What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books

My guest on this episode is Shashi Bhat. Shashi the author of the novels The Most Precious Substance on Earth , a finalist for the Governor General's Award, and The Family Took Shape , a finalist for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Her fiction has won the Writers’ Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize and been shortlisted for a National Magazine Award and the RBC Bronwen Wallace...

My guest on this episode is Derek McCormack. Derek is the author of more than a dozen books, including Dark Rides , The Haunted Hillbilly , and The Well-Dressed Wound . He has written frequently about fashion and art for places like Artforum and The Believer , and was a regular fashion writer for the National Post . His most recent book is Judy Blame’s Obituary: Writings on Fashion and Death , a c...

My guest on this episode is francesca ekwuyasi. francesca is a writer, artist, and filmmaker whose first book, the novel Butter Honey Pig Bread , was published in 2020 by Arsenal Pulp. That book won the Writers' Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers; was shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and a Lambda Literary Awa...

My guest on this episode is Leigh Nash. Leigh has worked as the publisher at House of Anansi Press and Invisible Publishing, and is now the co-publisher at Assembly Press, a brand-new independent literary press. She also helps run the PEP Rally Reading Series out of Books & Company in Picton and co-founded The Emergency Response Unit, a chapbook press. Her most recent book was also her debut:...

This episode was originally uploaded in June 2023. It is a conversation with Andrew Pyper, who died just a few days ago at the age of 56. Andrew was the author of more than a dozen books, including The Homecoming , The Residence , and many others. In our conversation, Andrew talks about the odd career he has created for himself as a writer with one foot in the literary world and one in the worlds...

My guest on this episode is Martha Baillie. Martha is the author of multiple works of fiction, including the novel The Incident Report , published by Coach House Books in 2009 and longlisted for the Giller Prize. Darkest Miriam , a feature film based on that novel, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this year and had its Canadian premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival, where it w...

My guest on this episode is Stephen Maher. Stephen has been writing about Canadian politics for decades as a columnist and investigative reporter at Postmedia News, iPolitics, and Maclean’s . His work has won numerous awards, including the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, the Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism, a National Newspaper Award, two Canadian Association of J...

My guest on this episode is Charlene Carr. Charlene is the author of 10 self-published works of fiction, as well as the novel Hold My Girl , which was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2023 and was shortlisted for the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Her most recent book, the novel We Rip the World Apart , was published at the start of this year by...

My guest on this episode is Josh O’Kane. Josh is a reporter at the Globe and Mail whose first book, Nowhere With You: The East Coast Anthems of Joel Plaskett, The Emergency and Thrush Hermit was published by ECW Press and was a Canadian bestseller. Josh’s most recent book, Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy, was published by Random House Canada in 2022. It was a national bestseller and a final...

My guest on this episode is Casey Plett. Casey is the author of  A Dream of a Woman ,  Little Fish , and A Safe Girl to Love , and the co-editor of  Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy From Transgender Writers . She is also the publisher at LittlePuss Press. Casey’s most recent book is On Community , published in 2023 by Biblioasis. That book was a Finalist for the Firecracker Award...

My guest on this episode is Alison McCreesh. Alison is a writer, visual artist, and the creator of the graphic novels Ramshackle: A Yellowknife Story , which won the NorthWords Best Book Award, and Norths: Two Suitcases and a Stroller Around the Circumpolar World . Both books were published by Conundrum Press. Alison’s most recent book is the graphic memoir Degrees of Separation: A Decade North of...

My guest on this episode is Lisa Whittington-Hill. Lisa is a writer whose work has appeared in  Longreads , Hazlitt ,  Catapult , The Walrus , and more. She is the publisher of  This Magazine  and teaches in the publishing program at Centennial College. Lisa’s most recent two books are The Go-Go's Beauty and the Beat , part of the 33 1/3 series published by Bloomsbury, and the essay collection Gir...

My guest on this episode is Ali Bryan. Ali is the author six novels, including Roost , which was a One Book Nova Scotia selection, The Figgs and The Hill . Her work has won and been nominated for multiple awards, including the Leacock Prize, the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, the Pushcart Prize, a Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Award, a Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and the BPAA Trad...

My guest on this episode is Hannah Green. Hannah is a writer as well as the poetry editor at the literary journal CV2 . Her debut collection, Xanax Cowboy , was published by House of Anansi in 2023 and won the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry. In its starred review of the book, Quill & Quire called the book “timely and witty” and said “it leaves nothing off stage, hides nothing.” H...

My guest on this Halloween-themed episode is Ainslie Hogarth. Ainslie is the author of two YA horror novels, The Lonely and The Boy Meets Girl Massacre (Annotated), and the adult novel Motherthing , which was a New York Times Best Book of the Year and was included in Cosmopolitan ’s list of Best Horror Books of All Time. Her short fiction has been published in Hazlitt, Black Static, and elsewhere....

My guest on this episode is Dan Werb. Dan is an author, epidemiologist and policy analyst whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, and elsewhere. His first book, City of Omens: A Search for the Missing Women of the Borderlands , was published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2019 and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for nonfiction. He holds faculty appointments at t...

My guest on this episode is Tamara Faith Berger. Tamara is an author and screenwriter whose books include Lie With Me , which she helped adapt into a feature film, The Way of the Whore (later republished by Coach House Books as Little Cat ),  Maidenhead , Kuntalini  and  Queen Solomon . She has been nominated for the Trillium Book Award and won the Believer Book Award. Two films for which she wrot...

My guest on this episode is Paige Maylott. Paige is a writer and gamer who works as an accessibility expert at McMaster University. Her first book, the memoir My Body Is Distant , was published by ECW Press in 2023. That book won an Independent Publisher Book Award for LGBTQ+ Non-Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Rakuten KOBO Emerging Writer Prize in the nonfiction category. Publishers Weekly s...

My guest on this episode is Waubgeshig Rice. Waubgeshig is the Anishinaabe author of four books, including the short story collection Midnight Sweatlodge  (2011), and the novels  Legacy  (2014) and  Moon of the Crusted Snow  (2018). As a journalist, he has worked for various outlets, including CBC Radio One. He also hosted, along Jennifer David, the Storykeepers podcast, which focused on Indigenou...

My guest on this episode is David Bergen. David is the author of numerous acclaimed novels and short-story collections, including The Case of Lena S , which won the 2002 Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, and The Time In Between , winner of the 2005 Giller Prize. Four of his books have won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. David’s work has also won the Margaret Laurence Award for Fictio...

My guest on this episode is Christine Estima . Christine is a journalist, author, and performer whose work has appeared in the  New York Times , the  Walrus ,  VICE , the  Globe and Mail ,  Chatelaine ,  Maisonneuve , and elsewhere. She was shortlisted for the 2018 Allan Slaight Prize for Journalism, longlisted for the 2015 CBC Canada Writes Creative Nonfiction prize, and was a finalist for the 20...

My guest on this episode is Carl Wilson . Carl is the music critic at Slate and also writes for The Globe and Mail , Hazlitt , The New York Times Magazine and many other online and print publications. His work has been included in two of Da Capo Books' annual Best Music Writing collections. Carl’s first book was Let’s Talk about Love: A Journey to the End of Taste , which Carl himself describes as...

My guest on this episode is Peter Darbyshire. Peter is an author, journalist, and communications professional whose debut novel, Please , won the KM Hunter Award for Best Emerging Artist and the ReLit Award for Best Novel. He is also the author of the novel The Warhol Gang and the story collection Has the World Ended Yet? He works as Communications Officer for BC’s Provincial Health Services Autho...

My guest on this episode is Michael Christie. Michael is the author of the 2012 story collection, The Beggar's Garden , which was longlisted for the Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Writers' Trust Prize for Fiction, and won the Vancouver Book Award. His 2015 novel If I Fall, If I Die was also longlisted for the Giller Prize, as well as the Kirkus Prize, and was selected as a New York Times Editor...

My guest on this episode is Deborah Dundas. Deborah is a writer and journalist who has worked as a television producer and as the Books Editor for the Toronto Star , where she is currently an opinion editor. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Maclean’s , the Globe and Mail , the National Post ,  Canadian Notes and Queries , the Belfast Telegraph, and the  Sunday Independent...