Writers Read Their Early Sh*t

Send us Fan Mail Sorry for the delay, folks—been busy with the washing & the cleaning & that—but here at last is my free-ranging chat with Gary Barwin, roaming from how one ends up in a place to David McFadden to walking like James Joyce to other people's milk. We even get around to some of Gary's early shit. Enjoy. Thanks to Wayne Emde for the artwork, Joe Emde for help with the...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes Jaclyn Desforges for a convivial interface about letting the robots do all the stuff, writing about coconut oil, Clarice Lispector, lonely feet, weird babies, and running for mayor of Milton, Ontario. A splendid time is guaranteed for all. Thanks to Wayne Emde for the artwork, Joe Emde for help with the intro, DJ Max in Tokyo for the wizard music, and you, wherever...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes Christine Fischer Guy for an amiable gab about ordering beers around the world, Glenn Gould, Danielle Steele, rising to touch the universal, synesthesia, & tuberculosis. Like, love, subscribe, & join the early sh*t chat on Instagram @writersreadtheirearlyshit. Thanks to Wayne Emde for the artwork, Joe Emde for help with the intro, DJ Max in Tokyo for the wiz...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes his university poetry prof & the squire of Appledore Tom Wayman for a jabberwocky about the ego needed for writing, Leonard Cohen, Robert Bly, Gary Snyder, being hung with horseshoes, the perils of teaching poetry, gathering wood & chopping it, and, in a corner garden: wilder, lower wolves! (That's an REM reference, you know). Like, love, subscribe, &am...

Send us Fan Mail Can you handle THIS bandwidth? Jason welcomes the boundlessly rejuvenate Guy Elston for a confab about waitresses climbing in your mouth, mom & pop landlords, fart walks, addict pigeons, unicycles, books being around something, robot mushrooms and, of course, death. Nice & ugly! What are you waiting for? Like, subscribe, & join the early sh*t chat on Instagram @writers...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes globetrotting writer Beka Shane Denter for a gabfest about the charms of Copenhagen and Tokyo, the glory of old Rolling Stones magazines, how books smell like life, doing things for the last time with your kids, and writing it all down. Join the early sh*t chat at https://www.facebook.com/WRTESpodcast & on Instagram @writersreadtheirearlyshit. Thanks to Wayne Em...

Send us Fan Mail Jason eases you into season five with some rubbish teenage poetry. Just what you wanted! Join the early shit chat at https://www.facebook.com/WRTESpodcast & on Instagram @writersreadtheirearlyshit. Thanks to Wayne Emde for the artwork, Joe Emde for help with the intro, DJ Max in Tokyo for the music, and you, wherever & whoever & however you are, for listening.  Support...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes writer Ayelet Tsabari for a chinwag about needing the beach, apples revolving in space, the jaw-dropping beauty of Vancouver, surfing between languages, being out in real life, scribbling at the end of the world, & tears for the writer, tears for the reader. Join the early sh*t chat at https://www.facebook.com/WRTESpodcast & on Instagram @writersreadtheirear...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes writer & rock star Andrew Whiteman (of Broken Social Scene, Apostle of Hustle, & Bourbon Tabernacle Choir fame) for a wide-ranging interface about giant Greek eyes, secretly grooving to Sade, the glory of Prince, being possessed by the guilty spirit of Dostoevsky's Raskolninov, the split self, spontaneous eruptions, & Frank O'Hara. Join the ear...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes writer & traveler Caroline Topperman for a ramble-chat about Poland, Paris, having a lot of houses in your brain, the glory of Judy Blume, high school prose things full of meaning, & how stories connect us. Also: Caroline tells Jason what to do. Join the early sh*t chat at https://www.facebook.com/WRTESpodcast & on Instagram @writersreadtheirearlyshit. T...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes pilgrim & author Kelly Watt for a ramble about the secret intelligence of chickens, the power of pilgrimage, fighting the enemy Rick, learning story arcs, Alice Munro, and waitress laments. Crank up the disco & tear down all the schedules! Join the early sh*t chat at https://www.facebook.com/WRTESpodcast & on Instagram @writersreadtheirearlyshit. Thanks...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes hunky singer-songwriter Lee Shedden for a vast ramble about getting drunk in Calgary, how books are bullshit, Martin Amis, listening to KISS on the Gravitron, the glory of Gillian Welch, & how Jason was the worst influence on wee young Lee. There isn't much old literary shit, but the episode is studded—in every way—with some of Lee's early musical shit...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes himself for a reading of an Okanagan University College-era essay, circa 1994, on Lawrence Sterne's 'Tristram Shandy.' Should he have been allowed to pass the course?  Should he have been allowed to graduate? Choose your own adventure! He now knows how to pronounce 'historiographer,' so there's that. Thanks, as always, to Wayne Emde for...

Send us Fan Mail All differences are sorted & congratulations exchanged as Jason is joined by author & rocker & colleague Iain Maloney for an interface about Iain's Scottish-themed KISS character, the geeks & the posh, selling out, sticking by your decisions, having no stories to tell, and dying in Japan. Merry Christmas, everyone! Join the early sh*t chat at https://www.faceb...

Send us Fan Mail Little Brain or Great Brain? Choose your own adventure! Jason welcomes writer & host of The History of Literature podcast Jacke Wilson for a jaw about getting addicted to travel, the glory of John Fitzgerald's Great Brain series, punching up & punching down, not recommending books, Jacke's early days as a podcaster, some important initial influences, and what&apo...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to WRTES Season 4, in all the alleys & under all the streetlamps, & join Jason and author Susan Wadds for a salubrious & contagious confab about sacred images, why we read, Yugoslavian dwarves, the different ways of telling the same story, & drinking baijiu with Leonard Cohen in Berlin. As an added attraction, Jason, in the spirit of fairness, shares some v...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes back DJ Max in Tokyo for the spectacular Season Three finale: negative influences, funky but not too funky drumbeats, Gifu vs Tokyo, Max's lurid romantic past, and what might be the very hardest kind of early shit to write. Also, as a special treat for WRTES's loyal listeners, Max unearths one of his early songs: the philosophical 'Everything Is Bulls...

Send us Fan Mail The tables are comprehensively turned as Jason reads some of his early, Lawrence Durrell-infused early prose to Tom. Will Tom denounce it for the pretentious bunk it is, or will he tenderly offer up his own spine to be blessed? Tune in to find out! Also: a special appearance from Maho. Big wizard beats by the incomparable DJ Max in Tokyo. Join the early sh*t chat at https://www.fa...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes writer & Kill Scenes front-woman Meghan Lamb for a gabfest about love smacks & hate smacks, posthumous dead girls, being stuck inside cows, suggestions of obsession, cheating meat monkeys, bloody mermaids, corpse rats scurrying through the gore, writing to learn about the world, & the macabre shock of it all. Jason also shares some truly shit early shit....

Send us Fan Mail Something's burning, baby! Jason (who's been in trouble ever since he set his suitcase down) welcomes author Matthew Ingate (who's no pig without a wig) for a natter about Dylan's best 21st century albums, secretive gloating, stretching & moving time, Madame Godzilla, what's missing in 'The Godfather,' & a small diner in Santa Fe where tr...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes writer Patrick Grace for a chinwag about his debut collection 'Deviant,' the pitfalls of confessional poetry, listening to your house, anxiety dreams, the local high school's drugged-up teens, how hard it is to talk about what scares us, & backseat icicles of drool. Big wizard beats, as always, by DJ Max in Tokyo. Join the early sh*t chat at https...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes writer Hannah Calder for an interface about chickens giving you the finger, how great Charles Dickens is, exploding kneecaps, riding horses naked down the beach, crazy parades, swollen breasts, writing the perfect book, the power & influence of early 90s music videos, and kissing viking lovers and/or dictators. It's a big one, & features the first early...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes novelist Wayne Ng for a rattle about being named Wayne or Jason, starting late, whether or not scribbling is writing, the realities of self-promotion, the ballsiness of writers, ass-kicking kung-fu Asian stereotypes, and the real reason why writers are cool. Big wizard beats, as always, by DJ Max in Tokyo. Thanks to Wayne Emde for the artwork & Joe Emde for help...

Send us Fan Mail Jason welcomes beautifully laconic poet Tonya Lailey for an interface about wine agencies, comfort books, thin places, what's fab about Nova Scotia, Calgary's supportive writing scene, dot matrix printers, industrial agriculture, allowing the mistake, & how the trick is fun. Look for her debut collection, 'FARM: Lot 23,' out soon. Big whoop beats, as always...

Send us Fan Mail CALM DOWN. Jason welcomes podcaster and author of '60 Songs That Explain the '90s' Rob Harvilla for a confabulation about furious moping, tongue exercises, the glory of New Kids on the Block's 'Games,' wack slacks and lame stains, not leaving your pizza burning, rad steez, clutching at borrowed pearls, and the best KISS song to sing at karaoke. Big wh...