What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books

My guest on this episode is Haley Mlotek. Haley is an author, editor, and journalist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, Bookforum, The Paris Review, The Columbia Journalism Review, Vogue, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, and n+1, among others. She is a founding member of the Freelance Solidarity Project in the National Writers Union, and is currently the director of content at Feeld. Her first book, No Fault: A Memoir of ...

My guest on this episode is Michelle Shephard. Michelle is an award-winning author, journalist, filmmaker, and podcast host and producer. She is the author of Guantanamo’s Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr and Decade of Fear: Reporting from Terrorism’s Grey Zone. Her films include the Emmy-nominated documentary Guantanamo’s Child, The Perfect Story, The Man Who Stole Einstein's Brain, and The Way Out. Her most recent book ...

My guest on this episode is Antonio Michael Downing. Antonio is the author of the memoir Saga Boy and the children’s book Stars in My Crown, and is the current host of CBC Radio’s book program The Next Chapter. He also writes and performs music as John Orpheus. His most recent book is the novel Black Cherokee, published in 2025 by Simon & Schuster Canada. Author Zalika Reid-Benta said that “Downing’s prose is both lyrical and c...

My guest on this episode is Timothy Taylor. Timothy is a novelist, journalist, and educator whose books include the novels Stanley Park, Story House, The Blue Light, and The Rule of Stephens, the story collection Silent Cruise, and the non-fiction work Foodville. His work has nominated for multiple awards, including the Giller Prize, and has been chosen as the ‘One Book One City’ selection for Vancouver and named a finalist for Can...

My guest on this episode is Tolu Oloruntoba. Tolu is the author of the poetry collections Manubrium, The Junta of Happenstance, which won the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry,   and Each One a Furnace, a finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. His most recent collection is Unravel, published by McClelland & Stewart in 2025. That book was named one of the Best Canadian Po...

My guest on this episode is Bonny Reichert. Bonny is a National Magazine Award-winning journalist and author who has been an editor at Today’s Parent and Chatelaine, and a columnist and regular contributor to The Globe and Mail. Her first book, the memoir How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty, was published by Penguin Random House Canada’s Appetite imprint in 2025, and was a national bestseller, as well...

My guest on this episode—the first of 2026—is Robert McGill. Robert’s books include three novels, The Mysteries, Once We Had a Country, and A Suitable Companion for the End of Your Life, and two nonfiction books, The Treacherous Imagination and War Is Here. His most recent book is the short fiction collection Simple Creatures, which was published by Coach House Books in 2024, and was a finalist for the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust ...

My guest on this episode is... nobody. Instead of a regular episode, I wanted to offer my thanks to everyone connected with this podcast, who have helped to make it a reality. Thank you to Carmine Starnino and everyone at The Walrus, to Alex Lukashevsky, to Meaghan Strimas, to all the authors who have appeared on the podcast, and to everyone who listens.

I already have some great conversations lined up for 2026. Next regular epi...

My guest on this episode is Rachel Reid. Rachel is the bestselling author of the Game Changers hockey romance series that includes Heated Rivalry, the TV adaptation of which has become a massive hit since it premiered in November. Her most recent novel is the standalone romance The Shots You Take, published earlier this year by Harlequin. Library Journal called the book “a beautifully written romance about finally finding oneself a...

My guest on this episode is Renée D. Bondy. Renée’s writing has appeared in Herizons, Bitch, Bearings Online, and the Humber Literary Review. Her debut novel, [non]disclosure, was published by Second Story Press in 2024. Author Julie S. Lalonde called [non]disclosure “a true masterclass on the power of solidarity and how community can either sustain us or drag us under.”

Renée and I talk about how she is adjusting to her relativ...

My guest on this episode is Rik Emmett. Rik is best known for being in the multi-platinum-selling band Triumph until the late 80s, after which he released many, many solo albums. Rik’s books include the poetry collection Reinventions and the memoir Lay It On The Line: A Backstage Pass to Rock Star Adventure, Conflict and Triumph, both published by ECW Press. His most recent book, Ten Telecaster Tales: Liner Notes for a Guitar and I...

My guest on this episode is Catherine Bush. Catherine is the author of five novels, including Blaze Island, which was a Globe and Mail and Writers’ Trust of Canada Best Book of the Year, and the Hamilton Reads 2021 Selection. Her other novels include the Canada Reads longlisted Accusation; the Trillium Award shortlisted Claire's Head; the national bestselling The Rules of Engagement, which was also named a New York Times Notable Bo...

My guest on this episode is Oonya Kempadoo. Oonya is the author of four novels, the first of which was longlisted for the Orange Prize, the second was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and won a Casa De Las Americas prize. Her most recent novel is Naniki, published by Dundurn Press in 2024. That novel was longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Th...

My guest on this episode is Maggie Helwig. Maggie has published six books of poetry, two books of essays, a collection of short stories, and three novels, including Girls Fall Down, which was chosen as the One Book Toronto in 2012. Maggie is a long-time social justice activist, and also an Anglican priest, and has been the rector of the Church of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields since 2013. Maggie’s most recent book is Encampment: Resista...

My guest on this episode is Kenneth Oppel. Kenneth’s books include the Silverwing trilogy, which has sold over a million copies around the world, Airborn, winner of the Governor General's Literary Award and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and Ghostlight, which was shortlisted for several awards, including the Aurora and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. His most recent book is the novel Best of All Worlds, published by Penguin Tee...

My guest on this episode is Su Chang. Su’s debut novel is The Immortal Woman, published by House of Anansi Press earlier this year. Publishers Weekly called the novel “a cathartic account of a family buffeted by the winds of modern Chinese history.”

Su and I talk about the cultural and political realities that cause to very deliberate in her writing, about why her father, who was himself a writer, urged her not to follow in his ...

My guest on this episode is Niko Stratis. Niko’s writing has appeared in Xtra, Catapult, Spin, Paste, The Walrus, and more. She is the co-editor of the Lambda Literary Award-winning anthology  2 Trans 2 Furious and its follow-up, Sex Change and the City. Her debut book, The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman, was published by the University of Texas Press earlier this year. Publishers Weekly called it a “stirring collection focused...

My guest on this episode is Chelsea Wakelyn. Chelsea is a musician and author whose debut novel, What Remains of Elsie Jane, was published by Dundurn Press in 2023 and was a finalist for the Foreword Indies award. Author Emily Austin called the novel “a poignant, laugh-out-loud funny, weird, and heartbreaking window into being bereft and being in love.”

Chelsea and I talk about losing track, in her twenties, of her initial pla...

My guest on this episode is Phoebe Wang. Phoebe is the author of the poetry collections Admission Requirements and Waking Occupations. Her fiction and nonfiction has appeared in The Globe & Mail, The New Quarterly, Brick, The Unpublished City, and The Unpublished City: Volume II, The Lived City, which she co-edited. Her most recent book is Relative to Wind: On Sailing, Craft, and Community, published by Assembly Press in 2024. ...