Bookends with Mattea Roach

A snail scientist takes part in a kidnapping scheme to protest the Ukrainian romance industry. That's the story Maria Reva was writing in her debut novel, Endling. But then Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leaving Maria to question whether fiction had a place in the devastating new reality. The result is an innovative and darkly humorous book in which Maria blends her novel with her own experiences grappling with the war. Endling is longlisted for the Booker and is a finalist for the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Maria joins Mattea Roach to talk about her interest in snails, the evolution of her novel and having loved ones on the frontlines in Ukraine. Liked this conversation? Keep listening: Nnedi Okorafor: Bringing a writer to life in Death of the AuthorWriting about catastrophe gives Madeleine Thien courage

Growing up in rural Ontario, Jeff Lemire bought superhero comics at the local minimart. Years later, he’s one of the biggest comic book creators in Canada … and he’s the one bringing those superheroes to life. Jeff’s new memoir, 10,000 Ink Stains, tells his story. The book looks back on his 25-year career, diving into notable works like Essex County and Sweet Tooth — both of which were recently adapted for television. Jeff tells Mattea about his early days as an indie comics artist, stepping into the worlds of iconic heroes and why his career is only just beginning. Liked this conversation? Keep listening: Chris Ware: Inside the sketchbooks of a comics masterAdrian Tomine: Answering his readers' burning questions

Milena Jesenská was a courageous journalist, translator and resister of the Nazi regime. So why do most people only know her as Franz Kafka’s lover? Milena was one of the great loves of Kafka’s life, and his letters to her are immortalized in the book Letters to Milena. But that story remains unfinished … because Milena’s responses have never been found. That’s where writer Christine Estima steps in. In her debut novel, Letters to Kafka, Christine tells Milena’s story and gives voice to a woman often overshadowed in history. Liked this conversation? Keep listening: Leslie Jamison: Capturing Peggy Guggenheim in fiction and honouring a friend's dream Emma Donoghue boards a train destined for disaster Check out Mattea’s interview on Gays Reading: gaysreading.com

Feeling nostalgic for the music of the aughts? You’re not the only one. Holly Brickley’s debut novel, Deep Cuts, follows a music-obsessed writer named Percy coming of age in the early 2000s. When Percy befriends a young musician in college, they start to collaborate and their connection deepens. Holly and Mattea talk about their shared love of music, the magic of the pre-smartphone era and why music and human connection often go hand-in-hand. Liked this conversation? Keep listening: Music, sex and finding the soundtrack to queer joyEmma Knight: 'Bad' mothers make good stories — and are more true-to-life

Tessa Hulls won a Pulitzer Prize for her first book. So why is it also her last? Tessa’s graphic memoir, Feeding Ghosts, unravels the stories of three women in her family: her Chinese grandmother, her mother and herself. It’s an emotional, complex and beautifully illustrated book that took Tessa almost a decade to produce. This week on Bookends, Tessa tells Mattea about following her family ghosts across the world … and why her next step will look a little different. Liked this conversation? Keep listening: Teresa Wong: Illustrating her family's past — in all its ordinary and epic momentsSarah Leavitt: Illustrating grief too wide for words Listen to Mattea's interview on Gays Reading here: https://www.gaysreading.com/

Here at Bookends, we never shy away from difficult conversations … and neither does Anna Sale, the host of the popular Slate podcast Death, Sex and Money. The show is all about diving into topics that get deep fast, and Anna expands on that promise in her book, Let’s Talk About Hard Things. In this special summer edition of Bookends, Anna joins Mattea to chat all about the book, podcasting and how her own outlook on tough topics has changed over the years.

The CBC Literary Prizes are where Canadian writing stars are made… and this week, we’ll prove it to you. In the first season of Bookends, Mattea Roach spoke with some of the winners, finalists and jurors of the prizes. This week, we’re revisiting Mattea's conversations with Zilla Jones, Dorian McNamara, David Huebert, Zoe Whittall, and Rachel Robb. You can learn more about the prizes at cbcbooks.ca. Hear the full conversations here: An opera singer gives voice to the Grenadian revolutionMeet the winner of the 2025 CBC Short Story PrizeDavid Huebert: Exploring the complexity of our relationship with oil through fiction Zoe Whittall: Why heartbreak is a valid form of griefRachel Robb: Exploring reconciliation and the natural world

This week, Bookends is revisiting the Mirrors series. It’s a CBC Books special featuring winners of the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Awards. The English-language books that won last year’s awards demonstrate how stories help us reflect on our lives and see the world in new ways. In this special series, CBC Books asked the winners to further explore the power of reflection in original works. The new works are centred around the theme of mirrors and challenge how we see ourselves, explore alternative identities and blur the lines between reality and fantasy. This episode is hosted by Talia Schlanger. It features Canadian authors Li Charmaine Anne, Caleigh Crow, Katia Grubisic, Niigaanwewidam Sinclair, Todd Stewart and Chimwemwe Undi. You can learn more about the winners at cbcbooks.ca.

Commotion is where you go for thoughtful and vibrant conversations about all things pop culture. Host Elamin Abdelmahmoud calls on journalists, critics, creators and friends to talk through the biggest arts & entertainment stories of the day, in 30 minutes or less. In this episode, Elamin is joined by authors Jael Richardson and David A. Robertson, and bookseller and publisher Martha Sharpe to chat about updating the Can Lit canon. What is considered to be a Canadian literary classic? Has that changed? Has it remained the same? More episodes of Commotion are available here: https://link.mgln.ai/cwea-bookends

This week on Bookends, we revisit Eleanor Wachtel’s conversation with Bernardine Evaristo. Bernardine is the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution award by the Women’s Prize for Fiction. It’s a special, one-time award to celebrate achievement over the course of a career. “Outstanding” is the perfect word to describe Bernardine’s accomplishments — in addition to several acclaimed books, Bernardine has dedicated the past 40 years to uplifting underrepresented writers and promoting inclusivity in literature. Eleanor and Bernardine spoke on Writers & Company in 2020 about Bernardine’s Booker award-winning novel, Girl, Woman, Other, and how her family background shaped her journey as a writer. https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/writers-company/bernardine-evaristo-black-british-identity-and-her-booker-winning-novel-girl-womanhttps://digital.lib.sfu.ca/writers-company

Whether it’s battling your girlfriend’s “seven evil exes," reinterpreting childhood memories or celebrating the beauty of becoming a parent, comics and graphic novels transport readers to different worlds … and help us better understand the one we live in. In the first season of Bookends, Mattea Roach spoke with some of today’s leading cartoonists about their work and the inspiration they draw from life. In this special summer edition of the show, we’re revisiting Mattea's conversations with Adrian Tomine, Alison Bechdel, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Sarah Leavitt and Chris Ware. Hear the full conversations here: Adrian Tomine: Answering his readers' burning questionsAlison Bechdel on making money and seeing Fun Home in a new lightBryan Lee O’Malley: 20 years of Scott PilgrimSarah Leavitt: Illustrating grief too wide for wordsChris Ware: Inside the sketchbooks of a comics master

Five days a week acclaimed interviewer Tom Power sits down with the artists, writers, actors and musicians who define pop culture. In this episode, Tom chats with the cartoonist and writer Gabrielle Drolet. A few years ago, Gabrielle developed a condition that made her unable to use her hands. It kept getting worse over time, and as Gabrielle searched for a diagnosis, she also had to find new ways to make art. Her new memoir “Look Ma, No Hands” is the story of an artist coming to terms with disability, adapting to the unexpected, and ultimately learning to express herself again. Gabrielle joins Tom to talk about those experiences that informed her memoir. More episodes of Q with Tom Power are available here: https://link.mgln.ai/qwtp

To wrap up our first season, Bookends is bringing you to the Festival of Literary Diversity in Brampton. Tanya Talaga, Morgan Campell and Amal Elsana Alh'jooj may be memoir writers from different walks of life — but a common thread in their work is how they continually use their voices to negotiate challenging conversations. They recently joined Mattea Roach on stage for a live panel, where they spoke about the value of difficult conversations … and how telling personal stories creates empathy at large. Hear the rest of our interview with Tanya Talaga here: Tanya Talaga: Searching for her great-great grandmother — a story of family, truth and survival

For Montreal writer Chris Bergeron, the power of transgender storytelling is revolutionary. Her novel Valid is about a 70-year-old trans woman who is forced back into the closet to survive in a dystopian Montreal. Valid, translated from French by Natalia Hero, was chosen for this year’s One eRead Canada campaign. Chris sat down with Mattea Roach at a live virtual event in April. They spoke about the relationship between transness and technology, the meaning of “dystopian autofiction” and how the city of Montreal is always in transition. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes: Helen Phillips: In a world run by AI, what makes us human?Judith Butler: Breaking down why people fear gender

For Chyana Marie Sage, being “soft as bones” means accepting that humans are both strong and fragile — and have immense capacity for healing. Her new memoir, Soft As Bones, is her quest to better understand the childhood trauma that scarred her family. It's also a tapestry of poetry, history, Cree language, traditional ceremony and folklore — and delves into her experiences and those of her family with compassion and strength. Chyana joins Mattea Roach to share the catharsis she felt from writing about painful memories and the care she took to portray everyone with empathy. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes: Tanya Talaga: Searching for her great-great grandmother — a story of family, truth and survival Teresa Wong: Illustrating her family's past — in all its ordinary and epic moments

Before becoming a writer, Kyle Edwards had dreams of playing hockey … and as an Indigenous player, he grapples with complex feelings about the game and its place in Canadian culture. He explores this in his debut novel, Small Ceremonies. The story follows the Tigers, a hockey team made up of Indigenous teens from Winnipeg. The teens are coming of age in the rink — and the dynamics on the ice often mirror the tensions off of it. Kyle tells Mattea Roach about how sports reflect society, how hockey serves as its own kind of ceremony and why Winnipeg is so special to him. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes: Ocean Vuong finds beauty in a fast food shift David A. Robertson puts stories at the heart of reconciliation

Taylor Jenkins Reid is a literary superstar. She’s known for writing epic settings, complex women and love stories that stretch across time and place — you might know her from novels such as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or Daisy Jones and the Six. Her new novel, Atmosphere, is a space thriller that captures all of her signatures. It’s about outer space, falling in love and being a woman at NASA … and that’s just the half of it. Taylor tells Mattea Roach about why writing about astronauts is so difficult, approaching life in the public eye and why the book is dedicated to her daughter. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes: Casey McQuiston: Celebrating queer love and joy and navigating the future of romance Emma Donoghue boards a train destined for disaster

Nearly 20 years after her breakout memoir, Fun Home, cartoonist Alison Bechdel is still unearthing new truths about her life in that time. The memoir and its Broadway adaptation changed Alison’s life and brought a degree of success she was unaccustomed to. She explores these themes in her latest work, a comic novel called Spent. It’s about a cartoonist's complicated relationship with money and capitalism, and the struggle to stay true to her values. Alison tells Mattea about creating a fictionalized version of herself ... and shares surprising revelations about her parents, which have given her new insight into her own life story. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes: Adrian Tomine: Answering his readers' burning questionsRumaan Alam: How would you spend a billion dollars?

Through his books and public speaking, David A. Robertson has dedicated his career to sharing stories about Indigenous people. His latest book, 52 Ways to Reconcile, is a guide for all of us to take action when it comes to reconciliation — and shows how small acts can have a big impact. Like all of David's work, the book tackles hard truths with a gentle touch and a profound sense of hope. David joins Mattea Roach to talk about educating children on Indigenous histories, how his father influenced his life and work and why "reconciliation" is a journey ... not a destination. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes: Tanya Talaga: Searching for her great-great grandmother — a story of family, truth and survival Imani Perry: Tracing blue through Black American life

The 1983 revolution in Grenada was a major moment of the Cold War era ... and writer Zilla Jones grew up hearing stories about its connection to her own family. She transports readers back to that time in her debut novel, The World So Wide. It follows a Canadian opera singer named Felicity who is caught up in the military coup and placed under house arrest. What unfolds next is a saga that spans decades and reflects on race, love, belonging and revolution. Zilla joins Mattea Roach to talk about why opera is at the centre of the story, her work as a lawyer and the power of art as protest. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes: Nnedi Okorafor: Bringing a writer to life in Death of the AuthorJack Wang: Reimagining the lost stories of Chinese Canadians during WWII