5 books that inspired Elamin Abdelmahmoud, host of CBC Radio's new daily arts & culture show Commotion
Elamin Abdelmahmoud is a culture writer and author who is adding another line to his resume: CBC Radio host. Abdelmahmoud is the host of the new CBC Radio show Commotion, a daily 30-minute show that looks at the arts, pop culture and entertainment stories making headlines.
"I find that conversations about art and pop culture bring people closer to each other," Abdelmahmoud said in a press release announcing Commotion. "Talking about a new show that you're excited about, or a big culture idea you're seeing everywhere lately, that's the connective tissue between all of us. On Commotion, what you get every single day is a crowded table of insightful and hilarious people talking about something that moves them and lights them up."
Abdelmahmoud was raised in Kingston, Ont., and now lives in Toronto. He was the host of CBC's pop culture podcast Pop Chat and the founding co-host of the CBC Politics podcast Party Lines. He is a writer-at-large for Buzzfeed and is also the author of the memoir Son of Elsewhere.
Son of Elsewhere, which came out in 2022, is a collection of essays that touches on everything from his family's journey from Sudan to Canada, his Black and Muslim identity, being raised on pop culture — and how all those things intersect.
In 2022, Abdelmahmoud shared five nonfiction books that have inspired him with CBC Books.
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
"I think she's one of the most important writers working today. Without this book, I'm not sure I'd be writing. It's so compelling in theme but also in structure. She deals so much with different ideas of loss — whether it's personal loss; whether it's a good way of getting lost in something; or a bad way, like losing oneself. But she shows such deep versatility because it's part art criticism, part memoir, part history, part sociology — it bends and blends so many genres into one.
There's nothing like the freedom that a book like that offers, because it sort of opens different doors for you.
"And it is an incredibly free book. It's the kind of book that you read and go, 'I didn't know you could do that — I guess you can.' There's nothing like the freedom that a book like that offers, because it sort of opens different doors for you."
They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib
"The way that this is deeply considered is truly extraordinary. It's the kind of thing that really inspires me to go, 'I really need to spend some time to develop my craft,' because I think he'd be someone who has spent a long time doing that.
"The way the music criticism gives way to bigger social commentary is just masterful."
Known and Strange Things by Teju Cole
"I spend a lot of time reading nonfiction. Known and Strange Things is a book that is so beautiful in its prose in a way that is so vivid that you want to spend more and more time with it.
"For me, his work has been a template of what you could do with the essay format, because he's done so many different things with it — whether in The New Yorker, the New York Times, or in book form. I came to Teju first as a novelist, but then discovered his essay stuff that I have been completely drawn to."
Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith
"I remember being hooked on this essay collection. I just love that the whole book is a collection of moments where she's changed her mind about something, and I love that idea for a frame. That's a really brave thing to do — to lay out all the ways you were wrong.
The whole book is a collection of moments where she's changed her mind about something, and I love that idea for a frame.
"Seeing her struggle and wrestle with it is really rewarding. There's something about the inelegance of working through all of those ideas."
The Sweet Science by A.J. Liebling
"Former New Yorker writer A.J. Liebling covered a lot of culture in general, but he also covered boxing a lot. Maybe four or five years ago, one of my former colleagues recommended this book. I don't care about boxing at all. But this dude writes about boxing like Renaissance poets write about daffodils.
A.J. Liebling writes about boxing like Renaissance poets write about daffodils.
"I'm working my way through the deeply lyrical, intense ways that he writes about boxing.
"Every once in a while I'll read a page and think, 'If I could write just one phrase like this, today's been a good day.'"
Elamin Abdelmahmoud's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
