More poetry this week! First, we talk to AbleHamilton Poetry Festival participant, poet, and musician Leo Dragtoe (with a cameo appearance by festival organizer Shane Neilson). After that we speak with poet Laura Kooji about her collection No Rainbow.  Both amazing people and amazing talents (who managed to get into the studio in person, which means they both got to read on the show, too!) Hope you dig our conversations.

This week we talk with Geoffrey Taylor. He’s stepping down as director of the Toronto International Festival of Authors, so we had one last conversation on the topic. The festival starts Oct 24 and runs through Nov 3.

We also speak with poet Jaclyn Desforges, who talks about (and reads from) her chapbook Hello Nice Man. Enjoy the show!

Guest host Shane Neilson (physician, editor, poet, writer, sage) interviews Gregory Betts, co-editor of Avant Canada: Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries. Enjoy!

Steven Price was recently short-listed for this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize. On E150 we talk about his novel Lampedusa, a fictional look at real-life author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (whose posthumously published novel The Leopard became a classic of Italian literature).

Going back to the early times, my first interview with David Lee about his book The Midnight Games

This was the second show I ever did, and let me tell you, it was a thrill to be able to talk to someone as amazing and (frankly) popular as Madeleine Thien. She had just won the Giller for Do Not Say We Have Nothing. This fledgling program was not on anyone’s radar yet, so I felt that having her name on E02 would help me garner more guests. It probably did help, but more importantly, Madeleine was wonderful and even took the time to speak to me when she was in Hamilton for her event. I was new to this world; she helped me feel more comfortable in it.

Here it is, the first episode of Get Lit! It aired on my 47th birthday, 2016. I was lucky enough to have a superstar on the program, too – the one and only Gary Barwin. Gary has a new collection we discuss his breakthrough novel, Yiddish for Pirates. Check out his new book, a selected works of poetry collection, For It Is a Pleasure and a Surprise to Breathe.