Ep. 16 Susan Olding, Big Reader

Award-winning author J.B. MacKinnon returns to discuss his career in longform narrative nonfiction, the need for structure and intuition, how to keep a reader interested, his super-power and his Achilles heel as an author, and why writers need to strike a fine balance between bricks and jellyfish when building a story.

Co-hosts Deborah Campbell & David Leach talk to literary journalist J.B. MacKinnon about his new book, The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves, including the motivation and research process for this globe-hopping "nonfiction thought experiment," as well as how the pandemic forced him to revisit his ideas and revise his manuscript. Bonus: J.B. reads an excerpt!

Susan Olding joins Deborah Campbell and David Leach to discuss the art, ethics, and pitfalls of writing nonfiction stories about family members as well as other vulnerable subjects. How does an author balance a responsibility for their subjects and for the quest for truth in their writing? Are we always selling someone out?

Susan Olding joins the podcast to discuss her new collection of essays, Big Reader (Freehand Books) and talk about the importance of reading to her life, the differences between the personal essay and the memoir, intuitive vs. engineered structure, research in nonfiction, finding metaphors in fine details, and when writing nonfiction is easy—and when it's hard. Big Reader; essays, by Susan Olding

Deborah Campbell & David Leach discuss the surreal experience of reading in the pandemic, as well as highlights from their favourite books & essays, including memoir, investigative journalism, essay collections and even a few (very long) novels. BONUS: now with the funky Zoom recording glitches fixed!

UVic writing prof David Leach talks to playwright and performer Jivesh Parasnam, co-founder of Rumble and Pandemic Theatres, about memory & the imagination, the problem with identity plays, Hindu philosophy, and the need for satire in our post-pandemic future.  Listen to his one-man show Take d Milk, Nah? on CBC's PlayMe series.

David Leach and Deborah Campbell discuss working with and working as editors, including how to cultivate a positive writer-editor relationship, editing in the book and magazine industries, why David hates MS Word's "track changes" and Deborah's worst experience being edited.

Deborah Campbell and David Leach of UVic's Department of Writing debate the heaven and hell of revision, offer tips on getting perspective on your own first drafts and crafting good endings, and discuss how to kill your darlings while saving a few demons, too.

UVic screenwriting prof & multi-genre author Kathryn Mockler discusses memory in film, poetry, and fiction; art & the climate crisis; dreams and memory; and literary legacies in the time of global warming. Check out the website for the Watch Your Head anthology of climate crisis literature and art.

UVic assistant professor Danielle Geller talks about her debut memoir Dog Flowers and discusses writing about family, exploring memory, her work as an archivist, sadness vs. trauma porn, identity in virtual worlds, and her early life as a leader of a wolf pack—then reads from her new book.