Writer's Block

This episode of Writer's Block includes an interview with Paul Zizka, a short story by Emily Costa, an interview with Heidi Grogan and Natalie Meisner, and a bonus segment about literary puns. Stay tuned!

Interviews with Kevin Stebner of Shed Books, Tessa McWatt, and a short story from Karla Korman

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This month, listen to some interviews with Jaclyn DeForges and Ethan Lou.

On this month's episode of Writer's Block we have some stellar interviews with Kai Cheng Thom, Shelley Yungblut, the Calgary based Espresso Poetry Collective, and a fiction reading from Joanne Fung! Tune in for a stellar episode and all of the fall feels as we enter autumn in Calgary with our September episode.

Listen to Jeanne Kwong interview Mona Awad about her newest publication, "All's Well" and Maddy Robinson interview Amy LeBlanc about her novella "Unlocking" on this episode of Writer's Block! Not to mention a special conversational segment... "You know what flips my pages?" where we get into all things hot on our minds in the literary world. Is James Patterson part of the illuminati.. or is he jus...

This month's episode features some stellar interviews with Yalda Kazemi and Marcello DiCintio, a fiction reading from Ore Arowobusoye's upcoming work, and a special talk on craft and family heritage between Christall Smith and Melissa Spohr Weiss. Enjoy!

Brand new episode from a brand new student driven Writer's Block collective! Featuring interviews with Sabrina Samuel, Marc Lynch, and fiction and poetry readings from UVic's Rachel Lachmansingh and UCalgary's Christalle Smith, respectively. Join the Writer's Block collective every month for more creative segments, poetry and fiction readings, and inspiring interviews!

For our May show, we interview Calgary writers Sophie Stocking, abouther short story collection Walking Leonard and Other Stories (Guernica Editions), that asks tough questions about resilience in beautifully poetic ways; and Ali Bryan about her dystopian YA climate fiction, girl power novel The Hill (dottier press), longlisted for the international 2021 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. And w...

On our second pandemic National Poetry Month show we bring you yet another episode produced in our safe home studio - featuring Calgary's 5th Poet Laureate Natalie Meisner with seven audio poems by poets in her This Might Help legacy project (http://thismighthelp.ca/). And we also speak to landscape ecologist Kevin van Tighem about his book of essays Wild Roses Are Worth It: Alberta Reconsidered.

On our March 2021 episode of Writer's Block, co-host Cody Dronyk interviews Eamon McGrath, award-winning musician and author of the widely acclaimed Berlin-Warszawa Express, about his new novel, Here Goes Nothing, a smart and gritty novel that explores the lives of touring musicians. We also have an exclusive sneak listen to Eamon’s upcoming new single, April. And we are thrilled to have a feature...

Our February 2021 episode features Part Two of our interview with Kathy Calvert about her fascinating biography Vertical Reference: The Life of Legendary Mountain Helicopter Rescue Pilot Jim Davies (Rocky Mountain Books). Part One aired on our January episode. This month we also feature renowned writer, ethnographer, and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis, in an in-depth intervie...

On our January 2021 episode of Writer’s Block, co-host Lyn Cadence chats with Calgary playwright Dale Lee Kwong about various endeavors in and around Chinatown. Lyn also interviews renowned filmmaker Anne Wheeler about her memoir, Taken by the Muse: On the Path to Becoming a Filmmaker (NeWest), as well as Robin van Eck, about her debut novel Rough (Stonehouse Publishing). This episode also feature...

On our December 2020 episode of Writer’s Block, cohost Lyn Cadence chats with JoAnn McCaig of Calgary’s Shelf Life Books. Lyn also interviews award-winning author Marina Endicott about her historical novel The Voyage of the Morning Light (published as The Difference in Canada). And Sharon Butala, reads “Grace’s Garden”, a short story from her collection Season of Fury and Wonder, winner of the 202...

On our November 2020 episode of Writer’s Block, cohost Lyn Cadence chats with two Frontenac House Quartet 2020 poets – Alexander Williamson (Very Bright, Almost Pretty) and Lisa Richter (Nautilus and Bone). Lyn also interviews Calgary’s Barbara Miller Biles about her new collection of short fiction, Dear Hearts (Inanna Publications). And cohost Dymphny Dronyk interviews Candas Jane Dorsey about he...

On our October episode we chat with Lori Hahnel about Vermin, her new collection of short stories (Great Plains Publications); Deni Ellis Béchard about his novel A Song from Faraway (Goose Lane Editions); and cohost Lyn Cadence interviews two of the Frontenac House Quartet 2020 poets – Joan Shillington and Tyler B. Perry.

On our August 2020 episode we feature Helen Knott discussing her memoir of resilience In My Own Moccasins (University of Regina Press), a deeply moving national bestseller. Helen was named an RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writer in 2019. And guest host Angela Kublik chats with Heidi L. M. Jacobs, winner of the 2020 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, about her hilarious book Molly of the Mall:...

On our September 2020 episode, assisted by our new co-host Lyn Cadence, we feature two Calgary contributors, Nikki Reimer and Richard Harrison, from the anthology Locations of Grief - am Emotional Geography, edited by Catherine Owen, and published by Wolsak & Wynn. And we feature Frontenac House poet Bob Stallworthy, with his collection Impact Statement, as well as award-winning poet Angela Dillon...

On our July 2020 episode of CJSW Writer’s Block, poet Bertrand Bickersteth talks about his collection The Response of Weeds, (Newest Press) which explores what it means to be Black and Albertan through a variety of prisms: historical, biographical, and essentially, geographical; and Doreen Vanderstoop discusses her bestselling debut novel, Watershed, (Freehand Books), a spellbinding "cli-fi" (clim...

On our June 2020 episode of CJSW Writer’s Block, we delve into cults and the occult with a powerful memoir-in-verse, Cult Life by Kyeren Regehr; and a rollick ing novel, The Occult Persuasion and the Anarchist’s Solution by Lisa de Nikolits. Pandemic reading at its finest! We also salute the winners of the 2020 Alberta Literary Awards, many of whom we’ve been proud to feature on our show over the...

Episode 58 - Writer’s Block On our May 2020 episode of CJSW Writer’s Block, we have guest host Courtney Dingreville chatting with Alberta photographer Leah Hennel, about her gorgeous book Along the Western Front, and we have an in-depth interview with photographer and fly fisherman, Neil Jennings, about his new Popular Wildflowers of the Canadian Prairies, and Popular Wildflowers of Alberta and th...

For our April 2020 episode we celebrate National Poetry Month by creating a virtual poetry popup - recorded from our safely physically distanced living rooms to yours - featuring Kim Fahner, David Martin, Amy Le Blanc, and Helen Hajnoczky. The sound quality may not be pristine, but our hearts are pure, and we don't let the corona virus get in the way of our collective love of poetry. Stay safe and...

On our March 2020 episode of Writer's Block, we interview Calgary author Sophie Stocking about her mesmerizing and darkly comic novel Corridor Nine (Thistledown) and Vancouver photographer and solo wilderness explorer Daniel Fox about his gorgeous and powerful book Feel the Wild (Rocky Mountain Books).

This month we we have two feature interviews: Anne Sorbie discusses her new poetry collection Falling Backwards into Mirrors (Inanna Publications); and JoAnn McCaig, author, co-owner of Shelf Life Books, and publisher at Freehand Books, tells us about her latest novel, An Honest Woman (Thistledown Press). We also blurb the 30th anniversary re-release of Cheryl Foggo's Pourin' Down Rain: A Black Wo...

Episode 54 - Writer’s Block On our January 2020 episode of CJSW Writer’s Block, we have an in-depth interview with Martha Bailie, who was in the studio to talk about her new book Sister Language, that she wrote with her sister Christina Baillie who suffered from schizophrenia.