Getting Lit with Linda - The Canadian Literature Podcast

This episode focuses on Amy Jones (2.13), author of Every Little Piece of Me (2.27), We're All in This Together (2.27), What Boys Like (2.37), and Pebble & Dove (2.45), published by McClelland & Stewart -- and the focus of this episode.

We also discussed Amy’s appearance at Word on the Street (.39 and 9.08) and her forthcoming appearance at the Eden Mills Literary Festival (5.12 and 8.53) on September 9th (see this link for tickets to the event).

Linda interviews Amy, during which time they chat about

• Family – what it means (7.56), dysfunctional families (9.46), and family secrets (11.00)
• Multiple points of view in narrative form (13.25)
• Motherhood (and templates thereof) (18.45)
• Balancing family and careers, and the impact of family on art (20.30)
• Manatees (22.25)
• Did we say manatees? (22.25 -- or just the entire episode!)

If you'd like to know more about how to support manatees and the seagrass programs that are important to their survival, visit the Save the Manatee Program.

Hosted by Linda Morra, Co-produced by Linda Morra and Marco Timpano, Music by Raphael Krux, Studio (Concordia University) with James Healey

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In this episode, Linda first celebrates with her co-producer, Marco Timpano, that the podcast has been named a Finalist for the People's Choice Podcast Awards. Then she chats about the new Barbie movie around which there has been so much hype. She differentiates between change and transformation in relation to gender, and then applies this to the wonderful literary work of Vivek Shraya, including People Change. If you haven't seen her How to Fail as a Popstar, join the club: Linda wasn't able to get tickets, but she was able to hear her speak about this work at the Vancouver Literary Festival and read it in book form. Linda also makes reference to her song, Showing Up - have a listen here (at the 4.17 mark).

In the Takeaway, she connects Shani Mootoo's Cerebus Blooms at Night and Moving Foreward Sideways Like a Crab to the notion of transformation.

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Erum Shazia Hasan’s We Meant Well  (ECW Press) – Linda raves about this debut novel by Erum Shazia Hasan. In this novel, Maya’s colleague, Marc, has been accused of assaulting a local girl in Likanni, and so Maya is called from Los Angeles to deal with the crisis. The pressures are mounting for Maya as she tries to contend with this situation, grapple with her complex past, and grapple with her present personal life, which threatens to collapse.

In this interview, Hasan talks about how difficult it is to doubt colleagues or people we like or trust, and who have done noble things – things which stand in contrast to the accusations that have been levelled at them. Linda then probes Hasan’s aesthetic choices about this narrative and discusses the following with her:

• Origins of the novel in Haiti (2.36)
• #MeToo and #Believe Women movements (20.45; 22.23)
• Experience and process of writing this novel (5.32)
• C. S. Richardson (4.28)
• Characterization of protagonist, Maya (7.11; 15.27)
• Home country vs. Home culture (8.20, 17.25)
• Third-wave feminism and Western feminism (8:59)
• Role of trauma in decision-making (11.14)
• Moral question related to boundaries (11.50)
• Intersectionality (13.43)
• Personal vs political violences (18.03)
• Love and desire (19.20)
• Intentions and “we meant well” (24.03)

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As a fellow endo-patient, Linda makes herself vulnerable in this episode, talking frankly with the author, Tracey Lindeman, by whom she was so inspired. Lindeman, who authored Bleed: Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis Care (published by ECW Press in 2023), uses personal experience, interviews, and research to take a deep dive into the healthcare system and the medical treatment (or lack thereof) of endo-patients.

Some of the topics covered include:

• medical gaslighting
• support and advice for endo-patients
• advice for medical doctors

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In this episode, in honour of Mother’s Day, Linda considers four different books that feature discussions about mothers, in whatever form they assume. She tackles four different genres -- non-fiction, the short story, poetry, and a novel/thriller -- to consider how loving and caring actions are given and received - or withheld. The four works include:

• Hannah McGregor, A Sentimental Education (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 4.45)
• Margaret Atwood, Old Babes in the Wood (McClelland & Stewart, 11.04)
• Jenny Boychuk Antonyms for Daughter (Signal, 13.53)
• Charlene Carr’s Hold My Girl (Harper Collins, 16.23)

In the Takeaway, she recommends Kim Thúy's Secrets from my Vietnamese Kitchen: Simple Recipes from my Many Mothers (Penguin Random House, 19.05) – or really, anything by her!

Linda also references the Almodóvar film, All About My Mother (2.05) and Italian novelist, Alessandro Baricco, and one of his books, Silk (19.47)

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Her guest, Bil Antoniou - Toronto theatre actor and podcast host of Bad Gay Movies and My Criterions - discusses with Linda a series of Canadian and Indigenous novels that have been adapted to the screen, including the most recent Oscar award-winning movie, Women Talking, directed by Sarah Polley (original novel by Miriam Toews).

They also discuss the following:

• Yann Martel's Life of Pi (Knopf)
• Jane Rule's The Desert of the Heart (Talon)
• Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient (Penguin Random House)
• and Mordecai Richler's Barney Version (Penguin Random House)

The winner of the adaptation award? Listen to find out!

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Linda begins by taking up The Hockey Jersey (1.48; 3.15; 3.22) by Jael Richardson (1.58; 4.45; 26.17; 28.38), whom she interviews in this episode.The Hockey Jersey is a kind of response to The Hockey Sweater by Quebecois writer, Roch Carrier (4.18; 10.15; 14.55). Written in collaboration with the Toronto-based hockey player, Eva Perron (31.37), and with illustrations by Chelsea Charles (6.18), this book was the source of discussion between Linda and Richardson for this episode and how this children’s book, commissioned and supported by Scotiabank (3.20; 4.07, 5.42, 7.22), is directed toward changing the face of hockey.

Linda includes two other voices -- those of settler scholars, Jamie Dopp (9.51) and Sam McKegney (14.55), who also contribute to the vibrant discussion about the history of hockey in literature, both in settler and Indigenous communities.

Some other highlights?:

• Illustrations by Chelsea Charles (6.18)
• The politics of representation (7.35; 26.17; 28.38)
• The Indigenous Hockey Research Network (14.30; 24.19)
• Decolonizing Sport and Indigenous communities (22.28)
• the Habs hockey player, Maurice Richard (4.22; 14.53; 17.17)
• the origins and history of hockey in literature, including Ralph Connor's Glengarry School Days (19.50; 21.18) and Hugh McLennan's Two Solitudes (19.58; 21.23)

The episode didn’t quite make it to include a very interesting discussion with Dr. McKegney about Beardy’s Blackhawks, so check out this page for more about that. She includes other remarks by McKegney (36.15) and Dopp (33.09) about other literary books that invoke the sport of hockey, including Indian Horse by Anishnaabe novelist, Richard Wagamese (36.15).

Written & Hosted by Linda Morra

Co-produced by Linda Morra & Marco Timpano

Music by Raphael Krux

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In this episode, Linda interviews Jason Camlot about his new collection of poetry, Vlarf - and it includes references to all manner of Victorian writing/writers, such as the following:

• Oscar Wilde
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• John Ruskin

While there is much play and whimsy in this episode, it takes a deep dive into what went into making this collection of Victorianist flarf (and what "flarf" actually is).

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Linda doesn't care if she has to take less sunscreen when she goes on vacation - if it means she gets to pack an extra couple of books. What five books would she recommend?:

• Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park (Vintage/Random House, 2.00)
• Rawi Hage's Stray Dogs (Knopf, 4.11)
• Neil Smith's Bang Crunch (Vintage, 7.54)
• Marilyn Dumont's A Really Good Brown Girl (Metis; Brick Books, 10.18)
• Ann-Marie MacDonald's Goodnight Desdemona (Goodmorning Juliet )(Penguin, Random House, 13)

Linda also references Mordecai Richler (at 3.43 and 13.20) and Alice Munro (4.36), the production of MacDonald's Fall on Your Knees at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and MacDonald's term as the inaugural Mordecai Richler writer in residence at Concordia University. Check out MacDonald's "Dispatches" from the latter period, which are downright funny, offering welcome critique of Richler's masculinist tendencies.

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