Bookends with Mattea Roach - CBC

Latest Episodes:

Anne Fleming: Why her latest novel is a gender-bending tale of witchcraft and forbidden love Nov 17, 2024

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In Anne Fleming's new novel, Curiosities, an amateur historian becomes fascinated by the lives of two girls from 1600s England. But as she pieces their stories together, the very nature of truth itself comes into question. Curiosities is a finalist for the 2024 Giller Prize. Anne and Mattea Roach discuss the pull of the 17th century and the exploration of gender and identity at the heart of the novel.

Eric Chacour: Exploring the power of familial expectations and forbidden love Nov 13, 2024

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When Montreal author Eric Chacour wrote his first book, he didn't expect it to become a huge hit in France. Translated from French to English by Pablo Strauss, What I Know About You is a novel set in Cairo and Montreal, exploring sexuality as well as family secrets and pressures. It's nominated for this year's Giller Prize and Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Eric and Mattea Roach discuss the inspiration behind his debut novel.

Rachel Kushner: In Booker Prize finalist Creation Lake, an agent provocateur faces deep questions about how to live Nov 10, 2024

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In Rachel Kushner’s latest novel, Creation Lake, an undercover agent is tasked with sabotaging a group of young activists in rural France. Rachel joins Mattea Roach to talk about blending a spy premise with meditations on life’s big questions, putting an anti-hero at the centre of her story and why writing this novel was a transcendent experience. Creation Lake is a finalist for the 2024 Booker Prize.

Alan Hollinghurst: Coming of age in Britain and writing through the gay gaze Nov 06, 2024

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When Alan Hollinghurst's novel The Line of Beauty won the Booker Prize in 2004, it was the first time a book about the gay experience won the award. Now his newest novel, Our Evenings, puts a biracial boy who’s discovering queer culture for the first time at the front and centre. Alan and Mattea Roach discuss how growing up gay in Britain inspires his writing.

Fawn Parker: Blending her own grief with fiction in new novel Hi, It’s Me Nov 03, 2024

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Fawn Parker's latest book centres on a woman navigating life immediately following the death of her mother. The novel is a finalist for this year’s Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Fawn and Mattea Roach talk about grief, loss and the real-life inspiration behind Hi, It's Me.

Erica McKeen: Using horror and surrealism to explore grief, care and love in new novel Cicada Summer Oct 30, 2024

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When a trio of characters living in a lakeside cabin in the summer of 2020 begin reading a book of horror stories, the details start to bleed into real life. This is the premise of Erica McKeen's latest novel. Erica talks to Mattea Roach about why she uses horror to explore the mundane and complex aspects of everyday life.

Jeff VanderMeer: How his blockbuster Southern Reach series reflects our own fight against climate change Oct 27, 2024

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When Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach series was first published 10 years ago, it was a sensation. The mysterious environmental phenomenon known as Area X captivated readers and inspired a movie. Now the saga continues with a highly anticipated fourth installment, Absolution. Jeff talks to Mattea Roach about the inspiration behind the series, dealing with climate threats to his home in Florida and what fiction can teach us about our own environmental crisis.

V.V. Ganeshananthan: Exploring the complexity of Sri Lanka's civil war in her prize-winning novel, Brotherless Night Oct 23, 2024

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V.V. Ganeshananthan won two of the world's biggest fiction prizes this year: the U.K. Women's Prize and the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. Her novel Brotherless Night imagines one Tamil family's experience during the first decade of Sri Lanka's civil war, told through the eyes of a courageous medical student. V.V. speaks to Mattea Roach about the complexities of writing fiction about a real conflict, grappling with authenticity and diasporic storytelling, and her almost 20-year journey working on the novel.

Corinna Chong: Uncovering long buried truths against the backdrop of Alberta's Badlands Oct 20, 2024

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Alberta's Badlands, the world's largest dinosaur bone repository, set the eerie stage for Corinna Chong's novel Bad Land. It follows a loner whose family secrets, like the ancient bones buried deep beneath the earth, are destined to be uncovered. Corinna talks to Mattea Roach about drawing from her own life to bring flawed characters and complicated family relationships to life.

Jenny Heijun Wills: Sharing her journey of transracial adoption and self-discovery in her moving essay collection Oct 16, 2024

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Everything and Nothing At All by Jenny Heijun Wills is an essay collection where the author reflects on her experiences as a transnational adoptee. Jenny was born in Korea and was adopted by a white Canadian family in southwestern Ontario when she was nine months old. Twenty years ago, she reconnected with her Korean birth family. She talks to Mattea Roach about this journey — which also inspired her prize-winning memoir, Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related — and about how writing and literature have helped her figure out who she is.