Getting Lit with Linda - The Canadian Literature Podcast

Linda opens with a word of thanks to her listeners who voted--because she is now a Finalist for the Women in Podcasting Awards.

This episode features an interview, which was live at Word on the Street in Toronto, with the writer of Mi'kmaq and settler descent, who published a novel, The Berry Pickers and, most recently, her short story collection, Waiting for the Long Night Moon (both published by published by Random House). It is a joyful and animated conversation, with an audience that was warm and supportive.

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Linda speaks with Corinna Chong about her novel, Bad Land, published by Arsenal Pulp Press and long-listed for the Giller Prize. Chong, originally from Calgary, lives in Kelowna, B.C. where she teaches English and fine arts at Okanagan College. She published her first novel, Belinda's Rings, in 2013.

In her opening remarks, Linda explains why she sees the protagonist and main narrator, Regina, as … well, kind of “brat.” She's a fascinating, messy, and lovable character who has buried her life--and the secrets around that life--in the home in which she and her brother, Ricky, were raised ... until he shows up with his daughter, Jez, with a new secret of their own. The tensions that are produced open wide the secrets by the novel's end, revealing both the beauty and violence that have haunted Regina for years.

 Other sources of discussion or references include:

• Henry James’ What Maisie Knew (14.45)
• Aristotle (16:10)
• Nabokov, Lolita (18.30)
• Sinclair Ross, As For Me and My House (18.30; 19:30)
• Unreliable narrators (18:50)
• the geode (and archeology (25:25)

And a final reminder! Please vote for us in the Women's Podcasting Awards! Only a few days left!

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