Can straight authors write books with gay protagonists?
When writer and creative Arizona O'Neill read the satirical novel Fruit Fly by Josh Silver, it got her thinking about the publishing industr...
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The Next Chapter from CBC Radio
CBC Radio's Shelagh Rogers travels the country, conversing with authors and readers of all kinds. A new episode every Saturday.
Episodes
20 of 87 episodesComparison kills: why ranking books can get problematic
What are the best books published this month? Questions and titles like this led to writer and teacher Thea Lim’s article “Abolish the Top T...
How Junie B. Jones inspired Taylor Tomlinson’s comedy career
With four Netflix specials and a late-night show to her name, Taylor Tomlinson has comedy figured out. But something she had never done befo...
10 years since publishing Indigenous Writes, what’s changed?
Chelsea Vowel is a lawyer, teacher and writer. 10 years ago, she published her influential book Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations,...
Here’s what’s on our fall TBR list
For our team of producers at CBC Books, fall reading starts in spring when publisher catalogues and look-aheads arrive at the office. Ailey...
What the stars of North of North are reading
After cleaning up at the Canadian Screen Awards in May, North of North returns for season two with nine awards under its belt including Best...
Why we keep coming back to The Odyssey, 3000 years later
The Odyssey, both the movie and Homer’s epic poem, was at the top of the pop culture zeitgeist this summer. The sudden resurgence leads to t...
Kia Nurse shares what the Toronto Tempo is reading
You may know Kia Nurse from the WNBA, Team Canada or her basketball coverage on TSN. She also scored the first points recorded in Toronto Te...
What happens when 6 Canadian actors start a book club
Celebrity book clubs have shown their staying power. From Reese Witherspoon to Dua Lipa, everyone’s curious about what actors and artists ar...
These books introduced Will Ferguson to the world... and changed his life
Will Ferguson began his career as a travel writer. Since then he's written more than a dozen books and won some of the biggest literary priz...
What it’s like entering the spotlight after a career of ghostwriting
For most of her writing life Patricia Finn wrote and polished other people’s stories. But this spring she stepped out of the shadows with th...
How far must we go to find our way home?
In April, two Canada Reads nominated authors took the stage in Whitehorse to discuss their books in front of a packed live audience. The eve...
What made The Tragically Hip Canada’s band?
Ten years ago, more than 11 million Canadians tuned in to CBC for the live airing of The Tragically Hip’s final concert of their Man Machine...
How to avoid getting locked in an echo chamber
Some books change your mind. Others simply reinforce what you already know. The Next Chapter's columnist Nathan Maharaj joins the show to ta...
The author behind Lucky reveals how she helped cast Anya Taylor-Joy
A few years ago Marissa Stapley heard a radio story about an unclaimed winning lottery ticket, which planted the seed for her novel, Lucky....
Why storytellers come alive when food is on the table
Is there one meal that reminds you of home? A dish that brings back childhood memories? For CBC Books producer Talia Kliot, it’s a shortbrea...
What is the hardest part of translating a beloved novel?
Set in late-20th-century Cairo, Éric Chacour's novel What I know About You is a heartbreaking story of an impossible love and a family fract...
Why Ernest Hemingway had a problem with Toronto
Did you know that Ernest Hemingway wrote for the Toronto Star? The iconic cigar-smoking, bull-fighting American writer spent two separate st...
How an accidental police officer stumbled into a career as a mystery author
Clare Mackintosh joined the police force by accident. But taking what she learned over a 12 year career and using it to become a bestselling...
Spilling secrets and small-town adultery in The Shampoo Effect
For years Jenny Jackson worked as an editor for some of the biggest authors in the publishing game. Eventually, she took what she had learne...