All 33 years of Writers & Company episodes to become available in public digital archive
CBC partnered with Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books and the SpokenWeb project
Last spring, CBC's Writers & Company wrapped up after 33 years and over 1,000 original interviews by Eleanor Wachtel.
But while the show is no longer in production, a new partnership ensures that the conversations will live on in a digital archive.
The show's episodes will all be digitized and available on the SFU Library's Digitized Collections website, a project being done in collaboration with Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books and the SpokenWeb project.
Ten episodes are already available online, with more being added over the next two years. Until then, the recent seasons are available on CBC Listen.
Throughout its 33-year run, Writers & Company presented an in-depth look at works of remarkable writers, filmmakers, photographers and artists from around the world.
Wachtel's interviews have included literary names such as Carol Shields, Mordecai Richler, John le Carré, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Nadine Gordimer, J.M. Coetzee, Toni Morrison, Alice Munro, Kazuo Ishiguro, Michael Ondaatje, Zadie Smith and many more.
"Both new and longtime listeners will be able to delve into the archive to hear conversations by writers whose work they discovered through the program but hadn't read at the time of broadcast; or writers whose work they have newly discovered, or whose work they are researching," Wachtel told CBC Books in an email.
"In some cases, you can follow a writer's creative trajectory over decades, through their conversations on Writers & Company. The archive will be a rich resource not just for fans of the program but for academics and lovers of literature of all kinds."
Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books is known for its collection of literary archives, publishing and book arts.
"We are thrilled at the prospect of making the Writers & Company. episodes freely available to the public," said Alexandra Wieland, acting head of Special Collections and Rare Books, in an email.
"Listening to sound recordings adds immediacy, connection, and emotions that are often missing from textual archival materials. This outstanding audio archive of interviews with important literary and cultural figures complements our collections and will be a fantastic resource for anyone interested in books in Canada."
Simon Fraser University also partnered with SpokenWeb, a project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to digitize and study literary audio across Canada.
You can listen to the 10 available episodes here.
