Talkingbooksandstuff's podcast

Brooke Lockyer holds a BA from Barnard College and an MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. She was the winner of the 2009 Hart House Literary Contest and a co-recipient of both the Peter S. Prescott and the Lenore Marshall Barnard prizes for prose. Her work has been published in Toronto Life, carte blanche, the Hart House Review, White Wall Review and Geist. Born in Southwestern Ontario, she’s lived in rural Japan, New York City, Bristol and the Mojave Desert. Lockyer currently resides with her family in Toronto. Burr (Nightwood Editions) is her first book.

Amanda Swinimer’s deep love of the ocean brought her to the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada where she started her own business, Dakini Tidal Wilds, in 2003. For two decades, Amanda has been sustainably harvesting, by hand, wild, edible seaweeds. She shares her passion for the wild seaweeds of her coastline and their continued health with a diverse audience. Check out her book The Science & Spirit of Seaweed.

She is a regular on CBC’s Winnipeg Comedy Festival, LOL and is an accomplished author of four books, Reality is Overrated and That Which Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Funnier, and Out Running Crazy. Deb’s new book Window-shopping for God will be published in spring 2022. She was nominated twice for the National Magazine Award for Humour. As well, she has been shortlisted for the Governor-General Award for her play Miracle Mother in 1984.

Brent Butt- known for Corner Gas, is with us today to talk about his book "Huge"

Caroll Simpson is the author and illustrator of Coastal Spirit Tales—a series of children’s books that take inspiration from the art, mythology, and environment of the Pacific Northwest—and two board books for younger children, Creatures of the Land and Sky and Creatures of the Sea. She is also an educator who taught Indigenous art and drama to elementary school children for over twenty years.

Steven Joseph is a first-generation American, veteran attorney, negotiator, prolific speaker, and a modern humorist. He’s a real New Yorker. A fully cured overweight person, Steven is a five times Boston Marathon runner and 16 times NYC Marathon runner – balancing it all perfectly through the art of Zen.

In his award-winning masterpiece “A Grownup Guide to Effective Crankiness: The CrankaTsuris Method,” we learned how to navigate and celebrate our grouchy moments. Now, in “Cranky Superpowers: Life Lessons Learned from the Common CrankaTsuris Chronicles,” our journey to mastering our moodiness takes a humorous twist that is guaranteed to have you chuckling out loud.

Michael Redhead Champagne is working towards a revolution that dismantles harmful systems and builds up new ones based on justice, equity and love. A community leader from Winnipeg's North End with family roots in Shamattawa First Nation, Michael is host, helper, published author, on-screen personality and sought after public speaker. Michael happily shares his words, wisdom and welcoming energy across Canada and around the world.

Michael's first children’s book, We Need Everyone, was released bu HighWater Press in January 2024.

Tim Blackett is a Canadian writer whose work has appeared in Briarpatch, [spaces], Grain Magazine and a small Saskatchewan journal called Swift, Flowing. He holds a Bachelor of Theology and a BA in English from the University of Regina, as well as a certificate in creative writing from Humber College. His short story collection, Grandview Drive, was shortlisted for two Saskatchewan book awards, and a pre-publication version placed second in the John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award (2019). The titular story, “Grandview Drive” was longlisted for the Carter v. Cooper Short Fiction Award (2012). Blackett lives in Regina, SK.

A professional writer since late teens, Wilson has written film, television, theatre - even radio - and yet "A Feast of Wolves" is his first novel. It's the story he wrote, because it was the story he wanted to read; a big, fast-paced, adventurous tale about the political craziness that has taken over the world in the last seven years or so, yet a story that entertains and leaves the reader with real hope.

Kelly Anne Manuel is the good kind of contagious. She is an eternal optimist who strives to see the good in all her days and throughout all aspects of her life journey. She has a unique voice that Children respond to because it is characterized by her own actively vibrant Inner Child.