Q

Schedule for Friday, Jan. 3

What's banned in Guantanamo Bay? Putin's Games Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany Illustrator Jon Klassen

Happy new year! Jian is off until January 13 and, today, Kevin Sylvester will be filling in. Here's what we have on tap for you today: 

  • Kevin talks to lawyer Clive Stafford Smith about the many texts banned at the Guantanamo Bay prison -- including poetry, Russell Brand and Puss in Boots. His incarcerated client Shaker Aamer recently wrote about the restrictions in an essay for the New Statesman.
  • With the Sochi games on the horizon, Kevin talks to documentary producer Simone Baumann about her provocative film 'Putin's Games' - a doc that that exposes the pervasive corruption, rights abuses, and environmental damage behind the scenes as Russia gets ready to host the 2013 Winter Olympics.
  • From the Best of Q, we revisit Jian's conversation with Tatiana Maslany about her role(s) in the clone thriller. In it, she plays a street-smart British orphan who realizes she has numerous identical versions of herself -- subjects of a top-secret, illegal medical experiment.
  • Kevin talks to award-winning author and illustrator Jon Klassen of "I Want My Hat Back" and "This Is Not My Hat" about finding the right mix of dark and light themes for very young readers.

About today's guest host: Kevin Sylvester may be known best for his work as a CBC sportscaster, but beyond covering four Olympics, he's also an accomplished children's author. He's guest-hosted for The Current, The Sunday Edition, Sounds Like Canada and our own show, too. His Q guests have included esteemed intellectual Noam Chomsky, zombie aficionado Max Brooks and colourful director Baz Luhrman.