Canada Reads Inspired

Interview - Lucy E.M. Black and A Quilting of Scars

Rebecca is excited to welcome back to the podcast Canadian author Lucy E.M. Black regarding her new historical novel, A Quilting of Scars, with its unforgettable main character, Larkin Beattie. 

https://nonpublishing.com/a-quilting-of-scars

"Filled with the pleasure of recognizable yet distinctively original characters and a deftly drawn sense of time and place, A Quilting of Scars brings to life a story of forbidden love, abuse and murder. Pulsing with repressed sexuality and guilt, Larkin Beattie reveals the many secrets he has kept hidden throughout his lonely life. The character-driven narrative is a meditation on aging and remorse, offering a rich account of the strictures and rhythms of farming in the not-so-distant past, highlighting the confines of a community where strict moral codes are imposed upon its members and fear of exposure terrifies queer youth. As Larkin reflects upon key events, his recollections include his anger at the hypocrisy of the church, and the deep grief and loneliness that have marked his path. There is a timelessness to this story which transcends the period and resonates with heart-breaking relevance."

https://lucyemblack.com/books/a-quilting-of-scars-book/

A Quilting of Scars Discussion Questions

As many of you know, Rebecca highly recommends four of Lucy’s books: The Brickworks, Eleanor Courtown, Stella’s Carpet, and A Quilting of Scars.

Lucy's Reading Recommendations:

• In the Bear's House by Bruce Hunter
• Kate and the Composers by Joanne Culley

 

Interview - David Giuliano and The Upending of Wendall Forbes

Tara is excited to chat with Canadian author David Giuliano, who lives on the north shore of Lake Superior. His storytelling has been compared to Miriam Toews and Elizabeth Strout in its emotional insight and narrative warmth. His books include The Undertaking of Billy Buffone, winner of the 2022 Bressani Prize; the bestselling Postcards from the Valley; and the cancer memoir It's Good to Be Here. His latest book is The Upending of Wendall Forbes from Latitude 46 Publishing.

Reading recommendations:

• Aliens on the Moon by Thomas King
• My Friends by Fredrik Backman
• In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart

https://davidgiulianoca.wordpress.com/

https://latitude46publishing.com/

https://www.instagram.com/davidwgiuliano/

 

Interview - Emily A. Weedon and Hemo Sapiens

Tara chats with Emily Weedon, a Canadian author and screenwriter, currently living in Toronto. Her web series Chateau Laurier was the most awarded web series in 2023 and won a Canadian Screen Award. Her debut novel Autokrator reimagines gender and power in society against the backdrop of a dystopian world. Her new novel, Hemo Sapiens, will be released into the world on September 30, 2025 from Dundurn Press. It is an erotic noir thriller that reimagines vampires through a lens of female sexuality and anthropology.

 

 

Books mentioned for Currently Reading:

• The Wolves of Eternity by Karl Ove Knausgård
• The Problem with Having a Body by Jessica Popeski
• All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live with Anxiety by David A. Robertson
• Runs in the Blood by Matthew J. Trafford

https://toronto.thewordonthestreet.ca/

 

https://emilyweedon.com/

https://www.instagram.com/emily.weedon.creates/

https://canadareadsamericanstyle.podbean.com/e/interview-emily-a-weedon-and-autokrator/

Interview - Jen Sookfong Lee and The Hunger We Pass Down

Tara speaks with Canadian author Jen Sookfong Lee regarding her latest novel, The Hunger We Pass Down, which is available September 30, 2025 from Erewhon Books.

Jen was born and raised in Vancouver's East Side and now lives with her son in North Burnaby. Her memoir, Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart, was a finalist for the 2024 Forest of Reading Evergreen Award and the City of Vancouver Book Award, was named a best book of 2023 by the Globe and Mail and Apple Books Canada, and was a Today Show recommended read. Jen is also the author of The Conjoined, long listed for the International Dublin Literary Award and a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize; The Better Mother, a finalist for the City of Vancouver Books Award; The Shadow List; and Finding Home. In addition to writing, Jen also acquires and edits books for ECW Press. 

Recommended titles:

• Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert
• Variations on a Dream by Angelique LaLonde

http://sookfong.com/

https://www.instagram.com/jensookfonglee/

 

 

Book Chat 28

Rebecca and Tara are back with their "monthly" chat about the books they've read and recommend. Please check out the link below to the Instagram post by Hollay Ghadery on her River Street Writes account regarding independent and small press books sold through Indigo.

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• The Laundryman's Boy by Edward Y.C. Lee
• A Song for Wildcats by Caitlin Galway
• Brushed Aside: The Untold Story of Women in Art by Noah Charney
• The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
• The Taste of Hunger by Barbara Joan Scott

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• Walking with Beth: Conversations with My Hundred-Year-Old Friend; Woman Watching: Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay by Merilyn Simonds
• Behind You by Catherine Hernandez
• Green by Zachari Logan, published by Radiant Press https://radiantpress.ca/
• May It Have a Happy Ending: A Memoir of Finding My Voice as My Mother Lost Hers by Minelle Mahtani
• A Mouth Full of Salt by Reem Gaafar
• Speech Dries Here on the Tongue: Poetry on Environmental Collapse and Mental Health -- Rasiqra Revulva (editor), Amanda Shankland (editor)
• The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• https://www.differentdrummerbooks.ca/
• Post shared by Hollay Ghadery on Instagram (@river_street_writes): https://www.instagram.com/p/DNUPOihN91t/

If you have any comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara or you are interested in joining their monthly virtual book chat, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

Interview - Jinwoo Park and Oxford Soju Club

Rebecca is excited to speak with Korean Canadian author Jinwoo Park. Born and raised in Seoul, he has lived in various parts of North America and the UK since the age of 11 and is now based in Montreal.

Jinwoo obtained his bachelor’s degree from McGill in 2013, followed by a master’s in political economics from the London School of Economics in 2014, and a master’s in creative writing at the University of Oxford in 2015. 

In 2021 he won the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers’ Award for his first manuscript, Oxford Soju Club, which will be published by Dundurn Press in September 2025. He has also been actively working as a literary translator after winning the Emerging Translator Award from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea in late 2023.

Jinwoo is also an avid book reviewer and is active on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

Authors and books recommended:

• Chung Serang (정세랑) 
• Oh Seong-eun (오성은) 
• The Hypebeast by Adnan Khan
• The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim

https://www.tiktok.com/@jinwoopark0721

https://www.instagram.com/jinwoopark0721/

https://www.youtube.com/@jinwoopark0721

https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459755109-oxford-soju-club

 

 

 

Hidden Gems with author Marion Agnew

Welcome to the latest episode of Hidden Gems in which Rebecca and Tara invite guests to recommend authors or titles that may be new to us.

Rebecca is excited to introduce author Marion Agnew whose debut novel, Making Up the Gods, from Latitude 46 Publishing, was released in October, 2023.  Kirkus Reviews calls it “A complex, heart-warming tale of love, absolution, and fortitude.”

Marion began writing creative nonfiction in the late 1990s, after her mother’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s. Her essays were collected in Reverberations: A Daughter's Meditations on Alzheimer's, published in 2019 by Signature Editions. It was shortlisted for the Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award.

A dual citizen of the US and Canada, Marion lives and writes in Shuniah, a community north of Thunder Bay, on Lake Superior, in Robinson-Superior Treaty Territory of the Anishinaabe and Métis peoples.

Rebecca interviewed Marion about Making Up the Gods on July 8, 2024.

Recommended books:

• Good to a Fault; Close to Hugh by Marina Endicott
• Lambsquarters: Scenes from a Handmade Life; Shepherd's Sight: A Farming Life by Barbara McLean
• McLean and Wils interview: https://www.tvo.org/video/barbara-mclean-with-her-husband-retired-doctor-thomas-wils 
• The Lightkeeper's Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol
• We're All in This Together by Amy Jones

https://www.marionagnew.com/

https://latitude46publishing.com/

https://www.instagram.com/marionagnew/

https://www.entershinebookshop.ca/collections/all-books

 

Interview - Caitlin Galway and A Song for Wildcats

Rebecca is excited to interview Canadian author Caitlin Galway on this latest episode. Caitlin is a novelist and short fiction writer whose work can be classified as literary realism, surrealism, and magical realism. A Song for Wildcats, her new short story collection published by Dundurn Press, has been named an Indigo Best Book of 2025, and was featured as a must-read in The Globe and Mail, and a most anticipated book in The Toronto Star. She has been the recipient of grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.

https://caitlingalway.wixsite.com/caitlin-l-galway

https://www.dundurn.com/authors_/t156375/p149069-caitlin-galway

https://www.instagram.com/c.l.gals/

Caitlin's books:

• A Song for Wildcats:
  • A Song for Wildcats
  • Heatstroke
  • The Islanders
  • The Wisp
  • The Lyrebird's Bell
• Bonavere Howl

Other books discussed:

• Her Body Among Animals by Paola Ferrante
• We Do Not Part by Han Kang
• Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park
• The Immortal Woman by Su Chang

 

Interview - Alma Sarai and Tottering Biped Theatre

Tara welcomes Alma Sarai, a Canadian artist, actor, musician, and arts advocate, to promote Tottering Biped Theatre's summer production of "The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)" at Dundurn Castle Park in Hamilton, ON in August 2025. 

Alma graduated from the Theatre and Drama Studies program at the University of Toronto Mississauga, a joint program with Sheridan College. She has been deeply involved with Tottering Biped Theatre (TBT) since 2016, serving as Associate Artistic Director and Associate Producer. Alma has performed in every "Shakespeare by Nature" production since its inception, portraying roles such as Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, among many other roles in numerous plays. Since 2020, she has also been the producing Director of TBT's Summer Shakespeare Project, an annual festival held at Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, co-led with Trevor Copp.

Books mentioned:

• Ruff by Rod Carley
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
• How to Make Love in a Canoe: Sex in Canada by Jeff Pearce
• Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench, Brendan O'Hea
• The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race by Farah Karim-Cooper
• Whenever You're Ready: Nora Polley on Life as a Stratford Festival Stage Manager by Shawn Desouza-Coelho

Event details:

The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)

August 12-30, 2025 @ 7:00 pm (Tues-Sat)

 

The Carnival of Animals (live music and mime)

August 17, 24, 31, 2025 @ 7:00 pm (Sun)

 

Dundurn Castle Park , 610 York Blvd, Hamilton, ON

https://www.totteringbiped.ca/

 

 

 

2025 Reading Goals - Midyear Review

Join Rebecca and Tara as they review the progress they've made (or not) on their 2025 reading goals. 

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• Currently reading: A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
• 2025 Goals: Complete Anne of Green Gables and The Chronicles of Narnia series and read more Redwall; read children's books that have "mischievous, clever, independent girl characters"; track "mood reads"; plus, a secret goal!

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• Currently reading: The Queen's Spade by Sarah Raughley
• 2025 Goals: Carol Shields Prize for Fiction; Agatha Christie; Helen Humphreys; weed physical TBR; read more short stories

If you have any comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

Interview - Saad Omar Khan and Drinking the Ocean

Rebecca is excited to speak with Pakistani-Canadian author Saad Omar Khan about his debut novel, Drinking the Ocean, published by Wolsak & Wynn in 2025. Saad was born in the United Arab Emirates to Pakistani parents and lived in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and South Korea before immigrating to Canada.  He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics and has completed a certificate in Creative Writing from the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto. His short fiction has appeared in Best Canadian Stories 2025 and other publications. Saad lives outside of Toronto and is currently working on his second novel.

Books mentioned:

• Ley Lines by Tim Welsh
• Stella Maris; Blood Meridian; All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
• In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
• The Sheltering Sky; Travels: Collected Writing 1950-1993; The Stories of Paul Bowles by Paul Bowles
• Abdullah Ansari of Herat: An Early Sufi Master by A.G. Farhadi

https://www.saadomarkhan.com/

https://www.instagram.com/s.omar.khan/

https://bookstore.wolsakandwynn.ca/collections/all/products/drinking-the-ocean

https://www.biblioasis.com/shop/fiction/short-fiction/best-canadian-stories-2025/

https://augursociety.org/

 

Book Chat 27

Rebecca and Tara share their latest vacation highlights as well as their favorite reads over the past month.

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• https://www.thehenryford.org/
• A Song for Wildcats: Stories by Caitlin Galway
• Stella's Carpet by Lucy E.M. Black 
• Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built; A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
• Drinking the Ocean by Saad Omar Khan
• The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm #1) by Michael Buckley
• Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• https://therooms.ca/
• The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen SookfongLee
• The Yellow Wall-Paper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
• Pale Shadows; Paper Houses by Dominique Fortier; translated by Rhonda Mullins
• Sleepers and Ties by Gail Kirkpatrick
• Written on the Dark; The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
• Tracking Giants: Big Trees, Tiny Triumphs, and Misadventures in the Forest by Amanda Lewis
• Hemo Sapiens by Emily A. Weedon

If you have any comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

Interview - Su Chang and The Immortal Woman

Rebecca is excited to speak with Chinese-Canadian author Su Chang.  Su was born and raised in Shanghai and is the daughter of a former and reluctant Red Guard leader, which was the paramilitary arm of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution beginning in the 1960s. Today, they will be talking about her debut novel, The Immortal Woman, published by House of Anansi in March of this year.  It has already garnered a lot of attention and praise from CBC, Indigo Books, and Amazon, to name a few high-powered sources.

Highlighted books:

• Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
• Who's Irish? by Gish Jen
• Play by Jess Taylor
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
• Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith
• Kilworthy Tanner by Jean Marc Ah-Sen
• A Song for Wildcats by Caitlin Galway
• The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien

https://www.instagram.com/suchangwrites/

https://www.suchangauthor.com/

https://houseofanansi.com/products/the-immortal-woman?_pos=3&_sid=2cb7b9933&_ss=r

 

If you have any comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

 

Sharing Our Shelves

Rebecca and Tara introduce a new feature, Sharing Our Shelves, that may appear again from time to time in which they each review the other's To Be Read shelf and pick their co-host's next book to read. Rebecca selected Tear by Erica McKeen for Tara and Tara selected Stella's Carpet by Lucy E.M. Black for Rebecca.

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• A Psalm for the Wild-Built; A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
• The Living Great Lakes by Jerry Dennis
• A Feast of Wolves by Wilson Coneybeare
• Stella's Carpet by Lucy E.M. Black

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• The Midnight Project by Christy Climenhage
• Tear by Erica McKeen

If you have comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

Happy Reading!

Interview - Harman Burns and Yellow Barks Spider

Tara chats with author Harman Burns, a Saskatchewan-born trans woman, writer, filmmaker, and sound artist. Her work has been published in Rebelle Zine, Untethered Magazine, and Metatron Press, and her story “Among Strange Machines” was shortlisted for the Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction. Her debut novella, Yellow Barks Spider was published in 2024 by Radiant Press. She currently resides in Vancouver on the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

Books and authors mentioned:

• Little Fish; A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett
• Johnny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead
• Kai Cheng Thom
• Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
• Zulaikha by Niloufar-Lily Soltani
• Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells by Helen Scales
• House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen #4/10) by Steven Erikson

https://www.instagram.com/harman.burns/

https://radiantpress.ca/shop/p/yellowbarksspider