My guest on this episode is Kenneth Oppel. Kenneth’s books include the Silverwing trilogy, which has sold over a million copies around the world, Airborn, winner of the Governor General's Literary Award and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and Ghostlight, which was shortlisted for several awards, including the Aurora and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. His most recent book is the novel Best of All Worlds, published by Penguin Teen Canada earlier this year and nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award. It has also been named one of Best Children’s Books of 2025 by The Times (UK). Publishers Weekly called it “a sharp examination of society and isolation presented as a thriller set in a deceptively bucolic landscape.”

Kenneth and I talk about the book he remembers having the biggest emotional impact on him as a kid, about his dislike of the various age groups and categories that get applied to children’s literature, and about his next novel, which just might be his first one explicitly written for adults.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.

Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

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