10 memorable The Next Chapter interviews from 2017
Shelagh Rogers interviews many Canadian writers every year for CBC Radio's The Next Chapter.
Here are 10 memorable interviews that took place in 2017.
Harold R. Johnson
Harold R. Johnson, a member of the Montreal Lake Cree nation, is a lawyer and an advocate for sobriety. His memoir Firewater: How Alcohol Is Killing My People (and Yours) explores the social and legal impacts of alcohol abuse within cultures and families. Firewater made the shortlist for the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction. This interview originally aired on Jan. 20, 2017.
Karen von Hahn
Columnist Karen von Hahn decided to write about her own inspiration in the form of a memoir. What Remains: Object Lessons in Love and Loss traces von Hahn's affinity for style to her mother and the objects evoking her teachings. von Hahn's interview with Shelagh Rogers originally aired on April 10, 2017.
Barbara Gowdy
The novelist and short story writer is known internationally for the magic realism she brings to storytelling. After the success of her 1998 Giller-nominated novel The White Bone, her subsequent novel, The Romantic, earned Barbara Gowdy a place on the longlist for the 2003 Man Booker Prize. She spoke about Little Sister and writing fiction that flirts with surrealism on the April 17, 2017 episode of The Next Chapter.
David Alexander Robertson and Iskwé
Cree musician IsKwé was named one of CBC Music's 10 artists to watch in 2016. She sings about afflictions that beset Indigenous communities. Similarly, Cree artist and writer David Alexander Robertson addresses the impact of residential schools in his picture book When We Were Alone. It won the 2017 Governor General's Award for young people's illustrated books. Both artists collaborated, along with Erin Leslie and illustrator GMB Chomichuk, on Will I See? — the story of missing Indigenous women. IsKwé and Robertson explained their commitment to the issue on the August 14, 2017 episode of the program.
Karen Connelly
Her wandering lifestyle gave travel writer Karen Connelly a global perspective on stories. Some of her youthful journeys inspired Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal, which received the 1992 Governor General's Award for non-fiction. In her novel, The Change Room, Connelly turns her attention to daily life in Canada. She shared her observations on the September 11, 2017 episode of The Next Chapter.
Cherie Dimaline
Speculative fiction allows Cherie Dimaline to address colonialism. The Georgian Bay Métis author adjusts the science fiction in The Girl who Grew a Galaxy and her Governor General's Literary Award-winning The Marrow Thieves to reflect social concerns. The Marrow Thieves also won the 2017 Kirkus Prize for young readers' literature. She spoke to Shelagh Rogers about the people that informed her approach to injustice on the October 2, 2017 episode of the program.
Rupi Kaur
Brampton, Ontario poet Rupi Kaur received international recognition with milk and honey. Her collection of free verse poems made the New York Times bestseller list for 72 weeks and she continues to circulate her writing on her Instagram account. Kaur spoke about her second title, the sun and her flowers, and the expectations created by success during her October 9, 2017 interview with Shelagh Rogers.
Adam Gopnik
Memoir writer and New Yorker columnist Adam Gopnik instills elements of his own life into every genre he tackles. His 2011 Massey Lecture examined winter through five vignettes based on his experience living in Canada. His New York Times bestseller Paris to the Moon portrayed his life abroad through essays. Gopnik spoke about the New York era of his life as depicted in At the Strangers Gate when he appeared on the October 23, 2017 episode of The Next Chapter.
Measha Brueggergosman
Measha Brueggergosman is an opera singer turned writer who served as a panellist for CBC's 2017 Canada Reads. She performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony and has twice been nominated for a Juno award. The details of her storied career and home life are the basis of her 2017 memoir Something is Always on Fire. Brueggergosman spoke about the challenges in her life at home and on stage during the November 20, 2017 episode of the program.
Jan Wong
Journalist and traveller Jan Wong has covered many international affairs. She wrote about the Tiananmen Massacre and her experience as a foreign correspondent in Red China Blues. Her 2017 travelogue Apron Strings: Navigating Food and Family in France, Italy, and China documents her worldwide voyage with her son and her thoughts on the social value of food. Wong spoke about the time she spent at the table of strangers during the program's December 4, 2017 episode.