Kobo in Conversation

Michael spoke with journalist and human rights advocate Rowan Jetté Knox, author of the 2019 memoir Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family, as well as a new memoir that came out this year: One Sunny Afternoon: A Memoir of Trauma and Healing.

Rowan Jetté Knox on learning from hard times

Michael spoke with Mohawk writer and editor, Alicia Elliott, author of an award-winning book of essays, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, and a new novel, And Then She Fell. It is the story of a young woman named Alice experiencing the stress of new motherhood, feeling isolated in Toronto, which feels far away, culturally more than physically, from where she grew up on Six Nations. There she's trying to carve out time for writing and keeping up appearances as the wife of a rising academic star.

Alicia Elliott on telling the truth through the lens of fiction

Nathan joined Giller Prize-winning novelist Sean Michaels on stage at the Toronto International Festival of Authors to talk about his new novel Do You Remember Being Born? and the role of technology in the creation of art—from automated spellchecking to ChatGPT.

Sean Michaels, live at TIFA 2023

Nathan welcomed Waubgeshig Rice to the Kobo studio to talk about the sequel to his 2018 novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, the story of an Anishinaabe community slowly realizing that what at first appeared to be a power outage might be the end of the world as we know it. In Moon of the Turning Leaves the community realizes their time in this place may be at an end, so they send out a band of walkers to find them a new home.

Waubgeshig Rice on finding renewal at the end of the world

Michael spoke with writer and activist Naomi Klein, author of highly influential and bestselling books including No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, and the new book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World. Like all of her books, it's an accessible yet complex work of socioeconomic and political criticism... but it's also funny, at times disturbing, deeply rooted in its author's personal experience, but for any of us that spend time online or with a steady diet of media, it can feel joltingly familiar.

Naomi Klein on what she sees in "the mirror world"

Michael welcomed poet and novelist Michael Crummey to the Kobo office studio to talk about his new novel, The Adversary. Set in a fictional Newfoundland village called Mockbeggar, it's the story of a lifelong rivalry between two entrepreneurs that escalates into violence and revenge.

Michael Crummey confronts The Adversary

Nathan spoke with novelist Zalika Reid-Benta, 2020 winner of the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for her debut book Frying Plantain, and author of the new novel River Mumma. It's the story of a young woman named Alicia, who we meet at a time in her life when things are no longer going as well as they used to. Then Alicia meets a water deity named River Mumma who tasks her with recovering a precious object—and she's got just 24 hours to do it.

Zalika Reid-Benta on becoming the "weird writer" she's always wanted to be

Michael spoke with crime novelist S. A. Cosby, author of the 2021 breakout bestseller Razorblade Tears. His new book is All the Sinners Bleed, the story of Titus Crown, former FBI agent and Charon County Virginia's first ever Black sheriff, who's moved back to the county to live with his aging father. On the first anniversary of his election to sheriff he's called to a school shooting. The investigation into the shooter's motivation leads Sheriff Crown into the darkest corners of Charon to reckon with the ghosts of its past and present.

S. A. Cosby on finding fascination in writing a good guy

We're taking a little bit of time off for summer, so this episode is a re-release of one we put out early last year. It's with science writer Britt Wray. Nathan spoke with her last May about her book Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis, which deals with the psychological and emotional implications of climate change, a topic that has only grown in relevance since it was first published.

Britt Wray on bringing emotions to bear on climate science

Michael spoke with writer John Vaillant, author of page-turning non-fiction that examines the relationship between humans and the natural world. His new book is Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast. At its heart is the 2016 wildfire that ravaged Fort McMurray, a city that stands at the heart of Canada's petroleum industry—but it's really about every city, every home, and the lives of every one of us inhabiting this increasingly flammable planet.

John Vaillant sees more fire weather in the forecast