The Stratford Slice

Best-selling novelist Andrew Pyper has built a career on probing the psychological depths of his characters in a myriad of thrilling circumstances. Now his alter ego, Mason Coile, Pyper’s new pen name, is taking the narrative in a new direction blending science with the supernatural. Craig chats with the Stratford-born author about his career and where he finds the inspiration for his stories.

andrewpyper.com

Growing up on his family’s dairy farm, Matthew Rae was hooked on news and politics from a young age. So when it came time to choose a career, he chose a path that he imagined would eventually take him into the world of foreign diplomacy and international affairs.  After years in the corridors of power in Vienna, Ottawa and Toronto, he is now front and centre on the political side as the MPP for Perth Wellington and the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.  He sits down with Craig to share his journey and discuss some of the key issues currently on the top of the agenda in Ontario today.

Mick Grogan is a British-born, Oxford-educated film and television director and writer who makes his home in Stratford, Ontario.  Throughout his 30+ year career, Mick has tackled a wide range of documentary subjects from history to crime to science fiction.  Craig Thompson sits down with Mick for a conversation about the appeal of documentaries and factual entertainment and how they reflect the state of the world today.

Brittlestar, otherwise known as Stewart Reynolds is a Stratford-based social media influencer, media commentator and author whose satirical, common-sense viral videos have more than 600 million views across various platforms. He sits down with Craig Thompson to discuss his new book Welcome to the Stupidpocalypse: Survival Tips for the Dumbageddon, a series of essays on the rise of technology and social media, politics, being a Dad and what it means to be Canadian.

Craig chats with John Miller, the Founder and Artistic Director Emeritus of Stratford Summer Music who is now lending his considerable artistic talents to the Huron Waves Music Festival in Exeter, Ontario.  Miller’s eclectic and varied career includes time spent in education as a teacher and vice principal, in politics, as an advisor to a cabinet minister, leading the Canadian Music Centre as National Director and as Executive Director of the Glenn Gould Foundation. John is one of Canada’s leading arts and culture figures whose accomplishments have been recognized in his community of Stratford.  He has a star on the city’s ‘Walk of Fame’  in the heart of downtown, alongside other prominent art figures such as Glenn Gould, Loreena McKennitt and Christopher Plummer.

If Stratford had a poet laureate, David Stones would make a likely candidate. The retired business executive who now calls Stratford home, transformed his lifelong interest in poetry into a new artistic passion - one that combines words and music into spoken word performance art that has been drawing crowds across Southwestern Ontario. The author of two books of poetry - Infinite Sequels and Sfumato - David Stones discusses with Craig how poetry has helped him express his perception and opinions on the world we live in and how it has created meaning for his fans, many of whom are encountering poetry for the first time.

Anyone brave enough to survive more than three decades in the restaurant industry deserves respect and a sizable tip.  Larry McCabe, however, likes to consider himself “A Pazzo Bouffon” (translation: A crazy fool), which also happen to be the names of the two successful restaurants he runs in the heart of downtown Stratford. Larry is also a newly elected member of Stratford City Council.  Craig and Larry chat about the challenges facing not only the tourism and hospitality industries but small municipalities in general as communities everywhere deal with issues related to housing and affordability

Craig’s guest is Stratford and Perth County historian and writer Dean Robinson. The author of 23 books and the author/editor of eight other titles, Dean maintains that Stratford’s rich and colourful past is a unique part of our community’s character. Craig chats with Dean about his journalism career in London, Kitchener, Seaforth and Stratford and dives into some of the remarkable stories from Stratford’s past that inspired him to write the many books that make up his impressive library of popular history.

Farm to Fork is a new television series from Ballinran Entertainment celebrating Southwestern Ontario farmers who are at the heart of the farm to table movement. Hosted by Waterloo region chef and culinary ambassador Nick Benninger, Farm to Fork airs across Canada on Bell Fibe TV1.  In this episode, Chef Nick and producer/director Julian Wierzbicki join Craig in-studio to discuss the growing interest amongst consumers to know exactly where their food comes from and the people who put the effort into bringing it to their table