We made it through 2020! Good for us! Dina & Jen decide to look back on what they liked about the year, in a loose, literary-adjacent way. What is in their top ten? Listen to find out! Thanks for listening. We love you.
Hello! In this episode Dina and Jen talk about writing in the year 2020. What's it like? Are we doing it? What's up with that? If you are or aren't writing we say good for you because everything is hard and also you deserve a break!
Boo! Oh no. We didn't want to scare you. Just want you to know we have a new episode with the amazing writer, filmmaker, podcaster and style icon Marlowe Granados . We talk about her debut novel Happy Hour (out now with Flying Books ), debuting a book during a pandemic, writing fun and smart characters, and yes, even ghosts!
Huge news! Not really. Well, we managed to record an episode! This time it's just Dina and Jen talking about the ugly, the bad and the good of literary stuff. We don't cover it all, but we cover some! And on the very good side we mention the authors and titles of some fall books we're very excited about. And there is talk of Rosie, Silver Springs and how we're doing right now. Spoiler: we're not great, we're fine-ish.
Hosts past, present and future are all together to talk about books and stuff. They get into summer time sweatiness, talking to dogs in Italian, and talk about some spring and summer books they've read and loved and some they want to get to reading. Nemesis updates are available!
Hello listeners! We have missed you. We're back with a bang and very wonderful guest, poet and human delight, David Ly! We talk about his debut poetry collection, Mythical Man, writing with transparency, mythical creatures, writing our experience and what we love about poetry. Links to stuff mentioned in the show: Black Resistance Vancouver Database: https://blackresistancevancouver.online/?fbclid=IwAR0YKR0X0o9CXRwqYD09Q_rfffVUy_9BaU50Kf8Pe1SkoDel3Zs3XxYY_hQb Hogan’s Alley Society: https://www.h...
Hello friends! We miss you. Dina drops in to say hey what's up. More episodes soon. We promise. What does soon mean? Soon we'll know. xo
In the first mini episode of the year Dina & Jen talk about advice. How to take it, how to give it, how to wade through the never-ending muck of it, and most importantly, how not to take advice that doesn't work for you.
Happy 2020! Happy New Decade! Happy Year of the Metal Rat! And we're back with multi-talented, hilarious, stylish and wonderful guest, Cynara Geissler. We discuss personal style as creative practice, author care, literary publicity and media, celebrity clothing lines and so much more. Also, there's a lot of singing.
In this episode your hosts look back at the decade and talk about books they loved, trends they observed and there's some of what certain people would call singing. Thanks for another year of listening to our wee pod. Happy Holidays from Dina, Jen & Rosie! xo
And we're back to chat about shhhhhhh... gossip. What is it? Is it good? Is it bad? Are Dina and Jen prone to doing it? We answer all these questions and ask some that aren't easy to answer so we trail off. Is there singing? Listen to find out. You can gossip about our singing on your time. xoxo Gossip Girls
Guess what? We've got Lynn Coady! We talk about her new novel, Watching You Without Me, writing bad men characters, writing relationships between mothers and daughters, novel-writing vs. short-story writing, how it feels to go to a literary gala, and we play a little game of Would You Rather? Fall has settled over the land and there are literary festivals everywhere and we are coming to you 100% not live from a conference room on Granville Island during the Vancouver Writers' Fest.
Boo! It's October. And what's spookier than feeling like you're constantly working? In this episode Dina and Jen talk about taking breaks. What are they? Why do we need them? What can they look like? You're not totally broken, you just need a break.
Hi, hi, hi! What a delightful episode we have with the supremely talented funny person, podcaster (stars, they're just like us), writer and wonderful person, Alicia Tobin! We discuss her new book, So You're a Little Sad, So What (out with Friend of the Pod Arsenal Pulp Press), comedy, writing the hard essays, DOGS, animals, and we make a lot of jokes along the way. Rosie kisses Alicia and it makes everyone feel happy. Gosh, thanks for listening.
We took a brief break, but now we're back! Summer's not quite over (thank goodness) and to celebrate we have the amazing writer, mentor and literary dynamo Chelene Knight as our guest. We talk about mentorship, her upcoming novel, Junie , the right form for your writing, her new endeavours, Learn Writing Essentials and Breathing Space Creative, and how we are all sweaty. And of course Rosie brings the love and we talk about Chelene's dog, Chester, and how he makes his #ChestersPicks....
Why hello there. Dina and Jen are back to talk about being in public, from readings, to being online. This shortie of an episode covers a little of what writers sometimes have to do a lot. Also, Rosie is adorable.
It's not official, but it's basically summer. So we talk to novelist, poet, creative writing instructor, festival director, and summer aficionado, Andrea MacPherson. In this episode we discuss productivity, writing poetry and fiction sort of simultaneously, feminism in the 70s, writing with character in mind, bikinis, and Andrea's most recent novel, What We Once Believed. We also are treated to a preview of the Fraser Valley Lit Festival, happening fall 2019, including shout outs to many former ...
Writers! We feel bad about ourselves. About our work, about the way we think others think about us, about the way we present ourselves out in the world. In this episode Dina and Jen get into self-loathing, and how it affects writing and life. Rosie drags a bone around. It is quiet and riveting.
Poetry Month is over, but at Can't Lit we love to talk to poets all year long. In this episode we talk to the tremendous Laura Matwichuk about her debut poetry collection, Near Miss (Nightwood Editions), natural disasters, dreams, Armageddon (yes, the movie) and screen time. Dina rages about the most popular jeans right now, Jen is emotional about Mother's Day, and Rosie's friend Lola the Cat is introduced. What an episode!
No guest, but lots of chatting. Dina & Jen talk about revision, editing, working with an editor, feedback, writing groups and workshops. And more! And find out what Dina and Jen think of books about writing. You probably already know in your heart.
We talk to one delight about a book she wrote about another delight! Wonderful person and brilliant writer Andrea Warner is on this episode. We talk about her new book, Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography, why Buffy Sainte-Marie is totally amazing, research and writing, make-up and dog anatomy. Listen now for this truly delicious episode.
They're just jealous! And here to talk about. In this episode Dina and Jen talk about professional literary jealousy and what it looks like for them, how they talk about it and how they deal.
Why hello there! In this episode we get to talk to amazing writer and lovely person, Lindsay Wong. We discuss her memoir, The Woo-Woo, manuscript rejection, writing about mental illness, family, eyelash extensions, and listening to music (and not listening to music). We cover a lot of ground, and give some good tips too. Both the writing kind and the make up kind.
Dina and Jen talk about their experiences of being baby writers. Learn about how their careers began, about their youthful writing lives and how they each found literary community.
Our first guests of the year are fire! Talented and delightful writers jaye simpson and Jessica Johns join us to talk about the Indigenous Brilliance reading series, Room Magazine, writing and performance, the ethics of care, making space, fashion, and so much more. There is much laughing. We have a very fun time.
It's 2019! Dina and Jen are back in the recording studio (find out where we record in the episode) without a guest and are answering questions from you, the listeners (a.k.a. friends of the podcast) that you sent us on Twitter. We talk about when the movie is better than the book, what we wish we knew as baby writers, and lipstick. Happy to be back in your ears in the new year.
The year's almost over, but there's one episode left with completely outstanding guest, writer, editor, and beautiful human Shazia Hafiz Ramji! We talk about her poetry collection, Port of Being, talking and not talking about craft, literary tours, what it's like to talk about the hard stuff you wrote, creepy men, otters and koi, Marisa Tomei and there's even some special Gritty content. Wishing you all Merry Gritmas and a delightful new year.
Dina travelled to LA for a little blast from podcast past with Daniel Zomparelli as guest and host. We talk about Daniel's new podcast, I'm Afraid That, books we loved this year, lawsuits we didn't, articles we didn't read and so much more. Recorded at Little Everywhere. Despite our jokes and rants we can't make up for the lack of Jen in this episode.
The days get drearier but the podcast gets more delightful with top drawer guest, writer, teacher, mentor, Keith Maillard! We talk about his new novel Twin Studies, writing research, relationships, Bakhtin, Refuse: CanLit in Ruins and some very enjoyable pets of CanLit. All tangents will be satisfying.
The days are getting darker but Can't Lit is here to brighten your day with a wonderful talk with talented writer and sweetheart Waubgeshig Rice. We talk about his new novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow as well as dystopia, masculinity, character development, 90s fashion and the dreaded diversity panel. We also talk about fun times had at the Vancouver Writers' Fest and yes, we do get into Gritty!
