12 books you heard about on CBC Radio recently

Check out some of the books discussed on national CBC Radio programs between Oct. 15-22, 2024.

Bad Land by Corinna Chong

Heard on: Bookends with Mattea Roach

InBad Land,Regina's brother shows up on her doorstep with his six-year-old daughter after seven years, interruptingher quietloner life. The longer they stay, the clearer it becomes to Regina that something terrible has happened and once the secret is revealed, they're sent on a fraught journey from Alberta to the coast of B.C.

• Corinna Chong confronts truth and the strange landscapes of the Alberta Badlands in her fiction

Originally from Calgary, Chong lives in Kelowna, B.C. and teaches English and fine arts at Okanagan College. She published her first novel,Belinda's Rings, in 2013. In 2023, she published the short story collectionThe Whole Animalwhich includesKids in Kindergarten, thewinner of the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize.

LISTEN | Corinna Chong on her debut novel Bad Land:

Bookends with Mattea Roach25:44Corinna Chong: Uncovering long buried truths against the backdrop of Alberta's Badlands

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.

Everything and Nothing At All by Jenny Heijun Wills

Heard on: Bookends with Mattea Roach

Everything and Nothing At Allis an essay collection that discusses Jenny Heijun Wills' quest for belonging as a transnational and transracial adoptee, a pansexual and polyamorous person and a parent with a life-long eating disorder. Drawing on her life experiences, she creates a vision of family chosen, adopted and biologicalall at once.

• Jenny Heijun Wills shares her journey of transracial adoption and self-discovery in moving essay collection

Wills is a writer born in Seoul and raised in Southern Ontario. Her memoirOlder Sister. Not Necessarily Relatedwon the 2019 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Award for Nonfiction and the 2020 Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book. She currently lives in Winnipeg and teaches English at the University of Winnipeg.

LISTEN | Jenny Heijun Wills on her transracial adoption story:

Bookends with Mattea Roach25:12Jenny Heijun Wills: Sharing her journey of transracial adoption and self-discovery in her moving essay collection

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.

Finding OtipemisiwakbyAndrea Currie

Heard on: The Next Chapter

Finding Otipemisiwakis the story ofSixties Scoop survivorAndrea Currie and her journey to finding her Mtis roots and reuniting with her birth family. It's a tale of survival, identity, family and culture in the face of colonial practices and Indigenous erasure.

• Finding Otipemisiwak is the story of family, identity and reconnecting with a stolen heritage

Currie is a writer, healer and activist. She lives in Cape Breton where she works as a psychotherapist in Indigenous mental health.

LISTEN | Andrea Currie on reconnecting with her family as a survivor of the Sixties Scoop:

The Next Chapter11:41Andrea Currie on Finding Otipemisiwak: The People Who Own Themselves

The Saulteaux Mtis writer, healer and activist shares stories of family, resilience and her life as a Sixties Scoop survivor in her latest book.

My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig

Heard on: The Next Chapter

My Nemesisfollows the tumultuous affairs of both the minds and hearts of two married couples: Tessa and Milton and Wah and Charlie. Tessa is a white woman and writer who is intrigued by Charlie's scholarly work. Wah is a mixed-race Asian woman who is devoted to being a wife and mother. As their ideas about feminism and intellect clash, Tessa and Wah's rivalry grows more and more complicated.

• 3 books that explore the novelty of writing about writers

Charmaine Craig is a L.A.-based writer and former actor. She also is a faculty member in the Department of Creative Writing at UC Riverside. She is best known for her novelsMiss Burma, which was on the longlist for the 2018 Women's Prize for Fiction,My NemesisandThe Good Men.

LISTEN | Kudakwashe Rutendo recommends three literary novels:

The Next Chapter14:09Kudakwashe Rutendo recommends three stories written about writers

The actor and former Canada Reads panellist joins The Next Chapter to recommend novels that feature writers as central characters.

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Weptby Elizabeth Smart

Heard on: The Next Chapter

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Weptis a novel of prose poetry, and is widely considered to be one of the form's most influential works. A fictionalized account of Elizabeth Smart's affair with British poet George Barker, the book is rhapsodic and intensely lyrical in celebrating a great love and expressing the anguish of losing it.

• 3 books that explore the novelty of writing about writers

Smart was an Ottawa-born writer renowned for her prose and poetry in the Canadian literary landscape of the 20th century.By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Weptwas first published in 1945.

LISTEN | Kudakwashe Rutendo recommends three literary novels:

The Next Chapter14:09Kudakwashe Rutendo recommends three stories written about writers

The actor and former Canada Reads panellist joins The Next Chapter to recommend novels that feature writers as central characters.

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Heard on: The Next Chapter

Following the tragic love between Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood,In Memoriamis a love story set against the backdrop of the First World War. After meeting at a boarding school in the English countryside, both young men contend with the emotions they feel for one another which they mistakenly believe are not reciprocated. When both men see each other again on the battlefield, questions of art, purpose and love are confronted.

• 3 books that explore the novelty of writing about writers

Alice Winn is an Irish American writer raised in Paris and a graduate of Oxford University.In Memoriamis her first novel.

LISTEN | Kudakwashe Rutendo recommends three literary novels:

The Next Chapter14:09Kudakwashe Rutendo recommends three stories written about writers

The actor and former Canada Reads panellist joins The Next Chapter to recommend novels that feature writers as central characters.

Heaping Coals by Michael Coren

Heard on: The Sunday Magazine

Heaping Coals traces writer, broadcaster and priest Michael Coren'sjourneyfrom notoriety as a right-wing talk radio host who opposed gay marriage, to an outspoken supporter of 2SLGBTQ+ rights and a tolerant, progressive brand of Christianity.

• Matt Haig's novel The Life Impossible features a surprise inheritance, a magical island and cautious hope

Michael Coren is an award-winning author, broadcaster and columnist, and also an ordained cleric in the Anglican Church of Canada.

LISTEN | Michael Coren on his memoir Heaping Coals:

The Sunday Magazine28:07How political and spiritual change have shaped Michael Coren

Over the past three decades, writer, broadcaster and priest Michael Coren has gone from notoriety as a right-wing talk radio host who opposed gay marriage, to an outspoken supporter of 2SLGBTQ+ rights and a tolerant, progressive brand of Christianity. He joins Piya Chattopadhyay to reflect on the many transitions that have defined his public and personal life, as he explores in his memoir Heaping Coals.

Jesus and John Wayne byKristin Kobes Du Mez

Heard on: Ideas

In Jesus and John Wayne, historianKristin Kobes Du Mez traces the history of white evangelical power and their influence on American culture.

• Exclusion, coercion, and MAGA politics: The story of white evangelicals in America

Kristin Kobes Du Mezis an American author, historian andprofessor of history and gender studies at Calvin University in Michigan.

LISTEN | Kristin Kobes Du Mez looks at the evangelical church's influence on America:

Ideas53:59How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Donald Trumps victory in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election might have been a surprise to some. But to historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez, it was the latest chapter in a long relationship between white American masculinity and evangelical Christianity. As the 2024 election draws near, Du Mez shares how exclusion, patriarchy, and Christian nationalism are the basis for the evangelical church.

Wild Girlsby Tiya Miles

Heard on: Ideas

In her new book,Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation,multiple award-winning author Tiya Milesexplores how the outdoors inspired women's independence, resourcefulness, and vision throughout history.She highlights the confidence of unappreciated figures like Native American activist writer Zitkla-, and labour and civil rights organizer Grace Lee Boggs and brings a new context to misunderstood icons like Sacagawea and Pocahontas.

• How the outdoors has inspired women to become trailblazers

Tiya Miles is the Michael Garvey Professor of History at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. Her work explores the intersections of African American, Native American and women's histories.

LISTEN | Tiya Miles onhow the outdoors inspired women's independence:

Ideas53:59How the Outdoors Has Inspired Women to Become Trailblazers

Harvard historian Tiya Miles believes the more girls and women are outdoors, the more fulfilling their lives will be. In her book, Wild Girls, Miles shows how girls who found self-understanding in the natural world became women who changed America. *This episode originally aired on April 10, 2024.

Chuck's Home Cookingby Chuck Hughes

Heard on: The Current

When celebrity chef Chuck Hughes became a father 10 years ago, it changed his life in an unexpected way.Instead of working late into the night, cooking plates under pressure and to perfection at his Montreal restaurant Garde Manger, he began to slow down and spend more time in the kitchen at home with his kids.Hughes has turned their family recipes into a new cookbook, calledHome Cooking: Family Favourite Recipes From My Kitchen To Yours.

• Matt Haig's novel The Life Impossible features a surprise inheritance, a magical island and cautious hope

ChuckHughes is a celebrity chef and author ofthe bestselling cookbooksGarde Manger,named after his restaurant,andChuck's Day Off.He is the host ofChuck's Day Off,Chuck's Eat the Streetand several more shows. He also competed onIron Chef Americaand became the youngest Canadian chef todefeatBobby Flay in the battle of Canadian lobster.

LISTEN | Chuck Hughes on turning family recipes into a new cookbook:

The Current23:45Chef Chuck Hughes on cooking for and with his kids

Acclaimed Montreal chef Chuck Hughes never really cooked at home before he had kids but now he's conjuring up recipes like hotdog french toast with his 8 and 10-year-old sous-chefs. He shares some recipes that your kids might love in his new book Home Cooking: Family Favourite Recipes From My Kitchen To Yours.

Peacocks of Instagramby Deepa Rajagopalan

Heard on: The Next Chapter

Peacocks of Instagramweaves a tapestry of the Indian diaspora. Characters break rules and take risks in tales of revenge, love, desire and family.In fourteen stories, coffee shop servers and hotel housekeeping employees, engineers and orphans explore the ramifications of privilege or lack thereof, and discover what it means to feel safe, to survive and to call a place home.

• Peacocks of Instagram is a story collection that weighs in on South Asian love, grief & truth

The Ontario-based Rajagopalan was the 2021 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award winner. Born to Indian parents in Saudi Arabia, she has lived across India, the United States and Canada. Her previous writing has appeared in publications such as the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, the New Quarterly, Room and Arc.

LISTEN | Deepa Rajagopalan on her debut short story collection Peacocks of Instagram:

The Next Chapter0:00Truth telling and power dynamics in Peacocks of Instagram

Ontario-based author Deepa Rajagopalans debut short story collection features rule-breaking characters, savvy social media sellers and peafowl.

Her First PalestinianbySaeed Teebi

Heard on: Commotion

Her First Palestinianis a debut collection of short stories revolving around thePalestinian immigrant experiencein Canada. Thestories explorethemes of identity, loss, power and belonging as they look at the diverse and layered experiences of thePalestinian diaspora.One of the stories in the collection, the titularHer First Palestinian, wasshortlisted for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize. It was also a finalist for the 2022 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

• How the past year has changed what it means to be a Palestinian artist

Saeed Teebi is a writer and lawyer based in Toronto. He was born to Palestinian parents in Kuwait and, after some time in the U.S., has lived in Canada since 1993.Her First Palestinianis his first book.

LISTEN | Author Saeed Teebi and musician John Kameel Farah reflect on their art:

Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud24:59Two Palestinian artists reflect on how the war has affected their art

A year since Israel invaded Gaza, Palestinian artists, writers, filmmakers and poets are working hard to ensure their culture remains strong, despite so much destruction. Elamin chats with author Saeed Teebi and composer and pianist John Kameel Farah about how the war has affected their art.