Podcast
Bookends with Mattea Roach
Hosted by CBC · EN
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.
56episodes
Episodes
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Meth and murder in rural America
Feb 2500:35:54Tap to summarizeWhen Chris Kraus became fixated on a murder case in a Minnesotan town, she decided to try her hand at a true crime novel ... but the project soon evolved into something much bigger. The Four Spent The Day Together weaves together the stories of an impulsive murder carried out by three teens, a marriage torn apart by addiction and the reality of life in working class America. Much like Chris’s hit novel I Love Dick, the story and its protagonist draw heavily from her own life experiences. This week, Chris tells Mattea Roach about her interest in the crime, how addiction can shape a relationship and why she’s finally exploring her childhood in fiction.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:When young men murder, what can we learn? Buffoon or genius? What makes a cult leader? Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and tiktok @cbcbooks
Transcribe →Meet hockey’s greatest (fictional) goon
Feb 2200:28:06Tap to summarizeDid the Olympics get you in the hockey spirit? If not, here’s a book that certainly will. Searching for Terry Punchout by Tyler Hellard is a novel about small town life and Canada's favourite pastime … and it’s also one of this year’s Canada Reads picks. The story follows Adam, a failing sportswriter who goes back to his hometown to interview a notorious retired hockey goon. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, with one catch. The goon is actually Adam’s estranged father … and he can’t run away from his past forever. This week, Tyler joins Mattea to talk about who inspired the titular Terry Punchout, why growing up is so complicated and the warmth of small town Nova Scotia. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:For Indigenous players, ice hockey is a ceremony of its own Here’s what you have wrong about teen moms Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks
Transcribe →What does “worldly” mean to a Jehovah’s Witness?
Feb 1500:28:29Tap to summarizeTamara Jong grew up going door-to-door for the Jehovah’s Witnesses … and her new memoir, Worldly Girls, is all about breaking away from the faith. For much of her life, the strict religious movement was Tamara’s only way of making sense of the world. But as she got older, Tamara began to reflect on her unconventional childhood, complicated relationships with her parents and mental health struggles. She realized that she wasn’t lost without the Witnesses — it was actually the religion that was preventing her from finding herself. This week, Tamara tells Mattea about growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, her relationship to motherhood and what it really means to be worldly. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Video games are radical. Not in the way you think Why an ADHD diagnosis had this author rethinking everything
Transcribe →Justice for Murder Bimbo!
Feb 1100:33:16Tap to summarizeMurder Bimbo is a new book about a sex worker-turned assassin … and it’s the debut novel by Rebecca Novack, a former priest-in-training. The story follows a sex worker nicknamed Murder Bimbo who is hired by the government to kill a right-wing politician. She does the deed, makes her escape, and tells her story in emails to a social justice podcaster. But things aren’t quite what they seem. So is she a scapegoat … or is she a liar? This week, Rebecca dives into the wild premise of the book, how she almost became a priest and the challenges of writing a political novel in fraught times. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Why Mona Awad gave the Bunnies a sayTaylor Jenkins Reid is among the stars — on and off the page
Transcribe →Need cash fast? Become a corpse bride today
Feb 800:29:00Tap to summarizeIf you’re worried about being lonely in the afterlife, don’t worry. Just hire a corpse bride to keep you company in the coffin! In Lindsay Wong’s new novel, Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies, a university dropout is desperate to pay off her family’s debt … so she signs her life away to the ancient Chinese tradition of corpse marriage. But as she prepares to be auctioned off to the highest bidder and locked away in a coffin forever, she realizes that running from her family’s ghosts won’t be that easy. This week, Lindsay joins Mattea to talk about the history behind death marriages, how her own life inspired the novel and why she loves to write about the grotesque. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:How far would you go for your family?Three writers on the monsters that made them
Transcribe →Bernardine Evaristo: In conversation with Eleanor Wachtel
Aug 10, 202500:31:12Tap to summarizeThis week on Bookends, we revisit Eleanor Wachtel’s conversation with Bernardine Evaristo. Bernardine is the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution award by the Women’s Prize for Fiction. It’s a special, one-time award to celebrate achievement over the course of a career. “Outstanding” is the perfect word to describe Bernardine’s accomplishments — in addition to several acclaimed books, Bernardine has dedicated the past 40 years to uplifting underrepresented writers and promoting inclusivity in literature. Eleanor and Bernardine spoke on Writers & Company in 2020 about Bernardine’s Booker award-winning novel, Girl, Woman, Other, and how her family background shaped her journey as a writer. Hear the full interview here: https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/writers-company/bernardine-evaristo-black-british-identity-and-her-booker-winning-novel-girl-woman Check out the rest of the Writers & Company archive: https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/writers-company
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Bookends Bonus: Cartoonist and writer Gabrielle Drolet on Q with Tom Power
Jul 14, 202500:24:36Tap to summarizeFive days a week acclaimed interviewer Tom Power sits down with the artists, writers, actors and musicians who define pop culture. In this episode, Tom chats with the cartoonist and writer Gabrielle Drolet. A few years ago, Gabrielle developed a condition that made her unable to use her hands. It kept getting worse over time, and as Gabrielle searched for a diagnosis, she also had to find new ways to make art. Her new memoir “Look Ma, No Hands” is the story of an artist coming to terms with disability, adapting to the unexpected, and ultimately learning to express herself again. Gabrielle joins Tom to talk about those experiences that informed her memoir. More episodes of Q with Tom Power are available here: https://link.mgln.ai/qwtp
Transcribe →3 writers on finding their voices — and the power of personal stories
Jun 22, 202500:54:54Tap to summarizeTo wrap up our first season, Bookends is bringing you to the Festival of Literary Diversity in Brampton. Tanya Talaga, Morgan Campell and Amal Elsana Alh'jooj may be memoir writers from different walks of life — but a common thread in their work is how they continually use their voices to negotiate challenging conversations. They recently joined Mattea Roach on stage for a live panel, where they spoke about the value of difficult conversations … and how telling personal stories creates empathy at large.Hear the rest of our interview with Tanya Talaga here:Tanya Talaga: Searching for her great-great grandmother — a story of family, truth and survival
Transcribe →What makes Montreal a transgender city?
Jun 18, 202500:26:28Tap to summarizeFor Montreal writer Chris Bergeron, the power of transgender storytelling is revolutionary. Her novel Valid is about a 70-year-old trans woman who is forced back into the closet to survive in a dystopian Montreal. Valid, translated from French by Natalia Hero, was chosen for this year’s One eRead Canada campaign. Chris sat down with Mattea Roach at a live virtual event in April. They spoke about the relationship between transness and technology, the meaning of “dystopian autofiction” and how the city of Montreal is always in transition. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes:Helen Phillips: In a world run by AI, what makes us human?Judith Butler: Breaking down why people fear gender
Transcribe →Weaving a story of family trauma and celebrating the beauty in survival
Jun 15, 202500:35:01Tap to summarizeFor Chyana Marie Sage, being “soft as bones” means accepting that humans are both strong and fragile — and have immense capacity for healing. Her new memoir, Soft As Bones, is her quest to better understand the childhood trauma that scarred her family. It's also a tapestry of poetry, history, Cree language, traditional ceremony and folklore — and delves into her experiences and those of her family with compassion and strength. Chyana joins Mattea Roach to share the catharsis she felt from writing about painful memories and the care she took to portray everyone with empathy.If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes:Tanya Talaga: Searching for her great-great grandmother — a story of family, truth and survival Teresa Wong: Illustrating her family's past — in all its ordinary and epic moments
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