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Bookends with Mattea Roach – CBC — Arts
Bookends with Mattea Roach – CBC

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.

Copyright: Copyright © CBC 2025

Latest Episodes:

Why status and power are currency in Pakistan Apr 12, 2026

Show notes

What does it mean to love a place that is so complicated? Pulitzer prize finalist Daniyal Mueenuddin’s new novel, This Is Where the Serpent Lives, dives into class, corruption and the systems of power that dictate life in Pakistan. Over six decades, it follows the lives of both the wealthy elite and those that serve them … and it takes readers all across the country, from its opulent cityscapes to rural farmlands. Although the book is fiction, many of its characters are inspired by real people Daniyal has known in Pakistan while living on his farm there. This week, Daniyal tells Mattea Roach about fictionalizing those people, his own relationship with Pakistan and how the country has changed.

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The last book Julian Barnes will ever write Apr 05, 2026

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Julian Barnes says his new novel is his final. It’s called Departure(s), and it’s about two people who fall in love when they’re young and then meet again decades later. The story is told through the perspective of a writer named Julian … who has a lot in common with the author himself. The book was released on Julian’s 80th birthday, and after four decades of writing and a Booker Prize win under his belt, Julian is finally putting down the pen. This week, he joins Mattea Roach to reflect on his literary legacy, why he feels less afraid of death and his recent secret wedding.

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Is there a soundtrack to your life? Apr 01, 2026

Show notes

For Michael V. Smith, the answer is a resounding yes … and he explores that in his new book, Soundtrack: A Lyric Memoir. It’s a collection of poems about snapshots in his life, each named after a different song or album. He dives into growing up gay during the AIDS crisis, finding his first love and coming of age on the dance floor. The book celebrates music and memory, and is a deeply personal look into the songs that send us back in time. This week, Michael tells Mattea Roach about the albums that made him, reading old journal entries and what it really means to be a man.

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If at first you break up … try, try again? Mar 29, 2026

Show notes

This week, Bookends is celebrating libraries with a special Canada Reads event at the Hamilton Public Library.

Morgann Book truly lives up to her name. As one of Canada’s biggest book influencers, she shares her love of literature with millions of followers … and she’s taking that to the next level as a contestant on this year’s Canada Reads. Morgann is championing It’s Different This Time, the debut novel by Joss Richard. It’s a second chance romance about two former roommates with some very unresolved feelings, and it draws from Joss’s own experiences as a TV producer in LA. Joss and Morgann joined Mattea on-stage to talk about exes, preparing for Canada Reads and why there are so many chefs in romance novels.

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How long could you lie about who you are? Mar 25, 2026

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In Tara Gereaux’s new novel, Wild People Quiet, a Métis woman works tirelessly to hide her identity for years … until everything starts to come crashing down. It’s the early 1900s when Florence realizes she can pass as white. Longing for a comfortable life free of discrimination, she decides to leave her entire family and culture behind. Decades later, her carefully constructed facade is challenged by a group of Métis farmhands who come through town, and she begins to wonder if her rigid, lonely life was worth it after all. This week, Tara joins Mattea to talk about Florence’s complexity, life for Métis people in the mid-20th century and exploring the beauty of beadwork in the novel.

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Why Tayari Jones fights for her stories Mar 22, 2026

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What does family mean to two motherless daughters? That question is at the centre of Kin, a new work of historical fiction by Tayari Jones. It’s about the bond between two girls in the American South as they end up on starkly different paths, and a deeply human look into life for Black Americans on the brink of the civil rights movement. You might know Tayari from her novel An American Marriage, which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2019. Until Kin, Tayari called herself a “committed” contemporary novelist. But when those two characters from the 1950s came to her, she had no choice but to write a historical novel that ended up on Oprah’s list.

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Inside Toronto’s most notorious women’s prison Mar 18, 2026

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Toronto’s most infamous women’s prison was meant to rehabilitate women … but its real history tells a much darker story. Heather Marshall dives headfirst into the Mercer Reformatory in her latest novel, Liberty Street. The book follows Emily Radcliffe, a 1960s journalist who goes undercover to expose the prison’s harsh conditions and abuse of inmates. Over 30 years later, after the prison’s closing, a detective revisits one of the its sinister mysteries … and these intertwining narratives tell a story of female resilience and strength. This week, Heather tells Mattea Roach about the history of the prison, the real journalists that inspired the story and what it means to be an “incorrigible” woman.

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For Jeanette Winterson, stories are essential to survival Mar 15, 2026

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If you had to tell a story to stay alive … what story would you tell? Jeanette Winterson’s new book, One Aladdin Two Lamps, is a nonfiction exploration of storytelling, culture, politics and the things that make us human. It’s based on the One Thousand and One Nights, the famous collection of Middle Eastern folk tales home to characters like Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. At the centre of it all is Scheherazade, a woman who tells a vengeful Sultan stories for 1001 nights to stop him from executing her. Like Scheherazade, Jeanette sees storytelling as a means of survival. In the book, she uses those tales to muse on the way that stories shape our identities and our lives … and how they’re a tool to better ourselves and the world around us.

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What is boyhood to a Palestinian teen? Mar 11, 2026

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What does it mean to come of age in a place where violence is a daily fact of life? Ashraf Zaghal’s debut novel, Seven Heavens Away, is about a Palestinian teen named Aziz. Like any teen, he’s growing up, working part-time and learning how to navigate love and loss … but he’s also living through escalating violence and unrest in Jerusalem. When Aziz's friend is killed, he grapples with grief and an uncertain future. While his involvement in Palestinian resistance efforts grows, he also starts to harbour feelings for a Jewish girl named Dafna. This week, Ashraf tells Mattea about being a teenager living through constant tragedy, the role of religion in the story and how it felt to return to Palestine while writing the novel.

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Strip club … or culture hub? Mar 08, 2026

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What happens behind the closed doors of a strip club? Pole dancing, booming basslines … and in Nic Stone’s new novel, the chilling mystery of a missing exotic dancer. In Boom Town, the manager of a fictional Atlanta strip club sets out to find a missing dancer named Charm. The book offers a shadowy taste of Atlanta’s notorious adult entertainment scene … but it’s also a look into the lives of the regular women who live and dance in the city. This week, Nic joins Mattea Roach to talk about growing up in Atlanta, why strip clubs are cultural epicentres and writing her first novel for adults.

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