How I Wrote This

Daniel Allen Cox is the author of five books. In this bonus content, listen to him reading from his memoir, I Felt the End Before It Came For an in-depth conversation with Daniel, see Episode 2.

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Since 2008, Daniel Allen Cox has published four novels and a memoir-in-essays. He was a finalist for the 2023 Grand Prix du livre de Montréal for his memoir, I Felt It Before the End Came: Memoirs of a Queer ex-Jehovah’s Witness, a nominee for a National Magazine Award for his essay “You Can’t Blame Movers for Everything Broken”, and a contributor to both the Best American Essays and Best Canadian Essays anthologies.   

Raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, Daniel describes the religion as a cult for its use of coercive control and shunning, and for denying him the right to live as a queer man. His observations are adeptly woven into Shuck (2008), shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award and the ReLit Award; Krakow Melt (2010), shortlisted for the Lambda and ReLit awards as well as the American Library Association Over the Rainbow List; Basement of Wolves (2012) and Mouthquake (2015). From Montreal to Brooklyn to Krakow and back, Daniel finds his way among artistic and activist communities. In I Felt It Before The End Came, he steps away from fiction to tell his personal story. 

Listen now to hear this episode featuring Daniel Allen Cox. 

Follow us on Instagram @howiwrotethisthepodcast. Find out more at our website: www.howiwrotethisthepodcast.com

How I Wrote This is created and hosted by Pamela Hensley and presented by KnockAbout Media. You can listen and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio. Original music track “Attention to Details” by Tyler K. Rauman.

Jennifer Egan is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of seven books. In this bonus content, listen to her reading from her latest novel, The Candy House. For an in-depth conversation with Jennifer, see Episode 1.

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Jennifer Egan is the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist of A Visit from the Goon Squad and the author of six other books as well as many nonfiction articles including a year-long series about homelessness in New York. Her 2017 novel, Manhattan Beach was awarded the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction while her latest, The Candy House, was named one of the New York Times’s 10 Best Books of 2022 and one of President Obama’s favourite reads that year. 

Growing up in San Francisco, Jenny moved to New York after completing her MA at Cambridge in the UK. She began writing while working several jobs and attending a workshop hosted by the poet Philip Schulz, where participants read their work aloud and she developed the habit she practises to this day. 

In 1996, Jenny was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship and in 2012 won the Pulitzer Prize. She served as President of PEN America from 2018-2021. She met me at the Brooklyn studio for this conversation. 

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Promotional support from the Quebec Writers’ Federation

Introductions to the longlisted titles, readings by their authors, and insights into how these books were made.

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The 2024 Giller Prize shortlist was announced on October 9 and five books and authors remain. Four of the shortlisted authors join Pamela to read excerpts from their books and tell her more about them: Eric Chacour (What I Know About You), Deepa Rajagopalan (Peacocks of Instagram), Conor Kerr (Prairie Edge), and Anne Fleming (Curiosities). 

We’re working our way through the finalists for the 2024 Giller Prize. In Episode 2 of this three-episode series, we hear from: Claire Messud (This Strange Eventful History), Jane Urquhart (In Winter I Get Up at Night), Corinna Chong (Bad Land), and Shashi Bhat (Death by a Thousand Cuts).

The 2024 Giller longlist celebrates the best in Canadian fiction. Twelve titles were selected from 112 books published between Oct.1. 2023 and Aug. 16, 2024. In this mini-series, which is a departure from our usual format, you’ll hear readings from the nominated books and brief conversations with their authors. In this first episode, Pamela is joined by: Caroline Adderson (A Way to be Happy), katherena vermette (real ones), and Loghan Paylor (The Cure for Drowning).

An introduction to Season 2 of the literary podcast about authors, their books, and the story behind their stories. This season takes place in Berlin.

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Promotional support from the Quebec Writers’ Federation

Sheana Lambert has published two collections of short stories, The Falling Woman and Oh, my darling and two novels, RadianceandPetra and been nominated for literary prizes including  the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Danuta Gleed Award, and the Frank O'Connor Award for the Short Story. A Canadian with German heritage, she talks about echoes from the past and how the artistic legacy of her great-grandfather, grandfather, mother - and aunt, an 80-year-old burlesque dancer who's been inducted into the Las Vegas Burlesque Hall of Fame - has left its mark on her.

While an activist in the Canadian Peace Movement in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Shaena met Petra Kelly, the charismatic leader of the Green Party in West Germany, and Petra’s lover, Gert Bastien, who accompanied her. After the shock of her death, Petra became the subject of Sheana’s second novel.

Off the Record, edited by John Metcalf, is the most recent collection of essays and short stories where you can find Shaena’s writing.  

Listen to our conversation now.

How I Wrote This is hosted by Pamela Hensley and presented by KnockAbout Media.  

Original music track “Attention to Details” by Tyler K. Rauman

Find out more at our website: www.howiwrotethisthepodcast.com

Follow us on Instagram @howiwrotethisthepodcast