Getting Lit with Linda - The Canadian Literature Podcast

As a fellow endo-patient, Linda makes herself vulnerable in this episode, talking frankly with the author, Tracey Lindeman, by whom she was so inspired. Lindeman, who authored Bleed: Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis Care (published by ECW Press in 2023), uses personal experience, interviews, and research to take a deep dive into the healthcare system and the medical treatment (or lack thereof) of endo-patients.Some of the topics covered include:medical gaslightingsupport and advice for endo-patientsadvice for medical doctors

In this episode, in honour of Mother’s Day, Linda considers four different books that feature discussions about mothers, in whatever form they assume. She tackles four different genres -- non-fiction, the short story, poetry, and a novel/thriller -- to consider how loving and caring actions are given and received - or withheld. The four works include:Hannah McGregor, A Very Sentimental Education (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 4.45)Margaret Atwood, Old Babes in the Wood (McClelland & Stewart, 11.04)Jenny Boychuk Antonyms for Daughter (Signal, 13.53)Charlene Carr’s Hold My Girl (Harper Collins, 16.23)In the Takeaway, she recommends Kim Thúy's Secrets from my Vietnamese Kitchen: Simple Recipes from my Many Mothers (Penguin Random House, 19.05) – or really, anything by her!Linda also references the Almodóvar film, All About My Mother (2.05) and Italian novelist, Alessandro Baricco, and one of his books, Silk (19.47)

Her guest, Bil Antoniou - Toronto theatre actor and podcast host of Bad Gay Movies and My Criterions - discusses with Linda a series of Canadian and Indigenous novels that have been adapted to the screen, including the most recent Oscar award-winning movie, Women Talking, directed by Sarah Polley (original novel by Miriam Toews).They also discuss the following:Yann Martel's Life of Pi (Knopf)Jane Rule's The Desert of the Heart (Talon)Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient (Penguin Random House)and Mordecai Richler's Barney Version (Penguin Random House)The winner of the adaptation award? Listen to find out!

In this episode, Linda begins by taking up The Hockey Jersey (1.48; 3.15; 3.22) by Jael Richardson’s (1.58; 4.45; 26.17; 28.38), whom she interviews.The Hockey Jersey is a kind of response to The Hockey Sweater by Quebecois writer, Roch Carrier (4.18; 10.15; 14.55). Written in collaboration with the Toronto-based hockey player, Eva Perron (31.37), and with illustrations by Chelsea Charles (6.18), this book was the source of discussion between Linda and Richardson for this episode and how this children’s book, commissioned and supported by Scotiabank (3.20; 4.07, 5.42, 7.22), is directed toward changing the face of hockey.Linda includes two other voices -- those of settler scholars, Jamie Dopp (9.51) and Sam McKegney (14.55), who also contribute to the vibrant discussion about the history of hockey in literature, both in settler and Indigenous communities. Some other highlights?:Illustrations by Chelsea Charles (6.18)The politics of representation (7.35; 26.17; 28.38)The Indigenous Hockey Research Network (14.30; 24.19)Decolonizing Sport and Indigenous communities (22.28)the Habs hockey player, Maurice Richard (4.22; 14.53; 17.17) the origins and history of hockey in literature, including Ralph Connor's Glengarry School Days (19.50; 21.18) and Hugh McLennan's Two Solitudes (19.58; 21.23) The episode didn’t quite make it to include a very interesting discussion with Dr. McKegney about Beardy’s Blackhawks, so check out this page for more about that. She includes other remarks by McKegney (36.15) and Dopp (33.09) about other literary books that invoke the sport of hockey, including Indian Horse by Anishnaabe novelist, Richard Wagamese (36.15).Written & Hosted by Linda MorraCo-produced by Linda Morra & Marco TimpanoMusic by Raphael Krux

In this episode, Linda interviews Jason Camlot about his new collection of poetry, Vlarf - and it includes references to all manner of Victorian writing/writers, such as the following:Oscar WildeSamuel Taylor ColeridgeJohn RuskinWhile there is much play and whimsy in this episode, it takes a deep dive into what went into making this collection of Victorianist flarf (and what "flarf" actually is).

Linda doesn't care if she has to take less sunscreen when she goes on vacation - if it means she gets to pack an extra couple of books. What five books would she recommend?:Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park (Vintage/Random House, 2.00)Rawi Hage's Stray Dogs (Knopf, 4.11)Neil Smith's Bang Crunch (Vintage, 7.54)Marilyn Dumont's A Really Good Brown Girl (Metis; Brick Books, 10.18)Ann-Marie MacDonald's Goodnight Desdemona (Goodmorning Juliet )(Penguin, Random House, 13)Linda also references Mordecai Richler (at 3.43 and 13.20) and Alice Munro (4.36), the production of MacDonald's Fall on Your Knees at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and MacDonald's term as the inaugural Mordecai Richler writer in residence at Concordia University. Check out MacDonald's "Dispatches" from the latter period, which are downright funny, offering welcome critique of Richler's masculinist tendencies.

Season 4 opens with Linda's announcement of the podcast's new website and then shifts to a discussion about her literary journey - how she came to focus first on Canadian literature and then Indigenous literatures, which all started with a vital conversation. Her first book in the latter field was Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach - and it was a game-changer, sending her off to read and understand a field about which she knew very little when she started her post-graduate studies. With brief nods to Robinson's extraordinary trajectory of writing (including Son of a Trickster), Linda explains why this novel remains a personal favourite. In the Takeaway, she addresses the fact that there is a corresponding movie for Monkey Beach, which has an ending that is arguably different than that of the novel - or is it? You'll have to read the novel and watch the film to know why ....

In this last episode of the season, Linda considers how empathy is often considered a function of literature and may be ideally represented -- as it is in Catherine Hernandez's Scarborough published by Arsenal Pulp Press. In order to explore how this should work, she considers the Classical orator, Cicero (and Aristotle's Poetics and Horace's Ars Poetica) to show how there is a long tradition of arguing that rhetoric and "good literature" should be able to teach, to delight, and to move us. Other highlights include:references to Brené Brown (2.30)the difference between empathy and sympathy (2.45)literature and empathy (3.00)references to Cicero, Aristotle, Horace (4.05)discussion of Hernandez's Scarborough (5.40)In the Takeaway, she considers the novel - a thriller - Truth is a Flightless Bird by Akbar Hussain and published by Iskanchi Press. And then she offers her best wishes for the new year.