Q with Tom Power

Tracey Emin is one of Britain’s most provocative artists. She’s known for turning sex, trauma, heartbreak and her own messy life into boundary-breaking art. But after surviving aggressive bladder cancer and major surgery, her relationship with her body — and her art — has fundamentally shifted. Spanning nearly 40 years of work from My Bed to her latest paintings, her retrospective, A Second Life, marks a profound new chapter. Tracey joins guest host Gill Deacon to talk about survival, healing through art and what it means to get a second shot at life.

As a kid in Montreal, Emily Hampshire (Schitt's Creek) was so self-conscious about performing that she’d only sing and dance inside her closet. She’s since gone on to become a six-time Canadian Screen Award winner best known for her role as Stevie Budd on the hit CBC comedy series Schitt’s Creek. Now, she’s joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the new series VisionQuest, playing an AI avatar tasked with teaching an android superhero about fun. Emily stops by the Q studio to talk about her new role, growing up as a theatre kid, and why she thinks Canadian storytelling is having such a massive global moment right now.

So Faint’s Hannah Georgas and Lyn Heinemann have known each other for nearly two decades, but they only recently became creative collaborators. Hannah is a multi-Juno-nominated artist (including two nods for songwriter of the year) and a member of Broken Social Scene, while Lyn is a newer face in the music industry who wrote her own music while working in health care. They join Tom Power to talk about the first time they met, how their paths diverged and what finally brought them together as a duo.

From Tommy Lee to Donald Trump to the Winter Soldier, Sebastian Stan isn’t afraid of disappearing into a role. In his new film, Fjord, he plays a Romanian father in Norway fighting to regain custody of his children. Sebastian joins Tom Power to discuss acting in his native language for the first time, drawing on his own immigrant roots, and how the role reshaped his perspective as a new dad.

Alyssa Martin is an award-winning Canadian choreographer known for blending modern dance with humour, surrealism and absurdity. Her new full-length piece, Landslide, makes its world premiere this month at Toronto’s Fall for Dance North Festival, where she’s this year’s artist-in-residence. Alyssa joins Tom Power to share her “elevator pitch” for modern dance, the punk ethos behind her dance company Rock Bottom Movement, and how her humorous approach to choreography has helped her make sense of some of life’s biggest questions.

Bestselling author Robert Harris (Conclave, Fatherland) has sold millions of books, many of which have been adapted into films. But Robert never actually planned to become a novelist. He joins Tom Power in the Q studio to discuss his new historical novel, Agrippa, which follows the Roman general and statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa — the right-hand man of the Emperor Augustus. Robert shares how he accidentally stumbled into a fiction writing career, why the fall of ancient Rome reflects today’s political climate, and how rare Vatican access inspired Conclave.

Sometimes you have to give flowers to those who came before you. On her new album, So Delighted, Juno-winning jazz guitarist Jocelyn Gould is doing just that. The Winnipeg musician joins Tom Power to talk about honouring the legends who shaped her as an artist — from Wes Montgomery to Grant Green — and why the great organ trios of the '50s and '60s continue to inspire her. Plus, she sets up a track from the new record.

Edmonton’s Stacey Tookey is one of the most successful dance artists. She’s worked with legends like Bette Midler and Céline Dion. But Stacey really gained attention as a choreographer for So You Think You Can Dance Canada and its American counterpart. Now, Stacey is back directing and choreographing a new musical, Dancer, all about the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby. Stacey joins Tom Power in the Q studio to tell him all about her lifelong journey in dance and how she’s turning dancers into horses.

Back in July, Canadian musicians Haley Blais and Sam Lynch came on Q to discuss why they decided to unite as True Mountain Laurel, a supergroup born from late-night harmonies, voice memos, and friendship. They joined Tom Power in studio to discuss their debut single, Angel So Bad, which is an ode to the moral trials associated with that oldest of human hobbies: gossiping.

The artist Kent Monkman is known for challenging the way Indigenous people have been represented over the centuries in Western art – often flipping the script so that Indigenous stories are front and centre. Now, Kent is unveiling his very first public art installation. It’s a 15-foot high sculpture called The Colony, and it was just unveiled as part of the Lassonde Art Trail in Toronto. The Colony features a group of larger-than-life beavers, who are singing, dancing, and celebrating. Kent speaks to Tom Power about the significance of having his first public art exhibition, why he chose beavers as the subject, and the humour he brings to dark subjects.