Can't Lit

Spring has sprung and Dina and Daniel bring in beautiful flower and great writer, Jordan Abel. We talk about Jordan's books, Un/Inhabited and The Place of Scraps, skim reading, sex positions, colonialism, visual and sound poetry, Mother's Day sadness, and even find time to speculate on the finale of Mad Men. Think we didn't play any games? Think again, they're coming up in a special bonus episode!

Dreams come true when DDB & DZ get to talk to the wonderful poet, David McGimpsey. Dreams come even more true when talk turns to shopping malls (!!) his new book, Asbestos Heights (!!!), Tropical Bill Murray, a baby Dina hates on Facebook, Beyoncé (of course), and watching Jennifer Aniston movies for Poetry Month. We also play two new games in honour of Fuller House, the Full House sequel: What Would Kimmy Gibbler Do? and Stefan Urquelle or Steve Urkel? We even talk about poetry and classism, and Daniel coins the term, "dick carousel."

Poetry Month is still here! So, these podcast hosts invited the super charming and smart Sachiko Murakami to talk about poems, airports, crying poets and of course her new book. Get Me Out Of Here (Talonbooks) which also became a new Can't Lit game that we played. Daniel's Dream Corner returns and Dina's Dream Analysis Corner makes its debut. We also give some not very nice shout outs to Subway and Dina complains about 420 like a total narc.

For poetry month Dina and Daniel invite two special guests to share the mics with them: wine and pizza. With their help D&D talk about what they think is so boring (lots of things, like, ugh, bacon) and debut a new segment, Poetry Books That Got Us So Wet Right Now (including new collections by David McGimpsey, Leah Horlick, Roaul Fernandes, Jonina Kirton, Damian Rogers, Sachiko Marukami and Stuart Ross. And Daniel's Dream Corner is revisited. Warning: wine is a solid guest, but pizza gets a little out of hand.

Two road trips in a row? Yup. That's Can't Lit in March. D&D head to Victoria and invite Marita Dachsel and Matt Rader to a hotel business centre. We discuss Marita's many wives, from her poetry collection, Glossolalia (Anvil Press, 2013), and Matt's new book of short stories, What I Want to Tell Goes Like This (Nightwood Editions, 2014). We also host a special secret guest: Stephanie. Then we play Literary Never Have I Ever, talk poetry vs. prose and give the low down on Victoria's gay bar. Shout out to WordsThaw 2015 put on by the Malahat Review.

Can't Lit is on the road! The duo head to Galiano Island to meet with author Michael Christie. We talk about his new book, If I Fall, If I Die, (McClelland & Stewart, 2015), weird island names, flashbacks and otters. By request we bring back fan favourite, Can Lit Feuds, and introduce a new segment, Daniel's Dream Corner.

Chelsea Rooney joins Can't Lit to talk about her debut novel, Pedal (Caitlin Press, 2014), but also to go down great paths discussing the movies Scream and The Craft, along with our favourite topic, Can Lit fueds. We also get into meta narratives, and bring back fan favourite (maybe?) Literary Would You Rather? Plus we introduce a new segment, Amazon Reviews of the Week, because Amazon reviews are strange and wonderful. Daniel updates everyone on his rash. Dina is supportive.

On this episode Dina and Daniel invite writer, and entertaining gentlemen, Adam Lewis Schroeder from the wilds of Vernon to talk about Beyonce, the Super Bowl, zombies, his new book, All Day Breakfast (Douglas & McIntyre, March 2015) and the apocalypse with Margaret Wente and David Gilmour. Then Adam endears himself to Can't Lit forever with raps (feat. Dina and Daniel) that will melt hearts, and maybe faces.

Happy New Year! The first Can't Lit in 2015 opens with the multi-faceted man with many plans, Sean Cranbury. We talk about the word "emerging", Real Vancouver Writers' Series, #95books, Sean's podcasts "Books on the Radio" and "The Interruption," Canada Council for the Arts, Tinder, of course, and some other stuff we can't remember. Sean makes really strong drinks.

So, this is Can't Lit Christmas, and what have you done? In this episode Dina and Daniel welcome Sara Bynoe with a lot of eggnog and bourbon. We get emotionally invested in Christmas movies, holidays past, present and future and of course we rehash festive personal trauma. Bonus: lots of out of tune singing. Enjoy our most festive Can't Lit yet.