All Write in Sin City

This podcast is one of a series recorded at BookFest Windsor 2019. In this episode, we talk with Mark Bourrie, an award-winning writer and a respected military historian with a PhD in history. A National Magazine Award-winning journalist, he has been a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery since 1994. Bourrie lectures on propaganda and censorship at the Department of National Defence Public Affairs Learning Centre and periodically teaches courses on media history, censorship and propaganda at Carleton University and in Canadian Studies at the University of Ottawa. His latest book, Bush Runner, is the first English-language biography in nearly a century of Pierre-Esprit Radisson—pirate, cannibal, and co-founder of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

So how does a co-founder of the longest-lived corporation in North America, a “free man in a time when they were rare,” die penniless in London? Drawing directly from Radisson’s journals, Mark Bourrie paints a vivid picture of the class and national tensions that gripped the globe tightly even as colonial ownership of specific territories shifted with the seasons. Bush Runner brings Radisson to life: a man adopted as a teenager into a Mohawk family before his ocean-crossing adulthood, a peddler of goods and not of worldview, more trading partner than colonizer, “a brave man who must have been a tremendous dinner companion—as long as you weren’t on the menu.”

http://biblioasis.com/mark-bourrie-challenges-us-to-retire-the-word-explorer-from-the-lexicon/

https://twitter.com/MarkBourrie?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

On the podcast this week, recorded at BookFest Windsor 2019, we’ll hear from two fiction writers, Blair Hurley and Nadja Lubiw-Howard.

Blair Hurley received her A.B. from Princeton University and her M.F.A. from NYU. Her stories are published or forthcoming in Ninth Letter, The Georgia Review, West Branch, Mid-American Review, Washington Square, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Descant, Fugue, and elsewhere. She has received a 2018 Pushcart Prize and scholarships from Bread Loaf and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. Her debut novel, THE DEVOTED, was published in August 2018 from WW Norton & Company. the New York Times Book Review had this to say: “[An] intimate, fluid debut…The beauty of The Devoted lies in its intricate descriptions of religion’s hush and ritual… [A] novel as tender and fervent as a prayer.” 

Nadja Lubiw-Howard is a writer, a children’s educator, and a veterinarian. She holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Guelph and a Post Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers. Her work has been published in Understorey, Room, Canthius, The Dalhousie Review, and The New Quarterly; her first novel, The Nap-Away Motel, was published by Palimpsest Press in May 2019.  She is currently working on several picture books about animals, and a second novel, Her Name Was Friday. A life-long animal-lover and long-time vegan, her writing often explores themes related to the natural world. She lives in Toronto. 

http://blairhurley.com/
https://www.nmlhazard.com/

This week’s podcast was recorded at BookFest Windsor 2019. Today, we’ll talk with Ben O’Neil and Jessica Bromley Bartram. 

Illustrator, artist, and screenwriter Ben O’Neil is currently based in Toronto, but was born and raised in London. He counts Matt Groening (The Simpsons) and Greg Capullo (Spawn) among his influences. It wasn’t until Ben attended OCAD for Curatorial Practice and Art Criticism that he rediscovered comic illustration. From there, Ben began self-publishing comics and zines. He also works as a freelance illustrator. His book, Apologetica is described as a sign of the times, a letter of regret, a feeble attempt, a collection of comics dealing with guilt, shame, martyrdom, jaguars, bad meat and fashion.

Jessica Bromley Bartram is an illustrator,  and graphic designer who lives in Ottawa. Her collection of illustrated short stories, Ghost Water Kiss,  published in 2019 by Popnoir Editions. She has illustrated two picture books for Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Charles, published in 2018, and Summer North Coming.

She has a BA in English and History from the University of Guelph (2003-2007) and a second Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from the Ontario College of Art & Design (2010-2015), where she won the Graphic Design Medal for her final thesis project at the 2015 Graduate Exhibition.

Both authors are with POPNOIR EDITIONS, a publisher of graphic novels based in Toronto. Together, they led an awesome workshop on Graphic Storytelling, and then they stopped by to talk about their own personal work.
http://popnoir.ca/
https://www.benoneil.com/
http://jessicabartram.ca/about/

This podcast was recorded live at Biblioasis bookshop in Windsor in October 2019. You’ll hear Biblioasis publicist Theo Hummer introducing each author. The first reader is  Stan Rogal, reading from Investigation into the Death of Roberto Bolaño, and then you’ll hear author Michael Januska reading from Prospect Avenue. After the readings, there’s an insightful Q&A moderated by Theo.

Stan Rogal is a poet, novelist and playwright. His work has appeared in magazines and anthologies in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. He is the author of twenty-five books, including Investigation into the Death of Roberto Bolaño.

Windsor native Michael Januska is the author of the Border City Blues mystery series set in the Prohibition Era of Windsor/Essex. There are three books in the series beginning with Riverside Drive. Stories from Januska’s Prohibition-era Border City Blues novels have won two consecutive Scene of the Crime short story prizes.

For more information:
https://insomniacpress.com/new-releases
https://www.dundurn.com/books/Prospect-Avenue

Born and raised in Windsor, Michael Januska has worked with books his whole life, both as a bookseller and for several publishing companies. He is the author of the Border City Blues mystery series set in the Prohibition Era of Windsor/Essex. There are three books in the series beginning with Riverside Drive. Stories from Januska’s Prohibition-era Border City Blues novels have won two consecutive Scene of the Crime story prizes. He is also the author of Grey Cup Century. He now lives in Toronto.

To find out more about his individual titles, check out these links:
https://www.dundurn.com/authors/Michael-Januska
https://www.facebook.com/bordercityblues/
https://twitter.com/michaeljanuska

"To chance the ducks" is a nineteenth-century idiom that means to do something regardless of the risks or potential for disaster.

Windsor's Biblioasis press has grown  from a 1-person operation into "the first truly great new Canadian press of the 21st century" according to The Globe and Mail. In this podcast, you'll hear highlights of the celebratory evening if 15 years of chancing the ducks, including readings from Biblioasis authors:

Taras Grescoe Possess the Air                    
Pauline Holdstock Here I Am!
Stéphane Larue The Dishwasher                    
Catherine Leroux Madame Victoria
Martha Wilson Nosy White Woman

For more on the history of the press, check out last week's podcast, or this article
https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/windsor-publishing-house-biblioasis-celebrates-15-years-of-books-and-chancing-the-ducks?fbclid=IwAR1R9Kpx5_PLo-Q8fpSQoa5vlOHnIaChS-lzQG5pxXhVAE0WJA9lkJJ6k-E

Born in Chatham, Ontario, Daniel Wells attended the University of Windsor as a history and philosophy major. He opened a second-hand bookshop, Biblioasis, on Ouellette Avenue in Windsor in 1998. 

Dan and his wife Alexis helped to found BookFest Windsor in 2002, where he was inspired to think about publishing a book by another author. The Biblioasis bookshop was moved to Wyandotte Street in the trendy Walkerville district of Windsor, and now the Biblioasis press has grown, and now has its own location on Ottawa Street. 

Biblioasis publishing has just celebrated its 15th year, with books shortlisted and finalists for many prizes, including the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and now even long-listed for the Man Booker prize. You can find out more about the press on its website, biblioasis.com.

Patrick Brode was born in Windsor, Ontario. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1977 and has practiced law ever since, most recently as Senior Legal Counsel for the City of Windsor. As a well-respected historian, he has written six books, including Sir John Beverley Robinson: Bone and Sinew of the Compact, which was a finalist for the City of Toronto Book Award, and The Odyssey of John Anderson, a finalist for the Trillium Award. The Slasher Killings: A Canadian Sex-Crimes Panic, 1945-1946, was nominated for the Arthur Ellis Award.

Border Cities Powerhouse: The Rise of Windsor, 1900-1945, was shortlisted for the 2017 Ontario Speaker’s Book Award. The River and the Land: A History of Windsor to 1900 was published in 2014. His most recent book, Dying for a Drink: How a Prohibition Preacher Got Away with Murder, a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award, was released in 2018.

You can find our more about his latest book, Dying for a Drink, on the Biblioasis website:
http://biblioasis.com/shop/new-release/dying-for-a-drink/

Windsor, Ontario is one of several Canadian cities that boasts a Poet Laureate program. In this podcast, we talk with the two current Poets Laureate of Windsor, Poet Laureate Mary Ann Mulhern and Youth Poet Laureate Samantha Badaoa.

Mary Ann Mulhern, Poet Laureate of Windsor, was a well-respected teacher before she embarked on a second career as a poet. Mulhern’s first book of narrative poetry, The Red Dress, which focused on her experiences living in a convent for eight years in the sixties, was published by Black Moss Press in 2003. Her next book, Touch the Dead, was published in 2006 and focused on her life experiences growing up in a "cemetery house," located at the edge of a cemetery in St. Thomas, Ontario, where her father was grave-digger and caretaker. She has published countless poems, and seven books to date, including When Angels Weep (2008), Brides in Black (2010), How We Fare (2016), and All the Words Between (2018.)

Samantha Badaoa is Windsor’s inaugural Youth Poet Laureate. As a poet and spoken word artist, she has developed a reputation for excellence at open mic events and, in particular, Windsor Poetry Slam events. She has served as a contributor and editor for publications including The Windsor Salt (Poetry and Prose, 2014); The South Detroit Chapbook Series (Water Damage, 2015); Sundays with the Tigers: Eleven Ways to Watch a Game (2015, Black Moss Press); The Voodoo Journals: Dispatches from a Haitian Grave (2016, Black Moss Press); and The Spitfire’s Embers: A Windsor Poetry Slam Collection (2018).

You can find out more about the Windsor Poet Laureate program here: https://www.citywindsor.ca/residents/Culture/Pages/Poet-Laureate.aspx

New this year, the All Access Café is a unique series of readings and performances that features differently-abled artists and is ASL-accessible through Deaf Can, Inc. It's sponsored by the Detroit Writer's Guild, the Knight Foundation, Poets & Writers, the Detroit Public Library, Wayne State University and Third Man Records.  In this episode, you'll hear performances from several artists: 

• Ali McManus, a singer, songwriter and motivational speaker  
• Mark Levin, a poet, musician and production assistant who is deaf. Mark has long been a prolific Slam poet and disabilities activist in his native Chicago and more recently in Detroit
• Diane DeCillis, a poet. Her collection, Strings Attached, has been honored as a Michigan Notable Book for 2015, won The 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Award for poetry, and was a finalist for the Forward Indie Fab Book Award for poetry
• Mona Jean Cedar, a poet, ASL Slam Interpreter, and Disabilities Activist. Her organization Pas d’ASL was designed for one being’s adventure in the evolution and expression of self through dance, sign language and poetry
• Jan Krist an American singer-songwriter from Detroit, a former New Folk Finalist at the Kerville Music Festival, and a founding member of the Yellow Room Gang, a songwriting collective in South-East Michigan

For more information on the artists or the All Access Café, check out the following links:
https://www.alimcmanus.com
https://dianedecillis.com/
http://circuitryandpoetry.com/aboutus/AboutUsMonaBio.html
https://www.facebook.com/Jan-Krist-Music-and-Art-200018087253052/