Tara sits down with Iranian-Canadian author Hollay Ghadery to discuss her first novel, The Unravelling of Ou, published by Palimpsest Press in February 2026. Later in the interview, Hollay talks about poetry and how best to read it for those who may be new to it.

https://palimpsestpress.ca/books/the-unravelling-of-ou-hollay-ghadery/ :

"Moving on is hard. Even harder when it’s from a make-believe friend—someone, or in this instance, some thing—who’s been your strongest source of support. On what should be one of the happiest days ever, the day her granddaughter is born, Minoo is faced with a terrible choice: make a clean break from her constant companion, a sock puppet named Ecology Paul, or lose her daughter and granddaughter, and maybe all of the people she loves. On an emotional drive home from the hospital, Ecology Paul shares the story of how Minoo got to this point, recalling Minoo’s early teenage pregnancy in Iran, her exile to Canada, her questions about her sexuality, and how a ragtag sock puppet came to her when she desperately needed to be seen. Full of imagination, whimsy and heart, The Unravelling of Ou follows Minoo’s struggles to justify the puppet’s existence and untangle herself from her dependence on it, and reconnect with the people she loves."

Books and authors discussed/recommended:

Fuse: Memoir; Rebellion Box; Widow Fantasies; The Blades of Grass are Dreaming (chapbook); The Unravelling of Ou by Hollay Ghadery
The Dowager Empress: Poems by Adele Wiseman by Elizabeth Greene (editor)
Deviant by Patrick Grace
Unravel: Poems by Tolu Oloruntaba
Lockers Are for Bearcats Only by Mallory Tater
The Last Unicorn; Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
author Aisha Sasha John
Good Bones by Maggie Smith
author Charlie Petch
Syncopation: A Novel in Verse by Whitney French
Stan on Guard; Call Me Stan: A Tragedy in Three Millenia by K.R. Wilson
Elegy for Opportunity by Natalie Lim
author Ali Hazelwood
Restaurant Kid: A Memoir of Family and Belonging by Rachel Phan
Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive by Alison Gadsby
Weird Babies by Jaclyn Desforges
The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow by Armand Garnet Ruffo

https://www.instagram.com/hollayghadery/

https://www.instagram.com/river_street_writes/

https://www.riverstreetwriting.com/