What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books

My guest on this episode is Naseem Hrab. Naseem is the author of many stories for children, which have been translated into several languages. Her book The Sour Cherry Tree , published by OwlKids Books, won a Governor General’s Literary Award in 2022. Naseem’s most recent book, Otis & Peanut , illustrated by Kelly Collier, was also published by OwlKids Books earlier this year.  Kirkus Reviews...

My guest on this episode is Carleigh Baker. Carleigh’s debut story collection, Bad Endings , published by Anvil Press in 2017, won the City of Vancouver Book Award, and was also a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Emerging Indigenous Voices Award for fiction. Foreword magazine said, about Bad Endings , “Baker is a skillful, sensitive writer with an uncanny gift for subtl...

My guest on this episode is Cary Fagan. Cary is the author of many novels and collections of short stories. He has won the Toronto Book Award and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for Fiction, and has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Writers’ Trust Fiction Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction. He is also an acclaimed writer of books for children, having won the...

My guest on this episode is Susan Musgrave. Susan is the author of nineteen books of poetry, numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, and several books for children. In 2023, she was recognized with the George Woodcock Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement in British Columbia. Susan also teaches poetry in the University of British Columbia’s Creative Writing school, where I was lucky enough...

My guest on this episode is Erin Pepler. Erin is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Today’s Parent ,  Parents Canada ,  SavvyMom ,  Romper ,  Scary Mommy ,  MoneySense ,  Broadview Magazine  and more. Her first book, Send Me Into the Woods Alone: Essays on Motherhood , was published by Invisible Publishing in 2022.   Writing about the book in the Globe and Mail , Marsha Lederman said th...

My guest on this episode is Lynn Coady. Lynn is the author of eight books, including the novel The Antagonist , which was shortlisted for the 2011 Giller Prize, and the short-story collection Hellgoing , which won the Giller Prize in 2013. Her most recent novel novel is Watching You Without Me , which was published by House of Anansi  2019 and Knopf US in 2020.   Publishers Weekly said that Watchi...

My guest on this episode of WHAT HAPPENED NEXT is Ann Douglas. Ann is the bestselling author of 26 works of non-fiction — yes, that is correct — and creator of the Mother of All Books series, which have sold over half a million copies in North America.   Her most recent book is Navigating the Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women , published by Douglas &amp...

My guest in this episode is Alicia Elliott. Alicia is a Mohawk writer living in Brantford, Ontario, whose essays have been nominated for multiple National Magazine Awards. She is also a recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Alicia’s first book, the essay collection A Mind Spread Out On The Ground , was a national bestseller, and was nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize...

My guest on this episode is Claire Ross Dunn. Claire is not only a novelist, whose first book, At Last Count , was published in 2022 by Invisible Publishing, but also a story editor and producer for television, where she has worked on obscure little shows like Little Mosque on the Prairie and Degrassi: The Next Generation .   At Last Count was named a Best Book of 2022 by the Globe and Mail .   Cl...

My guest on this episode is Elyse Friedman, the author of a whole bunch of things, including a number of screenplays, a collection of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a few novels, the most recent of which is The Opportunist , which was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2022. The Toronto Star review of The Opportunist said that “In exciting, page-turning prose, Friedman’s brilliant pl...

On this episode of What Happened Next , I speak with Alix Ohlin. Alix is the author of three novels and three short story collections. Alix as been shortlisted twice for the Giller Prize, among many other award nominations, and she chairs the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia. Alix’s most recent book is the collection We Want What We Want , published by House of Anansi...

On this episode of What Happened Next , I speak with Dawn Promislow. Dawn is the author of the short story collection Jewels , published in 2010, and the novel Wan , published by Freehand Books in May 2022. Author Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer has called Wan “a masterpiece” and said that this “beautiful, painterly, sublime, and sonically exquisite novel … is a work of utter genius.”   Dawn and I talk abou...

On this episode of What Happened Next , I speak with Andrew Pyper. Andrew is the author of a dozen bestselling books, including the novels The Homecoming , The Residence , and many others. His most recent project is Oracle , an audio-only book he created for Audible that was narrated by Joshua Jackson (Yes, Dawson's Creek ’s Joshua Jackson.) Andrew also created a kind of sequel for Oracle in the f...

On this episode of  What Happened Next , I speak with Nicola Winstanley, the author of six picture books, including her most recent, How to Teach Your Cat a Trick: In Five Easy Steps , published by Tundra Books in 2022. Nicola’s books have received numerous award nominations, including the Marylin Bailie Picture book award and the Governor General’s Award. CM Reviews called How to Teach Your Cat a...

On this episode, I speak with Farzana Doctor about her first poetry collection You Still Look the Same , published by Freehand Books in 2022*. We talk about the how she learned to market herself, how publishing a collection of poetry was a surprisingly relaxing experience (at least compared to publishing her four previous novels), and how the messes of her forties have broadened her ambitions as a...