Room author Emma Donoghue on the first thing all kids need to know

Emma Donoghue focused her best selling novel, Room, on a boy born in captivity to a kidnapped mother — but, despite the bleak premise, she says Jack's childhood is not unlike all others. 

 "We all start in a very small world where the only thing that really matters is 'are we loved'?" the Irish-Canadian author tells guest host Rachel Giese, adding that we too often forget how resilient and expansive children can be. 

On the heels of Room's critical success, 2016 already appears to be a good one for Donoghue. The novelist recently secured a Golden Globe nomination for best screenplay, and the Oscar buzz is also sounding favourable.

• Related: Brie Larson says Room broke her in half

Against this backdrop, she reflects on the joys and challenges of adapting her own novel, how she researched "like a psychopath" but wrote like a child, and why she wanted her child protagonist to be a boy.   

WEB EXTRA | Critics have called Room "one of the finest (films) ...of the year", "a triumph" and a "one-of-a-kind experience." Watch Brie Larson, star of the film version of the story, talk to Shad about the making of. 

Plus, watch the trailer for the film below.