What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books

My guest on this episode is Rachel Reid. Rachel is the bestselling author of the Game Changers hockey romance series that includes Heated Rivalry, the TV adaptation of which has become a massive hit since it premiered in November. Her most recent novel is the standalone romance The Shots You Take, published earlier this year by Harlequin. Library Journal called the book “a beautifully written romance about finally finding oneself and a happy ending.” Rachel and I talk about how she, as someone who submitted the manuscript of her first novel without even telling her partner and her family, is handling the sudden explosion of attention, about the pressure she feels to make her next book worthy of this attention, and about her rules when it comes to writing explicit sex scenes.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 Renée D. Bondy. Renée’s writing has appeared in Herizons, Bitch, Bearings Online, and the Humber Literary Review. Her debut novel, [non]disclosure, was published by Second Story Press in 2024. Author Julie S. Lalonde called [non]disclosure “a true masterclass on the power of solidarity and how community can either sustain us or drag us under.”Renée and I talk about how she is adjusting to her relatively luxurious new writing space, about swerving into literary fiction after a life spent as an academic and activist, and about how the difficulty of the issues she explores in her debut novel led her to put support structures in places at the launch event for it.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 Rik Emmett. Rik is best known for being in the multi-platinum-selling band Triumph until the late 80s, after which he released many, many solo albums. Rik’s books include the poetry collection Reinventions and the memoir Lay It On The Line: A Backstage Pass to Rock Star Adventure, Conflict and Triumph, both published by ECW Press. His most recent book, Ten Telecaster Tales: Liner Notes for a Guitar and Its Music, was published by ECW earlier this year. Author Terry Fallis called the book “eloquent, erudite, entertaining, and enlightening […] a thoughtful meditation on art, creativity, and the human species.” Rik and I talk about why, at an age when most people would be enjoying retirement, he has suddenly become a published author with a new book out almost every year, about the focus and intensity he brings to all of his creative endeavours (and how he has learned to pull back a little for the sake of his relationships and his mental health), and about how, despite all he has accomplished on his own, and continues to accomplish, the machine that is his former band has a way of sucking him back in, and why he’s mostly okay with that.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 Catherine Bush. Catherine is the author of five novels, including Blaze Island, which was a Globe and Mail and Writers’ Trust of Canada Best Book of the Year, and the Hamilton Reads 2021 Selection. Her other novels include the Canada Reads longlisted Accusation; the Trillium Award shortlisted Claire's Head; the national bestselling The Rules of Engagement, which was also named a New York Times Notable Book and a L.A. Times Best Book of the Year; and Minus Time, shortlisted for the City of Toronto Book Award. Catherine’s most recent book is the story collection Skin, published by Goose Lane Editions earlier this year. The Ottawa Review of Books called Skin “a haunting and beautifully crafted collection that solidifies Catherine Bush’s reputation as a writer of immense talent.” Catherine and I talk about the many exotic locations at which she has written, including time spent at an Italian villa with Zadie Smith as her neighbour, about writing her most recent book at a remote Ontario schoolhouse she had to break COVID protocols to get to, and about where serious literature fits within a world in which serious art of any kind is often overlooked.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 Oonya Kempadoo. Oonya is the author of four novels, the first of which was longlisted for the Orange Prize, the second was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and won a Casa De Las Americas prize. Her most recent novel is Naniki, published by Dundurn Press in 2024. That novel was longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. The Montreal Review of Books called Naniki “playful, refreshing, and luminous, inspiring an almost childlike curiosity and urge for exploration, while illustrating the importance of understanding our past to safeguard our future.”Oonya and I talk about the ongoing immersive art project that inspired her to write her latest novel, about why she took such a long break from writing fiction after the publication of her third novel more than a decade ago, and about how writing and publishing Naniki has sparked a new desire in her to return to being a novelist.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.