What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books

My guest on this episode is Shyam Selvadurai. Shyam’s novels include Funny Boy, Cinnamon Gardens, and The Hungry Ghosts, as well as the YA novel Swimming in the Monsoon Sea. His work has won the W. H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award, and been shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award, and the Trillium Prize. Funny Boy was made into a feature film in 2020 by director Deepa Mehta. His most recent book is the novel Mansions of the Moon, published by Knopf Canada in 2022. Maclean’s said “Selvadurai’s tale of emotionally torn star-crossed lovers—and the aftermath of their parting—is subtle, absorbing and thoroughly modern.”

Shyam and I talk about the overwhelming whiteness of the Canadian book world when he first started publishing (and how that has changed for the better), about the difference between the literary reputation he has in his birth country of Sri Lanka and the one he has in Canada, and about the mall in Scarborough that might one day become a CanLit landmark, thanks to his books.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest on this episode is Alex Manley. Alex’s essays, fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous print and online publications, including The Walrus, Hazlitt, Vulture, Maisonneuve, among others. They have been a finalist for a National Magazine Award and a Digital Publishing Award. Their books include the poetry collection We Are All Just Animals & Plants and The New Masculinity: A Roadmap for a 21st-Century Definition of Manhood, which was a finalist for the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction. Their most recent book is Post-Man: Essays on Being a Neurodivergent Non-Binary Person, published by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2025. Author Larissa Pham said the book is “steeped in internet lore and shimmering with a poet's sensibility.”

Alex and I talk about the realities of writing careers that publishing their most recent book brought home, about whether any progress is being made in some of the traditionally straight male spaces they write about, and about their next book project, a novel.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest on this episode is Dennis Bock. Dennis is the author of the short story collection Olympia and the novels The Ash Garden, The Communist’s Daughter, Going Home Again, and The Good German. His work has won the CAA Jubilee Award, the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, the Betty Trask Award, and the Canada-Japan Literary Award, and been shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Kiriyama Prize, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and the Giller Prize. His most recent novel is Strangers at the Door, published by HarperCollins Canada in 2025. The Winnipeg Free Press called it “eerily delightful.”

Dennis and I talk about how playing guitar helps him write novels, about writing historical fiction that is more focused on the second part of that category than the first, and about learning to allow himself some fallow time between books.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest on this episode is Kate Cayley. Kate has published two short story collections and three collections of poetry. She has won the Trillium Book Award, the Mitchell Prize for Poetry, and an O. Henry Prize, and been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, among other awards. She has also served as a playwright in residence with Tarragon Theatre. Her most recent book is the novel Property, published by Coach House Books in 2025. That novel was short-listed for the Foreword INDIES prize for literary fiction, and for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, presented in partnership with The Walrus. Publishers Weekly called Property ”an unflinching tale of a community’s fragile bonds.”

Kate and I talk about the surprise and pleasure of an award nomination coming many months after a book is published, about what her novel owes to the rats in her neighbourhood, and about the strangeness of being a debut novelist, six books into her career.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest on this episode is Adriana Barton. Adriana is an author and journalist whose writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the Boston Globe, Western Living, Vancouver magazine, and elsewhere. Her debut book is Wired for Music: A Search for Health and Joy Through the Science of Sound, published by Greystone Books in 2022. That book was a finalist in the Canadian Book Club Awards and the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada Book Awards. The Globe and Mail called it “thoroughly researched and tenderly written.”

Adriana and I talk about how different the original pitch for her book was from its final version, about how she gets through her nervousness around public speaking, and about her ongoing difficulties with her planned follow-up book.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.