Writer and musician Antonio Michael Downing hosting CBC Radio's The Next Chapter this fall
The season starts on Sept. 7 and features interviews with Rose Sutherland, Attica Locke and Gurjinder Basran
Writer and musician Antonio Michael Downing traces his first reading experience back to a one-road village in Trinidad, where he lived with his brother and grandmother.
"Her eyes were bad because she was 82," Downing told CBC Books. "So she taught me how to read when I was three and a half so that I could read her King James Bible for her."
This was a formative experience for Downing, who fell in love with reading immediately. "I thought it was an act of magic," he said.
Downing still feels that way about books and stories — and brings this wonder-filled outlook to his latest endeavour as the new guest host of The Next Chapter.
The season starts on Sept. 7 and will include conversations about Rose Sutherland's historical romance A Sweet Sting of Salt, Attica Locke's mystery Guide Me Home, Gurjinder Basran's Bollywood-inspired family drama The Wedding and Marcus Kleiwer's thriller We Used To Live Here.
An English literature grad, Downing is primarily drawn to literary fiction, but he's "not stuffy" about branching out to different genres as long as there's a strong voice.
"I love when characters and story can interact with ideas and really make you feel but also make you think," he said.
A writer himself, Downing is known for his memoir Saga Boy, which tells the story of his childhood in Trinidad and the cultural dislocation that came with immigrating to Canada. He's also releasing his first novel, Black Cherokee, in 2025.
Because of his writing experience, he pays special attention to craft. "Even if it's not something I would usually read, if the writer is really knocking it out of the park, I just love it," he said.
Though he's new to The Next Chapter's host chair, Downing has been on the other side of interviews plenty of times as John Orpheus, his musical alter-ego — and even as a past The Next Chapter columnist. He's planning to use this understanding to inform his approach to interviewing.
"It's a team effort, first of all, not only the people behind the scenes, but also when you're interviewing someone, it's a conversation, but you're both on the same side," he said.
"You're working together to be engaged with the material and with each other so that hopefully people listening can also be engaged."
Downing is most excited to meet authors and "nerd out" about books in a way that will allow the listeners to feel included and discover new books, genres and authors along with him.
"We can kind of take people on a journey with us."
The Next Chapter airs Saturdays at 2 p.m. ET with repeats on Mondays at 1 p.m. ET on CBC Radio, CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.
