oronto novelist Andre Alexis, Volcano founding artistic director Ross Manson and actor Becky Johnson discuss collaborating on Becky’s episode of Metamorphosis: A Viral Trilogy, a new audio series being released this month through TO Live, Summerworks and Canadian Stage.

As NOW looks back on Toronto’s summer of activism, Radheyan Simonpillai interviews Chiara Padovani of the York South-Weston Tenant Union, who organizes renters into tenants’ associations to push back against things like above-guideline rent increases. It’s good work, and you should know about it.

Ontario is in stage three of reopening, and so far it seems we’ve avoided the spike in cases experienced by other countries that reopened their bars, movie theatres and restaurants. Biostatistician Ryan Imgrund has been tweeting daily risk mangement assessments for COVID exposure in Ontario by township; he’s here to talk about where things currently stand, and how we can try to keep our numbers low.

The coronavirus has forced North By Northeast to reinvent itself as a competitive gaming festival this year. Norm knows nothing about videogames, so he’s asked TSN’s Marissa Roberto and Ecentralsports.com’s John Lucas to walk him through the world.

One of the big steps of reopening Ontario has been the resumption of indoor dining in restaurants, providing social distancing protocols were strictly observed. And while a number of establishments have started back up, not everyone has been willing to do that … including restaurateur Jen Agg, who announced she wasn’t ready to take Bar Vendetta, Grey Gardens, Cocktail Bar and Le Swan beyond their current level of service. She joins Norm, live and in person, to talk about that.

The thought of going out and grabbing a snack is awfully appealing right now, isn’t it? NOW staff writers Rad Simonpillai and Natalia Manzocco and restaurateur Diona Joyce, who operates Kanto By Tita Flips, are here to talk about street food: what it is, what it means and why Toronto is finally getting good at it.

Over the last few weeks, NOW associate entertainment editor Glenn Sumi has been taking pandemic walks in the green spaces hidden all over Toronto, and writing essays about the experience. He joins Norm to talk about the project.

It’s Carnival weekend in Toronto, but COVID means people aren’t gathering to celebrate the way they used to. NOW writer Radheyan Simonpillai and CTV producer Stephanie Hinds join Norm to talk about this year’s redefined festivities, and how COVID is just the latest challenge Carnivalists have faced in its half-century of existence.

Sports are back! For now, anyway. With members of the Miami Marlins testing positive for the coronavirus, NOW’s Richard Trapunski and Sportsnet’s Arash Madani join Norm to discuss which pro sports have a chance of playing a full season this year.

The coronavirus shut down Wynonna Earp’s fourth season, but now Alberta is reopening and production has resumed under strict new protocols. In advance of the season premiere on Bell SciFi this Sunday night, star Melanie Scrofano joins Norm to talk about the challenges of socially distanced Earping.