Bookends with Mattea Roach

If you had to tell a story to stay alive … what story would you tell? Jeanette Winterson’s new book, One Aladdin Two Lamps, is a nonfiction exploration of storytelling, culture, politics and the things that make us human. It’s based on the One Thousand and One Nights, the famous collection of Middle Eastern folk tales home to characters like Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. At the centre of it all is Scheherazade, a woman who tells a vengeful Sultan stories for 1001 nights to stop him from executing her. Like Scheherazade, Jeanette sees storytelling as a means of survival. In the book, she uses those tales to muse on the way that stories shape our identities and our lives … and how they’re a tool to better ourselves and the world around us. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Zadie Smith never thought she’d tell this story Ian McEwan has hope for humanity — here’s why Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks

What does it mean to come of age in a place where violence is a daily fact of life? Ashraf Zaghal’s debut novel, Seven Heavens Away, is about a Palestinian teen named Aziz. Like any teen, he’s growing up, working part-time and learning how to navigate love and loss … but he’s also living through escalating violence and unrest in Jerusalem. When Aziz's friend is killed, he grapples with grief and an uncertain future. While his involvement in Palestinian resistance efforts grows, he also starts to harbour feelings for a Jewish girl named Dafna. This week, Ashraf tells Mattea about being a teenager living through constant tragedy, the role of religion in the story and how it felt to return to Palestine while writing the novel.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:What happens to fiction in times of war?  V.V. Ganeshananthan: Exploring the complexity of Sri Lanka's civil war in her prize-winning novel, Brotherless Night Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks

What happens behind the closed doors of a strip club? Pole dancing, booming basslines … and in Nic Stone’s new novel, the chilling mystery of a missing exotic dancer. In Boom Town, the manager of a fictional Atlanta strip club sets out to find a missing dancer named Charm. The book offers a shadowy taste of Atlanta’s notorious adult entertainment scene … but it’s also a look into the lives of the regular women who live and dance in the city. This week, Nic joins Mattea Roach to talk about growing up in Atlanta, why strip clubs are cultural epicentres and writing her first novel for adults.  Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Pitbull, Scarface and a whale walk into a bookHere’s what you have wrong about teen moms Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks

Can you inherit fury? Kagiso Lesego Molope’s new novel, We Inherit The Fire, follows a mother and daughter at the end of apartheid in South Africa. Kewame is a famous freedom fighter who is haunted by the trauma of apartheid and her time as a political prisoner. Her daughter Kelelo is a regular teenager who resists being defined by her mother’s heroics … but is struggling to connect with her mother at home. The two voices intertwine to tell a story about memory, history and the ways we inherit resilience and pain. This week, Kagiso tells Mattea about her own youth in South Africa, writing about motherhood and how Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren informed her characters. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:An opera singer gives voice to the Grenadian revolutionWhat would it take to become the first Cherokee astronaut? Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks

What do you know about Appalachia? Fancy Gap is the debut novel by Zak Jones, and it challenges the preconceptions we might have about the region. The story follows three generations of an Appalachian family as they navigate poverty, illness, extreme religion … and the eternal struggle of finding one’s place in the world. There’s no better person to tell the story than Zak, who grew up in the region and has deep connections to its culture. This week, Zak joins Mattea to talk about his upbringing, how religion shapes the culture and why you might be wrong about Appalachia.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Meth and murder in rural America  Ocean Vuong finds beauty in a fast food shift  Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and tiktok @cbcbooks

When Chris Kraus became fixated on a murder case in a Minnesotan town, she decided to try her hand at a true crime novel ... but the project soon evolved into something much bigger. The Four Spent The Day Together weaves together the stories of an impulsive murder carried out by three teens, a marriage torn apart by addiction and the reality of life in working class America. Much like Chris’s hit novel I Love Dick, the story and its protagonist draw heavily from her own life experiences. This week, Chris tells Mattea Roach about her interest in the crime, how addiction can shape a relationship and why she’s finally exploring her childhood in fiction.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:When young men murder, what can we learn? Buffoon or genius? What makes a cult leader? Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and tiktok @cbcbooks

Did the Olympics get you in the hockey spirit? If not, here’s a book that certainly will. Searching for Terry Punchout by Tyler Hellard is a novel about small town life and Canada's favourite pastime … and it’s also one of this year’s Canada Reads picks. The story follows Adam, a failing sportswriter who goes back to his hometown to interview a notorious retired hockey goon. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, with one catch. The goon is actually Adam’s estranged father … and he can’t run away from his past forever. This week, Tyler joins Mattea to talk about who inspired the titular Terry Punchout, why growing up is so complicated and the warmth of small town Nova Scotia. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:For Indigenous players, ice hockey is a ceremony of its own Here’s what you have wrong about teen moms Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks

Tamara Jong grew up going door-to-door for the Jehovah’s Witnesses … and her new memoir, Worldly Girls, is all about breaking away from the faith. For much of her life, the strict religious movement was Tamara’s only way of making sense of the world. But as she got older, Tamara began to reflect on her unconventional childhood, complicated relationships with her parents and mental health struggles. She realized that she wasn’t lost without the Witnesses — it was actually the religion that was preventing her from finding herself. This week, Tamara tells Mattea about growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, her relationship to motherhood and what it really means to be worldly. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Video games are radical. Not in the way you think Why an ADHD diagnosis had this author rethinking everything

Murder Bimbo is a new book about a sex worker-turned assassin … and it’s the debut novel by Rebecca Novack, a former priest-in-training. The story follows a sex worker nicknamed Murder Bimbo who is hired by the government to kill a right-wing politician. She does the deed, makes her escape, and tells her story in emails to a social justice podcaster. But things aren’t quite what they seem. So is she a scapegoat … or is she a liar? This week, Rebecca dives into the wild premise of the book, how she almost became a priest and the challenges of writing a political novel in fraught times. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Why Mona Awad gave the Bunnies a sayTaylor Jenkins Reid is among the stars — on and off the page

If you’re worried about being lonely in the afterlife, don’t worry. Just hire a corpse bride to keep you company in the coffin! In Lindsay Wong’s new novel, Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies, a university dropout is desperate to pay off her family’s debt … so she signs her life away to the ancient Chinese tradition of corpse marriage. But as she prepares to be auctioned off to the highest bidder and locked away in a coffin forever, she realizes that running from her family’s ghosts won’t be that easy. This week, Lindsay joins Mattea to talk about the history behind death marriages, how her own life inspired the novel and why she loves to write about the grotesque. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:How far would you go for your family?Three writers on the monsters that made them

Carla Ciccone was 39 years old when she was diagnosed with ADHD. That diagnosis changed everything for her ... and she shares her experience in her new memoir, Nowhere Girl: Life as a Member of ADHD’s Lost Generation. Over the past few years, the rates of adult women receiving ADHD diagnoses have risen dramatically. So why were these women overlooked for so long? And where do they go from here? This week, Carla tells Mattea about struggling with undiagnosed ADHD, understanding her childhood through a new lens and finding humour in the frustration of it all.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Weightlifting made Casey Johnston stronger — in muscle and mind Kate Gies: Reclaiming her body after years of medical trauma

If you’re feeling jaded by money, politics and modern dating … you’re not the only one. Conor Kerr’s new novella, Beaver Hills Forever, follows the everyday lives of four Métis people in Edmonton. The odds are stacked against them and life is exhausting, but each person finds meaning in the small moments and the beauty of life in the Canadian Prairies. Beaver Hills Forever is a poetic love letter to the city of Edmonton and the power of community … and yes, the perils of dating apps make an appearance too. This week, Conor joins Mattea to talk about the unique structure of the book, how he battles his own cynicism and what it really means to strive for a better life. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:For Indigenous players, ice hockey is a ceremony of its own Ocean Vuong finds beauty in a fast food shift

What would you do if there was a jellyfish in your eye? And what if it started multiplying, blocking your vision completely? That’s the premise of The Jellyfish, the latest graphic novel by the Montreal artist Boum. The Jellyfish is an allegory for learning to live with a degenerative condition and is based on Boum’s own experience with vision loss. It follows a young person named Odette as they navigate life, work and a budding romance … all while jellyfish start to cloud their vision. Boum tells Mattea about using sea creatures to represent vision loss and how losing an eye has changed the way they make art.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Alison Bechdel on making money and seeing Fun Home in a new light Chris Ware: Inside the sketchbooks of a comics master

The winner of the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is the Vancouver poet Jordan Redekop-Jones. Jordan’s winning poem, Mixed Girl as Cosmogonic Myth, was inspired by her experience of becoming a caretaker in her 20s in the midst of reconnecting with her cultures and finding her place in the world. It’s a dreamlike ode to her journey and her mother, who she calls “the strongest, most beautiful woman I know.” Jordan tells Mattea Roach about what draws her to writing, navigating her mother’s illness and what’s next for the emerging poet. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:What is extreme caretaking? Rachel Robb: Exploring reconciliation and the natural world

“You’ve changed” isn’t necessarily something you want to hear … especially when you’re trying to keep a marriage alive. That’s the premise of Ian Williams’ new novel, You’ve Changed. The book follows a couple named Beckett and Princess who are dealing with their mid-life crises in some questionable ways. While Princess turns to plastic surgery, Beckett throws himself into his work and explores a surprising relationship with a man named Gluten. Yes, Gluten. As the couple change in opposite directions, their marriage starts to crumble around them. This week, Ian joins Mattea to talk about doing construction work as research, naming a character after a protein and how he feels about mid-life. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:A priest and an artist walk into a bar'Bad' mothers make good stories — and are more true-to-life

Would you steal? Would you kill? In Megha Majumdar’s new novel, A Guardian and a Thief, a mother prepares to escape a city in the midst of climate collapse. She’ll do anything for her family … and she’s driven to desperation when their immigration documents are stolen just days before they're set to leave. But is the thief a monster? Or is he merely trying to help his own family? With survival on the line, what would you do to protect the people you love? Megha tells Mattea Roach about writing a fictionalized Kolkata, how the story was inspired by her own immigration journey and the challenge of holding onto your morals when everything falls apart.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:What if your dreams could land you in jail? Kiran Desai’s novel is worth the 20-year wait

To be a good cult leader, you’ll need some natural charisma and a pathological desire for control … and according to Rob Benvie, it might also help if you're a bit of a buffoon. Rob explores this personality mix in his latest novel, The Damagers. The book follows a 15-year-old girl named Zina in 1950s America. After a tragic event, she becomes entangled in an isolated spiritual commune ... in other words, a cult. At the centre of the story is Zina’s own desire for power, which puts her in a complicated struggle with the cult's magnetic but foolish leader. This week, Rob joins Mattea Roach to talk about why cult stories resonate today and what it means to have a vision for the way we live together.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:When young men murder, what can we learn? Who was the woman Kafka loved?

Louise Penny is one of the biggest mystery novelists alive today … but it didn’t start out that way. Her latest novel, The Black Wolf, is the 20th in her bestselling Armand Gamache series. So how did Louise go from empty book events to packed concert halls? This week, Bookends brings you on-stage at Toronto’s historic Massey Hall. Joined by nearly 2000 of her fans, Louise told Mattea Roach about her long journey to becoming an author, why she’ll never tire of her characters and how pain has made her a better writer. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Chris Hadfield — from astronaut to author  Kiran Desai’s novel is worth the 20-year wait

Jane Austen is one of the most enduring novelists of all time. But what do we know about the woman behind the stories? To celebrate Austen’s 250th birthday, we’re revisiting Eleanor Wachtel’s conversation with Carol Shields about her 2001 biography, Jane Austen: A Life. Carol Shields herself was a writer and a lifelong Austen fan, and she talks about how Austen’s stories about marriage, money and family offer insight into who the novelist really was. Check out the rest of the Writers & Company archive: https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/writers-company 

After releasing her breakout hit My Sister the Serial Killer in 2018, Oyinkan Braithwaite struggled to write under the pressure of high expectations. She worried about being a one-hit wonder … but her new novel, Cursed Daughters, proves otherwise. The book follows three generations of women from a family that is believed to be cursed, dooming them all to remain single forever. To make matters worse, one of the young women looks so much like her deceased aunt that her relatives think she's a reincarnation. It’s a story about family, legacy and how to live freely when your closest loved ones believe your fate is sealed. This week, Oyinkan tells Mattea Roach about how the novel came to be, why she writes complex dynamics between women and what it means to live and work as an artist.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s triumphant return to fictionHere’s what you have wrong about teen moms