What Were You Thinking?

Sorry For Your Loss is a poignant, touching and sometimes funny story about Evie, a girl whose family runs a Jewish funeral home. In this episode, Joanne and I talk about how kids can learn about hard topics through reading, what some of the challenges are when writing for middle grade and why the feedback from young readers means so much to her.

Visit Joanne's website.

Follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

Find out more about your host at danagoldstein.ca

Bev Katz Rosenbaum never intended to write a pandemic book. She had written the story about high schooler Kelsey Kendler long before lockdowns, but she was struggling with how to frame the story. When COVID-19 forced us all to remain in our homes, Bev knew this was the perfect environment for Kelsey's story to emerge and grow. It's a story of survival, failure and how one girl makes it through the wreck of a year.

In this episode, Bev shares how she was able to find her YA (Young Adult) voice, the challenges she faced when booking author events, and how she has grown as a writer.

Visit Bev's Website: https://www.bevkatzrosenbaum.com/

Read Emilia Bassano's published book of poetry, Salve Deus Red Judaeorum: http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/lanyer1.html

Learn more about your host, Dana Goldstein, and check out her own work, on her website.

In this unconventional (for me) episode, I chat with five o the six poets behind the Espresso Poetry Collective. Over the course of our conversation, these wonderful women school me on what it means to be a poet, how to read poetry, and where we can see poetry in our everyday lives. Where poetry once once relegated to a small section at the back of the bookstore, the art form has exploded into mainstream over the last few years (Rupi Kaur, anyone?).

The poets of the collective started as a course and finished as a close group whose friendship goes beyond the bindings of their book.

Buy Uncommon Grounds

Julie Van Rosendaal has built a brilliant career as a cookbook author, food blogger, chef, and teacher. She is an icon in Calgary's food community and an ardent advocate for food access. In this episode, not only do we talk about Dirty Food (her 11th cookbook), we discuss the publishing industry, diet culture, #buttergate and food security. In an extremely bold move, Julie decided to make her 12th cookbook, Cookies I Have Loved available only through her purchase and independent bookstores. A portion of direct sales through her website —$1 per book— will directly support food-related community initiatives (school and community pantries and kitchens, sending meals to ICU staff).

Buy the book.

Follow Julie on Twitter and Instagram.

See your Phil Booth horoscope here.

Read the Globe & Mail article that became #buttergate.

For more information about me and my books, visit my website.

Whether you are a reader or a writer, you have THAT ONE BOOK that changed things for you. It might be the book you read as a teen that rocked your world, or the book that made you want to become a writer - or a better writer. Maybe it's a book that gives you comfort when you need it, that is as familiar as your own face looking in the mirror.

For this special episode, which I had planned on releasing as a holiday special later in December, I asked the authors I've interviewed to share that book with us. And with supply chain issue affecting bookstore all over the world, I wanted to give you adequate time to pick these up, should you want to gift them or keep for yourself.

I've collected all the books, including those the authors penned, in a Goodreads list.

Check our my own books on my website.

This debut novel is a crazy ride. From the very first page, I was hooked, wanting to know why a priest murdered a parishioner with a candlestick. If that feels reminiscent of a game of Clue (Colonel Mustard, in the library, with a knife), you're not wrong. There are enough twists and turns and unexpected, laugh out loud moments in All is Well to give you literary whiplash.

Buy All is Well.

To learn more about the Beringia Land Mass:

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-ancient-horse-dna-reveals-gene.html

https://www.beringia.com/exhibit/ice-age-animals/giant-beaver

My Sister the Serial Killer: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38819868-my-sister-the-serial-killer

Check out my own work at my website.

There is nothing about P.L. Stuart that I found intimidating. He is friendly, kind and generous with his time. A law enforcement employee by day (and night, because shift work), he has been in some harrowing situations. His calm demeanour would diffuse any tense situation, a handy trait when it comes to managing the seven children he and wife Debbie share. He is quite the opposite of the protagonist he created in A Drowned Kingdom. Othrun is entitled, spoiled, racist, bigoted - not entirely likeable at the start. But over the course of 400+ pages, you'll feel connected to the prince without a kingdom. I have not read much high fantasy. It's not my typical genre. But the fact that I am eagerly awaiting book 2 (coming in 2022), tells you a great deal a bout P.L.'s skill as a writer.

Get your copy of A Drowned Kingdom.

To learn more about your host and her own books, visit danagoldstein.ca.

Rebecca Eckler has spent most of her writing career sharing her life and her opinions. She was a columnist for the Globe and Mail and the National Post, sharing stories of motherhood and her view of the world. As the executive editor for SavvyMom.ca, Rebecca writes about her parenting style, opening her up to criticism and hateful comments. Her writing style is candid and open. She is brutally honest about her own experiences and shares freely in her memoirs. As the founder of the weekly newsletter, Re:Books, Rebecca champions Canadian women authors, from the obscure to the mainstream. Once you dive into her books, you'll feel you know her and that you've been friends for years. In this episode we talk about everything from pregnancy to menopause, from publishing to promotion.

Dana Church's new middle grade non-fiction, The Beekeepers, isn't just for kids. Her research is sound and the information shared within its pages is valuable for readers of any age. If you didn't know our bees were in trouble, this book will help you understand why and give you tools to do something about it. The Beekeepers changed my relationship with the chonky buzzers in my own backyard and I now watch them with interest rather than run squealing into the house.

Follow Dana on Twitter or Instagram or visit her website.

To learn about Dr. Shiela Colla and the bee nest sniffer dogs: https://wildlifepreservation.ca/blog/nosing-out-nests-can-detection-dogs-be-used-to-find-bumble-bee-nests/

Research Article here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249248

Learn more about Working Dogs for Conservation: https://wd4c.org/

Check out my own books: http://danagoldstein.ca

In this episode, you’re going to meet Elise Russel, author of Behave Boldly, a memoir of her entrepreneurial journey so far. The book chronicles the details of her struggles and successes as she built her company, Pony Friday. Her story is not complete however, and during the conversation Elise is candid about what it’s really like to build and run your own business.

Full disclosure here - I’ve known Elise for more than half of her entrepreneurial life. I’m proud to call her my friend and have supported her through many walks in the park, chats about clients and coffee dates in the before times. I was a fan before she had even written the first paragraph of Behave Boldly.

Buy the Book

Link to the #WhatPublishingPaidMe spreadsheet, where you can browse the list of authors who voluntarily shared how much their advances were (or weren't). [live at time of this episode's release]

To listen to past episodes, learn more about your host, Dana Goldstein, or to order her books, visit danagoldstein.ca.