Thanks for joining us for this episode of Time to Read. We were discussing Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

Next month, we’re reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. We’re looking forward to hearing what you think, through social media or [email protected].

In this episode we talked about:

The Longpen for remote writing
The Future Library project
Atwood in the news and the #metoo movement
Speculative Fiction vs. Science Fiction
Predictions in Oryx and Crake that came true and things that didn’t exist when it was published in 2003
Billy Bumbler  (and pic for tweeting etc)

Kirsten’s dog Dave
Glenn Gould
Chrono Trigger
Our Extinctathon names – Monarch Butterfly, Olive Ridley Sea Turtle, Mammoth, and Megatherium (aka Giant Ground Sloth)
Chilton’s Auto Repair
Freedom to Read Week
Oryx and Crake is being adapted to TV
Bananas are at risk
Ursula Le Guin (RIP) and her fabulous quotes

We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art – the art of words.

Our Nerd Words for Word Nerds were:

Sloth
Choreomania (The Dancing Plague)
Marmota monax, or the common groundhog (Happy Groundhog Day!). Also, check out the Wiarton Willie Website
“For Apple”

Other books and movies mentioned in the episode include:
By Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale, Cats Eye, Life Before Man
Blade Runner
The Bill and Ted movies, John Wick, Speed, and Point Break
I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt
Comma by Jennifer Still
Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Stephen Pinker

With special thanks to Jennifer Still, our current Writer-in-Residence and author of Comma.

Time to Read is a production of the Winnipeg Public Library. Your hosts were Alan Chorney, Kirsten Wurmann, Trevor Lockhart, and Erica Ball. Our webmaster is Arryn Seburn. Our social media maven is Reegan Breu. Audio production and music by Dennis Penner. Some of our comments and questions today came from Erinn, Katherine, and Danielle.

Some of our sound effects come from freesound.org: buzz roll by bigjoedrummer, crash by bone666138, cheer by jayfrosting, and fire extinguisher by iamgiorgio.