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Hollay Ghadery is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in rural Ontario on Anishinaabe land. Fuse, her acclaimed memoir of mixed-race identity and mental illness, was published by Guernica Editions’ MiroLand imprint in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Since then, she’s produced a collection of poetry, Rebellion Box, a short-fiction collection, Widow Fantasies, and a poetry chapbook, the leaves of grass are dreaming. Her debut novel, The Unravelling of Ou, is being published this month by Windsor’s Palimpsest Press. Hollay is a board member of the League of Canadian Poets, the co-chair of the League's BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of the region in which she lives. She’s also a host on The New Books Network. and a host of HOWL—the literary arts show—on 89.5 CIUT FM. https://www.hollayghadery.ca/ https://palimpsestpress.ca/books/the-unravelling-of-ou-hollay-ghadery/

Lisa de Nikolits is the award-winning author of twelve published novels.  She has appeared on recommended reading lists for Open Book Toronto, 49th Shelf, Chatelaine, Canadian Living, Hello! Canada, the Quill & Quire, and most recently, the CBC’s 65 works of Canadian fiction to watch for in Fall 2022. Her book The Occult Persuasion and The Anarchist’s Solution was longlisted for a Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of The Fantastic, and The Rage Room was a finalist in the International Book Awards, 2021. Her short fiction and poetry have also been published in various international anthologies and journals. Originally from South Africa, Lisa de Nikolits came to Canada in 2000. She lives and writes in the Beaches in Toronto. The book we’re talking about today is her latest, Mad Dog and the Sea Dragon, a modern noir novel from Inanna Press  https://www.lisawriter.com/ https://inanna.ca/product/mad-dog-and-the-sea-dragon/

C. M. Forest, also known as Christian Laforet, is the author of multiple projects including the 2023 Benjamin Franklin silver award winning novel Infested (Eerie River Publishing), and the novella, We All Fall Before the Harvest (Timber Ghost Press.) and the upcoming (Sept. 2024) short story collection, The Roots Run Deep and Other Stories (Eerie River Publishing). His short fiction has been featured in over a dozen anthologies across multiple genres. A self-proclaimed horror movie expert, he spent an embarrassing amount of his youth watching scary movies. When not writing, he lives in Ontario, Canada with his wife, kids, three cats, and a pandemic dog named Sully who has an ongoing love affair with a blanket. His newest release is the short story collection The Roots Run Deep and Other Stories, from Eerie River Publishing. https://christianlaforet.com/

Karen Smythe’s previous books include the novel This Side of Sad (Goose Lane Editions, 2017), the story collection Stubborn Bones (Polestar/Raincoast, 2001), and the critical study Figuring Grief: Gallant, Munro, and the Poetics of Elegy (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1992). Her family background is Norwegian and German/Irish. She lives with her husband in Guelph, Ontario. Her newest release is the novel A Town Without Noise published by Windsor’s Palimpsest Press.  https://palimpsestpress.ca/books/a-town-with-no-noise-karen-smythe/

Gloria Blizzard is an award-winning writer and poet, and a Black Canadian woman of multiple heritages. She holds an MFA from the University of King’s College. Her work explores spaces where music, dance, spirit, and culture collide. Her work has won the Malahat Review Creative Nonfiction Prize and has been nominated for the Pushcart prize. Her essays, reviews, and poems have been published by the CBC, The Globe and Mail, The Humber Review, Wasafiri International Contemporary Writing, and World Literature Today. Her first book of essays, called Black Cake, Turtle Soup, and Other Dilemmas, was released by Dundurn Press in 2024. Gloria lives in Toronto, and she dances daily. Instagram @gloriawrites Bluesky ‪@gloriablizzard.bsky.social Website: www.gloriablizzard.com Links to buy: https://linktr.ee/blackcaketurtlesoup Substack newsletter: https://carnivalesque.substack.com/

Skip Spence's life started in Windsor, but he became a poster boy for the 1960s, playing with groups like Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape. His time in the spotlight lasted only three years, but he left a lasting impression on rock and roll.  Cam Cobb is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Windsor and a rock journalist. Cobb’s writing has appeared in such magazines as Record Collector, Shindig!, and Ugly Things. His liner notes for Skip Spence's single, "Rock & Roll Band," accompanied the release in 2019. Cobb co-directed Buskin' in the Subway for the Windsor International Film Festival, and he coproduced O(A)R, a short documentary on Skip Spence.  His books include What’s Big And Purple And Lives In The Ocean?: The Moby Grape Story, and Weighted Down: The Complicated Life of Skip Spence. New Rolling Stone Record Guide 2nd ed. 1983. Is cited.  More information on the book here. 

Felicia B. George is a native Detroiter who loves Detroit history and culture. She earned her doctorate in anthropology from Wayne State University, where she is now an adjunct professor. Her recent book, When Detroit Played the Numbers: Gambling’s History and Cultural Impact on the Motor City, was released by Wayne State University Press in 2024 and has been named as a 2025 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan. www.doctordetroit.net https://wsupress.wayne.edu/9780814350768/

Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Peter Hrastovec is the author of three books of poetry, In Lieu of Flowers, Sidelines and There Will Be Fish, which we covered on a podcast episode in May of 2022. Peter is the current Poet Laureate of Windsor, and he has contributed to several anthologies, most recently, Where the Map Begins. Limbo Moon is his new chapbook. It was featured at BookFest Windsor 2024 and published by Woodbridge Farm Books.

Marty Gervais is perhaps the most well-known figure in the Windsor writing community. He is an award-winning Canadian journalist, poet, playwright, historian photographer and editor. He won Toronto’s Harbourfront Festival Prize for his contributions to Canadian letters and to emerging writers, and he was awarded the Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Award.  He was also awarded the City of Windsor Mayor’s Award for literature, and he is Windsor’s Poet Laureate Emeritus. He received an honorary doctor of laws from Assumption University in 2010. Gervais has written more than a dozen books of poetry, two plays and a novel. His most successful work, The Rumrunners, a book about the Prohibition period was a Canadian bestseller in 1980 and was #10 on The Globe and Mail’s non-fiction bestsellers list.  His most recent book is the poetry collection, The Sky Above, is an engaging book that follows his long and colourful career of spinning stories. We recorded the launch of The Sky Above. It was held at Biblioasis and hosted by André Narbonne and Kalie Chapman. This episode was created from that recording. 

Ghassan Zeineddine was born in Washington, DC, and raised in the Middle East. He is an assistant professor of creative writing at Oberlin College, and co-editor of the creative nonfiction anthology Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Ohio. His book of short stories, Dearborn: Stories is published by Tin House Books. https://tinhouse.com/author/ghassan-zeineddine/

Elly Blake is the New York Times bestselling author of the Frostblood Saga. After earning a BA in English literature, she has worked as a project manager, customs clerk, graphic designer, reporter for a local business magazine, and library assistant. She lives in Southwestern Ontario with her husband and kids. Her latest book is The Forest King's Daughter published by Hachette Canada. https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/elly-blake/the-forest-kings-daughter/9780316395724/ EllyBlake.com

Richard Kelly Kemick is an award-winning poet, journalist, and fiction writer. His limited series podcast, Natural Life, is an intimate and unexpectedly honest documentary on his cousin, who is serving a life sentence without parole in Michigan. Richard is also the author of I Am Herod, which takes readers undercover at one of the world’s largest religious events, and Caribou Run, a collection of poetry. He is the recipient of multiple awards including two National Magazine Awards and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s 2019 Award for Best Short Story. His new book is Hello, Horse, a collection of short stories published by Biblioasis. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. https://biblioasisbookshop.com/item/N8KJ1y9ScrxoDMASDESSPA https://richardkemick.com/

Join us for a special minisode in which we reflect briefly on five(!) lovely years of podcasting, and on 2024 in particular. Irene, Kim, and Sarah have selected a few works each that struck us in different ways, but don't get us wrong, we have had a blast chatting with each author this year, and all are worthy of you joining the conversation! In no particular order or rank, here are the books we spoke about in this episode for your reference, or check out all of our episodes for the full list.  We'll chat with you again soon in 2025! Diver Beneath the Street by Petra KuppersPrecedented Parroting by Barbara TranHow to Build a Boat by Elaine FeeneyThe Curious Lives of Non-Profit Martyrs by George SingletonOn Community by Casey PlettThe Blood of Five Rivers with Arjun BediThe Future by Catherine LerouxAnomia by Jade Wallacenon]disclosure by Renée BondySorry About the Fire by Colleen Coco Collins

 Walter Metz is a Full Professor in the School of Media Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He earned a Ph.D. in Radio/Television/Film at the University of Texas at Austin in 1996, and holds an S.B. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT (1989). He is the author of three books: Engaging Film Criticism: Film History and Contemporary American Cinema, published by P. Lang, and two titles published by Wayne State University Press, Bewitched, and Gilligan’s Island. He is also the author of sixty refereed journal articles and book chapters about the intertextual relationships between film, television, novels, and theatre. His work roves across disciplines, grappling with the importance of audio-visual productions for understanding such disparate subjects as gender, comedy, poetry, opera, the Cold War, the Holocaust, science, and animals. His latest book is Gilligan's Island, part of Wayne State University Press TV Milestones Series. https://wsupress.wayne.edu/9780814333723/

Molly Peacock is the author of eight volumes of poetry. Earlier titles include The Analyst: Poems and Cornucopia: New & Selected Poems. She joins us today to talk about her latest collection, The Widow’s Crayon Box. She also recently wrote a non-fiction book about a half-century friendship, A Friend Sails in on a Poem, published by Windsor-based Palimpsest Press. As a poetry activist, Peacock was the co-founder of Poetry in Motion on New York’s subways and buses, the founder of The Best Canadian Poetry series, and the creator of The Secret Poetry Room at Binghamton University.  The Widow's Crayon Box is published by Penguin Random House Canada. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/773911/the-widows-crayon-box-by-molly-peacock/9781324079439