Bookends with Mattea Roach - CBC

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Introducing Bookends with Mattea Roach Sep 06, 2024

Show notes

When the book ends, the conversation begins. Mattea Roach speaks with writers who have something to say about their work, the world and our place in it. You'll always walk away with big questions to ponder and new books to read. Beginning Sept. 8 on CBC.

Madeleine Thien interviews Eleanor Wachtel on the final Writers & Company episode Sep 01, 2024

Show notes

For the conclusion of Writers and Company, the tables are turned and author Madeleine Thien interviews Eleanor Wachtel. Recorded at the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival in Montreal last spring, Thien speaks with Eleanor about her early life in Montreal, memorable moments from her career and more. They also look back on Eleanor's conversations with Antiguan American novelist and memoirist Jamaica Kincaid and British neurologist Oliver Sacks. Plus, Jeopardy! superchamp Mattea Roach joins Eleanor to talk about hosting CBC's new author interview show, Bookends.

The entire Writers and Company archive will gradually be made available on the Simon Fraser University Library’s Digitized Collections website. You can find it here: https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/writersandcompany-collection/writers-company

Ali Smith on ghost stories, activism and the cyclical nature of time Aug 25, 2024

Show notes

The Scottish author reflects on the stories she grew up with, the influence of feminism and how time moves in circular patterns. Ali Smith has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize four times. Her 2014 novel How to Be Both won the Women's Prize for fiction and the Costa Book Award for novel. She spoke with Eleanor Wachtel in 2018 about the first two books in her Seasonal Quartet series, Autumn and Winter.

Peter Eisenman on pushing the bounds of modern architecture and transforming influence Aug 18, 2024

Show notes

The American architect, known for challenging the idea of form, reflects on his life and the experiences that shape his work, from his days as a lieutenant in the Korean War to his time studying in Europe. He founded the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies and is the author of several books on architecture and design, including Lateness. Peter Eisenman spoke with Eleanor Wachtel in 2011.

Danzy Senna's darkly comic take on racial identity Aug 11, 2024

Show notes

The American novelist draws on her experience growing up in an interracial family in her edgy, prize-winning fiction. Raised with an acute black consciousness, during a time when "'mixed' wasn't an option; you were either black or white," Senna brings an awareness — and astute analysis — of class, race and identity to all her writing. She spoke with Eleanor Wachtel in 2018 about her novel New People and her memoir Where Did You Sleep Last Night? A Personal History.

Francine du Plessix Gray on growing up the daughter of a great Russian beauty Aug 04, 2024

Show notes

Novelist and biographer Francine du Plessix Gray reflects on the fascinating lives of her parents in her memoir, Them, which follows their journey from the artistic Russian émigré community of 1930s Paris to the top of New York's high society. The memoir won the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography. Francine du Plessix Gray was a French American writer and regular contributor to The New Yorker. Her books include Lovers and Tyrants, At Home with the Marquis de Sade, Madame de Staël and Soviet Women. She died in 2019.

Prolific and daring author Joyce Carol Oates on her childhood, widowhood and concerns about American society Jul 28, 2024

Show notes

Born during the Depression in Lockport, New York, Joyce Carol Oates started writing as a teen and has since written more than one hundred books, many of them portraying the darkness of American society. Her writing has earned her virtually every major American literary prize, as well as Montreal’s Blue Metropolis Grand Prix in 2012. After accepting that prize, she joined Eleanor Wachtel on stage to talk about her life, her work and her latest novel, Mudwoman.

Amitava Kumar on India, the U.S. and the indelible imprint of the immigrant experience Jul 21, 2024

Show notes

The Indian journalist and novelist writes stories that are autobiographical and revealing. Kumar joined Eleanor Wachtel in 2018 to talk about his book Immigrant, Montana - a mix of fiction, memory, politics and the pursuit of romance. Kumar's new novel is called My Beloved Life.

Edna O'Brien: from Ireland's outcast to celebrated icon Jul 14, 2024

Show notes

Even though Edna O’Brien left Ireland more than 50 years ago, the texture and atmosphere of the country continue to permeate her work. Her first seven books were banned or suppressed in Ireland. In fact her debut novel, The Country Girls, was burned in her home parish for depicting the ambitions and sexual desires of young women. Today, O'Brien is celebrated as one of Ireland's greatest living writers.

In this conversation with Eleanor Wachtel from 2009, Edna O'Brien talks about her scandalous early success, her mother's enduring influence, and her portrait of Romantic poet Lord Byron, the world's first global celebrity. 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of Byron's death, when he was just 36 years old.

Laurie Anderson on language, story and losing her archives to Hurricane Sandy Jul 07, 2024

Show notes

In 2018, Eleanor Wachtel went to New York City to interview one of North America's most renowned and daring creative pioneers, Laurie Anderson. The multimedia artist and musician had just published her retrospective book, All the Things I Lost in the Flood, inspired by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which destroyed Anderson's archive of work and memorabilia. In this career-spanning and deeply personal conversation, she talks about the connection between story and memory, growing up in the Midwest with seven brothers and sisters, her relationship with Lou Reed, her partner of 21 years, and becoming unlikely pen pals with John F. Kennedy.

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