In this episode, Cassie Smyth talks audiobooks. Cassie Smyth is the audiobooks manager at ECW Press. In her conversation with host Megan Cole, Cassie talks about why she loves audiobooks, she talks about how they find narrators for their audiobooks, and corrects many of the misconceptions around audiobooks and audiobook production.

Visit BC and Yukon Book Prizes: bcyukonbookprizes.com/

About ECW Press: https://ecwpress.com/pages/about-us

ABOUT CASSIE:

Cassie Smyth is the Audiobooks Manager at ECW Press. In her role, she manages the production of more than 120 audiobooks per year, all by Canadian publishers and authors, and narrated by Canadian voice talent. She holds a BA in English, minor in Business from Carleton University, and a certificate in Creative Book Publishing from Humber College.

ABOUT MEGAN COLE:

Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.

Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

In this episode, Christopher Patterson. Christopher is an author and professor at the University of British Columbia, but for today’s episode he’ll be talking about his partner, Y-Dang Troeung’s book Landbridge. Landbridge was a finalist for the 2024 Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes. Christopher talks about Y-Dang’s approach to writing in fragments, and how she approached rejection.

Visit BC and Yukon Book Prizes: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/

About Landbridge: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/landbridge/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Y-Dang Troeung was Assistant Professor of English at the University of British Columbia, where she did research and taught in the fields of transnational Asian literatures, critical refugee studies, global south studies, and critical disability studies. She was also an Associate Editor of the journal Canadian Literature, and a 2020 Wall Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. Her recent publications can be found in Canadian Literature, Brick: A Literary Magazine, Amerasia Journal, and Inter-Asia Cultural Studies. Y-Dang passed away in November 2022, after completing the final draft of her extraordinary memoir, Landbridge.

ABOUT MEGAN COLE:

Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.

Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

In this episode, Jennifer Bonnell talks about her book Stewards of Splendour: A History of Wildlife and People in British Columbia. Stewards of Splendour was a finalist for the 2024 Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize. In her conversation, Jennifer talks about returning home through the research in the book, she also talks about the need to cultivate abundance.

Visit BC and Yukon Book Prizes: bcyukonbookprizes.com/

About Stewards of Splendour: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/stewards-of-splendour/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jennifer Bonnell is a historian of people’s changing relationships with land, water, and wildlife in Canada. She grew up on Vancouver Island and spent several summers conducting field research on coastal forest hawks before returning to graduate school to explore her interests in environmental history. Jennifer is the author of Reclaiming the Don: An Environmental History of Toronto’s Don River Valley (University of Toronto Press, 2014) and co-editor of two collections of essays in environmental history. She teaches Canadian environmental history at York University in Toronto.

ABOUT MEGAN COLE:

Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.

Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

In this episode, Wanda John-Kehewin talks about her book Hopeless in Hope. Hopeless in Hope won the 2024 Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize. In her conversation, Wanda talks about the real life experiences that inspired the book. She also talks about how the creative process for the novel differed from the work she's been doing on graphic novels.

Visit BC and Yukon Book Prizes: bcyukonbookprizes.com/

About Hopeless in Hope: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/hopeless-in-hope/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Wanda John-Kehewin (she, her, hers) is a Cree writer who uses her work to understand and respond to the near destruction of First Nations cultures, languages, and traditions. When she first arrived in Vancouver on a Greyhound bus, she was a nineteen-year-old carrying her first child, a bag of chips, a bottle of pop, thirty dollars, and a bit of hope. After many years of travelling (well, mostly stumbling) along her healing journey, she shares her personal life experiences with others to shed light on the effects of trauma and how to break free from the “monkeys in the brain.”

Now a published poet, fiction author, and film scriptwriter, she writes to stand in her truth and to share that truth openly. She is the author of the Dreams series of graphic novels. Hopeless in Hope is her first novel for young adults.

Wanda is the mother of five children, two dogs, two cats, three tiger barbs (fish), and grandmother to one super-cute granddog. She calls Coquitlam home until the summertime, when she treks to the Alberta prairies to visit family and learn more about herself and Cree culture, as well as to continuously think and write about what it means to be Indigenous in today’s times. How do we heal from a place of forgiveness?

ABOUT MEGAN COLE:

Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.

Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

In this episode, Lindsay Wong talks about her book Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality. Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality was a finalists for the 2024 Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes. In her conversation, Lindsay talks about why BIPOC writers are using horror to writer their stories. She also talks about the need for well-timed comedy when writing horror.

Visit BC and Yukon Book Prizes: bcyukonbookprizes.com/

About Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/tell-me-pleasant-things-about-immortality/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lindsay Wong is the author of the critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling memoir The Woo-Woo, which was a finalist for Canada Reads 2019. She has written a YA novel entitled My Summer of Love and Misfortune. Wong holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Winnipeg.

ABOUT MEGAN COLE:

Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.

Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

In this episode, Katherine Palmer Gordon, Geoffrey Morrison, and Jess Housty share their thoughts and reflections about storytelling. Katherine Palmer Gordon is the author of This Place is Who We Are: Stories of Indigenous Leadership, Resilience, and Connection to Homelands, a finalist for the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize. Geoffrey Morrison is the author of Falling Hour, a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Jess Housty is the author of Crushed Wild Mint, winner of both the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award.

Visit BC and Yukon Book Prizes: bcyukonbookprizes.com/

To watch the full Storied video On Storytelling: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1004669107

About This Place is Who We Are : https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/this-place-is-who-we-are-stories-of-indigenous-leadership-resilience-and-connection-to-homelands/

About Falling Hour: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/falling-hour/

About Crushed Wild Mint: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/crushed-wild-mint/

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Katherine Palmer Gordon is the author of eight books of non-fiction, including several BC Bestsellers: The Slocan: Portrait of a Valley, The Garden That You Are, and Made to Measure: A History of Land Surveying in British Columbia, for which she was awarded the 2007 BC Haig-Brown prize. She is also an award-winning freelance journalist and lives on Gabriola Island, BC.

Geoffrey D. Morrison is the author of the poetry chapbook Blood-Brain Barrier (Frog Hollow Press, 2019) and co-author, with Matthew Tomkinson, of the experimental short fiction collection Archaic Torso of Gumby (Gordon Hill Press, 2020). He was a finalist in both the poetry and fiction categories of the 2020 Malahat Review Open Season Awards and a nominee for the 2020 Journey Prize. He lives on unceded Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh territory (Vancouver).

Jess Housty (‘Cúagilákv) is a parent, writer and grassroots activist with Heiltsuk (Indigenous) and mixed settler ancestry. They serve their community as an herbalist and land-based educator alongside broader work in the non-profit and philanthropic sectors. They are inspired and guided by relationships with the homelands, their extended family and their non-human kin, and they are committed to raising their children in a similar framework of kinship and land love. They reside and thrive in their unceded ancestral territory in the community of Bella Bella, BC.

ABOUT MEGAN COLE:

Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.

Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

In this episode, Kirsten Pendreigh talks about her book Maybe A Whale. Maybe A Whale was a finalist for the 2024 Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize. In her conversation with host Megan Cole, Kirsten talks about how nature and the environment has inspired her work. She also talks about the importance of writing children's books that tackle topics like grief and death.

Visit BC and Yukon Book Prizes: bcyukonbookprizes.com/

About Maybe A Whale : https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/maybe-a-whale/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kirsten Pendreigh is a children’s author and poet from Vancouver, BC. Her books celebrate our early instincts to care for the plants and creatures that share our planet. She is the author of Luna’s Green Pet, illustrated by Carmen Mok. Kirsten’s poems can be found in Canadian literary magazines and in Best Canadian Poetry 2021. Formerly a CBC and NPR journalist, Kirsten also writes non-fiction for children.

ABOUT MEGAN COLE:

Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.

Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

In this episode, Polly Horvath talks about her book Pine Island Visitors. Pine Island Visitors was a finalist for the 2024 Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize. In her conversation with host Megan Cole, Polly talks about relying on her voice as an author. She also talks about why she writes novels for young readers and how she develops her characters.

Visit BC and Yukon Book Prizes: bcyukonbookprizes.com/

About Pine Island Visitors: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/pine-island-visitors/

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Polly Horvath is the author of many books for young people, including The Night Garden, Everything on a Waffle, The Pepins and Their Problems, The Canning Season and The Trolls. Her numerous awards include the Newbery Honor, the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor and the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature. She has also been shortlisted for The Deutscher Jugenliteraturpreis, Germany’s most prestigious literature award. Horvath grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She lives in Metchosin, British Columbia.

ABOUT MEGAN COLE:

Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.

Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

In this episode, Lindsay Wong (author of Tell Me Pleasant Things About My Immortality), David Norwell (author of A Complex Coast), Lara Jean Okihiro (co-author of Obaasan's Boots), and Andrea Warner (author of Rise Up and Sing!) to reflect on books that have influenced or inspired them. These amazing authors have been part of this years Storied video series. This episode is basically amazing authors recommending great books on topics such as writing about family, combining fact and fiction in novels and short stories, and writing about the environment.

Visit BC and Yukon Book Prizes: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/

Storied videos: https://vimeo.com/showcase/11316134

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Lindsay Wong is the author of the critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling memoir The Woo-Woo, which was a finalist for Canada Reads 2019. She has written a YA novel entitled My Summer of Love and Misfortune. Wong holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Winnipeg.

David Norwell is an author, illustrator, and world traveller. He holds a BSc in Geography from the University of Victoria, and has worked for six seasons conducting biological and geological surveys In BC, Alberta, and the Yukon. His passion is communicating science in a way that accesses the human heart. David has visited thirty-three countries, sailed across the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, trekked over the Himalayas with a kitten, and hitchhiked over two hundred rides. He is dedicated to understanding the human experience and sharing his findings. When not working on books, he is volunteering at schools, studying Buddhism, and practising meditation.

Lara Jean Okihiro is a writer, researcher, and educator of mixed Japanese Canadian heritage living in Toronto. Intrigued by the power and magic of stories, she earned a Master’s (Goldsmiths College) and a Doctorate (University of Toronto) in English. Living abroad inspired her to learn about her family’s experience of internment. Lara writes about dispossession, hoarding, social justice, and carrying the important lessons of the past into the future.

Andrea Warner (she/her) writes and talks. A lot. She’s the author of Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography and We Oughta Know: How Four Women Ruled the ’90s and Changed Canadian Music. She’s the co-writer and associate producer of the 2022 documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On and co-hosts the the weekly feminist pop culture podcast Pop This!.

ABOUT MEGAN COLE:

Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.

Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

In this episode, host Megan Cole talks to Janis Bridger and Lara Jean Okihiro. Janis and Lara are the authors of Obaasan’s Boots, which was a finalist for the 2024 Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. In their conversation, Lara and Janis talk about their relationship and how that evolved through the writing of the book. We also talked about why Canadians don’t talk about Japanese internment and the role that books play in humanizing it.

Visit BC and Yukon Book Prizes: bcyukonbookprizes.com/

About Obaasan's Boots: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/obaasans-boots/

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Lara Jean Okihiro is a writer, researcher, and educator of mixed Japanese Canadian heritage living in Toronto. Intrigued by the power and magic of stories, she earned a Master’s (Goldsmiths College) and a Doctorate (University of Toronto) in English. Living abroad inspired her to learn about her family’s experience of internment. Lara writes about dispossession, hoarding, social justice, and carrying the important lessons of the past into the future.

Janis Bridger is an educator and writer who has many creative outlets and a love for the outdoors. She lives in Vancouver, Canada, close to where her Japanese Canadian grandparents lived before being interned. Janis earned a diploma in Professional Photography (Langara College), a Bachelor of Education and General Studies (Simon Fraser University) and a Master of Education (University of Alberta), specializing in teacher-librarianship. Social justice, diversity, and kindness are paramount in her life and embedded in her everyday teaching.

ABOUT MEGAN COLE:

Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.

Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.