Michael spoke with Mohawk writer and editor, Alicia Elliott, author of an award-winning book of essays, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground , and a new novel, And Then She Fell . It is the story of a young woman named Alice experiencing the stress of new motherhood, feeling isolated in Toronto, which feels far away, culturally more than physically, from where she grew up on Six Nations. There she's trying to carve out time for writing and keeping up appearances as the wife of a rising academic star....
Nov 29, 2023•53 min•Season 7Ep. 24
Nathan joined Giller Prize-winning novelist Sean Michaels on stage at the Toronto International Festival of Authors to talk about his new novel Do You Remember Being Born? and the role of technology in the creation of art—from automated spellchecking to ChatGPT. Sean Michaels, live at TIFA 2023...
Nov 15, 2023•51 min•Season 7Ep. 23
Nathan welcomed Waubgeshig Rice to the Kobo studio to talk about the sequel to his 2018 novel Moon of the Crusted Snow , the story of an Anishinaabe community slowly realizing that what at first appeared to be a power outage might be the end of the world as we know it. In Moon of the Turning Leaves the community realizes their time in this place may be at an end, so they send out a band of walkers to find them a new home. Waubgeshig Rice on finding renewal at the end of the world...
Nov 01, 2023•43 min•Season 7Ep. 22
Michael spoke with writer and activist Naomi Klein, author of highly influential and bestselling books including No Logo , The Shock Doctrine , and the new book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World . Like all of her books, it's an accessible yet complex work of socioeconomic and political criticism... but it's also funny, at times disturbing, deeply rooted in its author's personal experience, but for any of us that spend time online or with a steady diet of media, it can feel joltingly fam...
Oct 18, 2023•47 min•Season 7Ep. 21
Michael welcomed poet and novelist Michael Crummey to the Kobo office studio to talk about his new novel, The Adversary . S et in a fictional Newfoundland village called Mockbeggar, it's the story of a lifelong rivalry between two entrepreneurs that escalates into violence and revenge. Michael Crummey confronts The Adversary...
Oct 04, 2023•52 min•Season 7Ep. 20
Nathan spoke with novelist Zalika Reid-Benta, 2020 winner of the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for her debut book Frying Plantain , and author of the new novel River Mumma . It's the story of a young woman named Alicia, who we meet at a time in her life when things are no longer going as well as they used to. Then Alicia meets a water deity named River Mumma who tasks her with recovering a precious object—and she's got just 24 hours to do it. Zalika Reid-Benta on becoming the "weird writer"...
Sep 20, 2023•44 min•Season 7Ep. 19
Michael spoke with crime novelist S. A. Cosby, author of the 2021 breakout bestseller Razorblade Tears . His new book is All the Sinners Bleed , the story of Titus Crown, former FBI agent and Charon County Virginia's first ever Black sheriff, who's moved back to the county to live with his aging father. On the first anniversary of his election to sheriff he's called to a school shooting. The investigation into the shooter's motivation leads Sheriff Crown into the darkest corners of Charon to rec...
Sep 06, 2023•49 min•Season 7Ep. 18
We're taking a little bit of time off for summer, so this episode is a re-release of one we put out early last year. It's with science writer Britt Wray. Nathan spoke with her last May about her book Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis , which deals with the psychological and emotional implications of climate change, a topic that has only grown in relevance since it was first published. Britt Wray on bringing emotions to bear on climate science...
Aug 23, 2023•44 min•Season 7Ep. 17
Michael spoke with writer John Vaillant, author of page-turning non-fiction that examines the relationship between humans and the natural world. His new book is Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast . At its heart is the 2016 wildfire that ravaged Fort McMurray, a city that stands at the heart of Canada's petroleum industry—but it's really about every city, every home, and the lives of every one of us inhabiting this increasingly flammable planet. John Vaillant sees more fire weather in the foreca...
Aug 09, 2023•57 min•Season 7Ep. 16
On stage in downtown Toronto, Nathan interviewed authors Kevin Powers and Ausma Zehanat Khan about their latest novels, which introduce us to people working in the criminal justice system to solve violent crimes with far-reaching geopolitical causes—informed by each author's own unique perspective and expertise. Live at MOTIVE: Global Issues on the Page...
Jul 26, 2023•49 min•Season 7Ep. 15
In this episode recorded in-person in Kobo's new office in downtown Toronto, Nathan spoke with novelist Tom Rachman, author of books including The Imperfectionists and The Italian Teacher . It's our first in-person episode of Kobo in Conversation since 2020—and that's why it sounds a little different from the episodes we've been making over Zoom over the past few years. The Imposters is a novel about a novelist, but a novelist unlike most you'll meet in fiction. Dora Frenhofer was once successfu...
Jul 12, 2023•37 min•Season 7Ep. 14
Nathan spoke with Samantha Irby, screenwriter on the TV series Shrill and most recently the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That..., and the author of books including We Are Never Meeting in Real Life , Wow, No Thank You , as well as the new essay collection Quietly Hostile . They chatted about joining a TV writers' room as a superfan and why she hasn't (yet) written a book called "Garbage Time" or "Trench Mouth". Getting surreal with Samantha Irby...
Jun 28, 2023•51 min•Season 7Ep. 13
Michael spoke with Rithu Bhasin, social justice advocate, entrepreneur, and author of We've Got This: Unlocking the Beauty of Belonging , a book about building a culture where everyone feels welcome to show up with their whole self. And it's also a very personal book, in which she shares her own difficult journey towards a sense of belonging. Ritu Bhasin, on the good, the bad, and belonging...
Jun 14, 2023•55 min•Season 7Ep. 12
We spoke with Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of the new novel The Three of Us . It's a story about three people: a husband and wife, and the wife's friend, who is definitely not the husband's friend. It's a wickedly funny book told through three voices in tension with one another, and possibly also objective reality. Ore Agbaje-Williams on writing a character who says it all out loud...
May 31, 2023•40 min•Season 7Ep. 11
We spoke with Canadian journalist and bestselling romance novelist Carley Fortune, author of the new book Meet Me at the Lake . It's a summer love story about Fern Brookbanks, who's forced to grieve the sudden death of her mother while trying to run her family's lakeside resort, alongside the manager who happens to be her ex. Unbeknownst to her, Fern's mom had hired a consultant just before she died; and unfortunately it turns out to be Will Baxter, the guy who stole Fern's young heart years ago...
May 17, 2023•48 min•Season 7Ep. 10
We spoke with David Grann, author of non-fiction page-turners including The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon and Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI , to say nothing of his many incredible articles about crime and adventure that he's written over the past twenty years for The New Yorker. And he has a new book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder . It's about seafaring, nautical battles, castaways on the brink of starvation,...
May 03, 2023•55 min•Season 7Ep. 9
Shelley Read is the author of the novel Go as a River , a story set in the 1940s on a peach farm in a Colorado town called Iola. She spoke with us about finding the voices of her quiet characters through her deep knowledge of the history and geography of the region. Shelley Read on bringing life to quiet characters...
Apr 19, 2023•53 min•Season 7Ep. 8
We spoke with Zoe Whittall, poet, screenwriter, and novelist. Her new book The Fake is a novel about a liar named Cammie and two people who fall under her spell—and then have to pick up the pieces of their lives when they fall out of it. Zoe Whittall on the truth about liars...
Apr 05, 2023•38 min•Season 7Ep. 7
We spoke with writer Hua Hsu, author of Stay True: A Memoir . It's a heartfelt, thoughtful book about family, friendship, and figuring out who you are—and was widely lauded as one of the best non-fiction books of 2022. Hua Hsu on the strange characters of memoir...
Mar 22, 2023•52 min•Season 7Ep. 6
We spoke with Lindsay Wong, author of the memoir The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family , which was a finalist for Canada Reads in 2019, and the YA novel My Summer of Love and Misfortune . And she has a marvelously macabre new short story collection, Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality . Lindsay Wong tells us pleasant things about discomfort...
Mar 10, 2023•30 min•Season 7Ep. 5
We were joined by novelist Cherie Dimaline, author of The Marrow Thieves , its sequel Hunting by Stars , and the acclaimed literary novel Empire of Wild . Her new book is VenCo , a work of speculative fiction in which a secretive corporation named VenCo hires a powerful witch to assemble an elite coven—before the recruits are found by an ancient witch hunter. Cherie Dimaline on connecting with the extraordinary...
Feb 24, 2023•53 min•Season 7Ep. 4
We're bringing you a conversation from the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, where writers talk about how they're navigating the many publishing options available to authors today. Check out Jackie Lau on the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, with links to Jackie's books and the books discussed in this episode: KWL – 310 – Writing Romance, Working with Kobo Originals, and More with Jackie Lau And here's our Q&A with Jackie on the Kobo blog: Jackie Lau on writing romance, fake dating, and Asian representat...
Feb 10, 2023•38 min•Season 7Ep. 3
We spoke with author and book designer CS Richardson, whose first novel The End of the Alphabet won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best 1st Book. His new book, All the Colour in the World is a kaleidoscopic novel about a boy's love affair with art and a man's struggle with loss. And while we had him on the line, we took the opportunity to talk a bit about his other career as one of Canada's most celebrate d book designers. CS Richardson on writing with all the colour in the world...
Jan 27, 2023•38 min•Season 7Ep. 2
We spoke with Kai Thomas, author of the novel In the Upper Country . It's a story set in the fictional Canadian town of Dunmore, a place where people fleeing slavery in the southern United States build new lives. Kai Thomas conjures fiction from the history of the upper country...
Jan 14, 2023•41 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Because you can never hear about too many great books, here's another batch of the best books Kobo staff read in 2022. There's memoir, investigative journalism, fun facts, romance, and more (also moors)! The best books we read in 2022
Jan 01, 2023•40 min•Season 6Ep. 18
We asked the staff of Kobo about the best eBooks and audiobooks they read in 2022, and we heard about memoirs, literary masterpieces, page-turning non-fiction, family sagas, mind-opening nature writing, sci-fi love stories across time, and so much more. The best books we read in 2022
Dec 25, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 6Ep. 17
We spoke with award-winning science writer Harold McGee, author of the new book Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World's Smells , a wondrous and entertaining guide to the smells of food, yes, but also of our surroundings—indoor as well as outdoor, from rotten eggs and wet dogs to coffee and perfume—and offers readers a whiff of the very building blocks of the universe itself. Harold McGee on the science of smells...
Dec 08, 2022•56 min•Season 6Ep. 16
The final of three interviews we recorded at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors . With novelists André Forget author of In the City of Pigs, and Naben Ruthnum author of A Hero of Our Time we spoke about their darkly comic novels that play with themes of work, art, and the unreality of even so-called real estate. Beneath the veneer with Naben Ruthnum and André Forget...
Nov 25, 2022•51 min•Season 6Ep. 15
The second of three interviews we recorded at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors . We interviewed novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz, author of several critically acclaimed bestselling novels, but most recently The Latecomer . It's the story of the Oppenheimer family, who are materially very comfortable, and fairly uncomfortable in just about every other way. Jean Hanff Korelitz, live at TIFA 2022...
Nov 11, 2022•43 min•Season 6Ep. 14
Over the next few weeks we'll be sharing recordings of live interviews conducted at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors . The first of these features international bestselling author Marian Keyes speaking about her pandemic project, Again, Rachel , the unexpected (to her) sequel to her breakout 90s bestseller Rachel's Holiday . We spoke with Marian back in 2020 as well: Marian Keyes on getting older... but never feeling grown up...
Oct 29, 2022•40 min•Season 6Ep. 13
