazing otter encounter. Our smart and talented guests are writers Beni Xiao & Mariah Devcic. These sharp young ones talk about writing, university, periods, the culture of CanLit and so much more. Don't call them emerging. They're already here!

Happy holidays, listeners! This episode has singing, laughing, shouting, seasonal stories, book recommendations, suggestions for places to donate this holiday season from many guests from Can't Lit past: Jen Sookfong Lee, Ben Rawluk, Adèle Barclay, Sheryda Warrener, Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Carleigh Baker, Anthony Casey & Anakana Schofield. Daniel has a broken water pipe, Dina is sometimes quiet, an...

Oh wow! On this episode we have the amazing novelist, poet, TV writer and enjoyable person, Zoe Whittall! Her great novel, The Best Kind of People, was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and Dina and Daniel praise it like dorks. We talk about that novel, but cover so many other topics, like blemish talk, TV we're watching, weird movies, and so much more. Zoe wins the award for Super Delightful Podca...

In a special bonus episode of Can't Lit, Daniel interviews Dina about late Canadian icon and her hero, Leonard Cohen. She talks about his influence, why he's amazing and the time she met him at a chain bookstore basement. We also just look at the past week and say WTF?

Hooray for Halloween candy and our supes special guest, secret matriarch and poetry witch, Adèle Barclay. As we munch on so many fun-sized chocolate bars we talk about her new poetry collection, If I Were in a Cage I'd Reach Out for You, her new position with CWILA, winning the LIT POP poetry prize and finishing her PhD, and we give some dirtbag tips for writers. We also talk so much Halloween stu...

Dina and Daniel invited Jen Sookfong Lee and Anakana Schofield into a literary pop-up shop and recorded Can't Lit Live! In our first live episode we talk about their books, The Conjoined and Martin John, Lionel Shriver, shirts, and of course go on so many tangents in front of an audience. We play a special game: Who Said This in an Interview: Anakana or Jen? and Dina gets Daniel and their guests t...

This episode is jam-packed! Our smart and talented guest is all-year-round fun time, Anthony Casey! We talk about writing TV recaps and drag comedy (shout out to Shanda Leer), and his new personal project, One Hour Writer, Pretty Little Liars, Daniel's fun travel stories, Dina getting old and getting stoned, the Olympics (sort of), puppy play and so much more. Grab some Weed Dunkaroos and listen.

Join us for a podcast brunch with our fantastic guest, Chelene Knight. We talk with her about her excellent poetry collection, Braided Skin, and her new manuscript, Dear Current Occupant. We also talk about good and bad cocktails, not having the answers, and summer looks and treats. Then we play a game just for Meme Queen Chelene: Stand By Your Meme. 

Summer is here and your hosts get to bask in the talented glow of multi-hyphenate and human delight, Vivek Shraya! We talk about her new book, even this page is white, new photography project, Trisha, and her band with her brother, Too Attached. We also talk about Pride, hip hop and R&B, racism in canlit, pop culture and everywhere, summer , shorts and so much more. Dina gets real about her uterus...

Strap on your skates, Can't Lit listeners! Wonderful writer and human Elee Kraljii Gardiner joins Dina and Daniel to talk about her debut poetry collection, Serpentine Loop (Anvil Press, 2016). Also discussed: figure skating, Boston, statues, book tours, short stories and the hard parts about writing. Do we reference The Cutting Edge? You bet we do! Let Elee double toe loop into your heart. Toe pi...

The sun is shining and our guest is our dear friend, rosé. Daniel talks about his fun adventures and new home. Dina's Rage Minute makes its first appearance and she introduces a new game: Race Horse or Poetry Book? CanLit Feuds is here for you, along with other literary trash talk . Special cameo appearance by human delight Gabe Liedman.

Kick off Poetry Month with a new episode from your loving Can't Lit duo! This month superhero braniac and literary heartthrob Ben Rawluk joins us to talk about so many great and mind-tingling things, but especially the action-packed upcoming issue of Poetry Is Dead: Prose Poem vs. the Super-Hero. Have a super-duper Poetry Month!    

Oh boy! This episode is a real champ because we talk to Charles Demers, a.k.a Charlie, formerly a.k.a Chuck. We get into some serious topics like: chunky guacamole, last name pronunciation, t-ball, his new book, "The Horrors", being a homeowner in Vancouver, and Elena Ferrante. We also play a new and not stressful game: Alphabet of Anxiety.

It's the Can't Lit Bowl! Over bowls of snacks we ignore Super Bowl Sunday and talk to the delightful writer Carleigh Baker! We discuss chapbooks, including hers, The Closest We'll Get to Neon , The Peel Project documentary, poetry, her upcoming short story collection, Bad Endings , being hungover dirtbags and sexy dentists. Touchdown!  

Happy 2016! Poet, chum and repeat guest Sheryda Warrener helps us ring in the first Can't Lit of the new year. We talk about January sads, Neko Atsume as winter saviour, explicit content, butts, BIONICLEs, and her new book, Floating Is Everything. We also play a special game: Resolution or Electrocution. And yes, we briefly discuss Daniel's farts and poops. Happy New Year, Can't Litters!