What are flying monkeys?, Linda wonders - until her friend illuminates their place in relation to narcissists. Narcissism is key to understanding the Widow and Abe Strapp, two deliciously terrible main characters in Michael Crummey's novel, The Adversary (Knopf) -- which just won the Dublin Literary Award for 2025; this psychology is also key to understanding why certain subplot characters choose to orbit around them.

Since the novel may be read as a kind of running commentary on the present political moment, we must remember that we - not just readers, but rather the people who might see our reflections in the "subplot" characters - are important to the kinds of decisions made. The conditions of the subplot are affected by those of the plot - but that may also work in reverse. The interview with Crummey also connects his earlier novel, The Innocents (2019, Random House Canada), and The Adversary to William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, explaining how these two novels might be read in relation to each other.

Linda Morra (executive producer); Maia Harris (associate producer); Raphael Krux (music)

It's Mother's Day - and, while Linda considers how the mother is represented in several books (specifically Rachel Deustch (6:30), Boum (5:50; 6:55), and Mary Thaler (5:47), in their respective works, The Mother, Jellyfish, and Ulfhildr), she turns her attention to the figure of the stepmother, inspired in part by her conversation with the authors of La Belle-Mère/The Stepmother (L'Hexagone) by Rachel McCrum and Amélie Prévost (8:10) while she was at the Imagination Literary Festival (held at the Morrin Centre in Quebec City, 5:33).

C'est la fête des mères - et, tandis que Linda examine la façon dont la mère est représentée dans plusieurs livres (en particulier Rachel Deustch (6:30), Boum (5:50 ; 6:55), et Mary Thaler (5 : 47), dans leurs ouvrages respectifs,The Mother, Jellyfish, and Ulfhildr), elle s'intéresse à la figure de la belle-mère, inspirée en partie par sa conversation avec les auteurs de La Belle-Mère/The Stepmother (L'Hexagone) de Rachel McCrum et Amélie Prévost (8:10) lors de sa participation au festival littéraire Imagination (qui s'est tenu au Morrin Centre à Québec, 5:33).

In this episode, Linda speaks with the award-winning CBC journalist of As it Happens, Carol Off, about her new (and fifth!) book, At a Loss for Words: Conversation in the Age of Rage (Listeners, keep your eye out: A new edition of Off's book will be available in the fall!).Published in 2024, Off wrote the book as a "cautionary tale," as she observes in this interview - and, since then, some important political moments have evolved across the American and Canadian border. The book examines how key words, including freedom, democracy and truth, are being hijacked and weaponized in order to diminish liberal democracy. Linda and Carol speak about Roe v. Wade, the Bathhouse Raids, the outbreak of AIDS, women's rights, Judith Butler, the 2024 American election, Christopher Ruso and the "Strong and Free" organization, Hannah Arendt (25:20), Stephen Colbert's "Truthiness," the results of the 2025 Canadian election, and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (29.09).

Carol Off reminds us - we are not entitled to our own facts (34:24) and we need to question everything (31:20).

In this episode, Linda revisits and revisions the three “Rs” – reading, writing, and arithmetic – to reformulate a new triad. Why? Because, in her interview with Michaela Di Cesare about her play Successions, Linda learns more about Anthony, one of the main characters, and his disorder, known as prosopagnosia. Di Cesare explains that she thought of this disorder as a means of representing how patriarchal culture is often blind to women and to their needs. Anthony is literally unable to recognize women’s faces, unable to read their particularities and individual and very human traits. From this point, Linda develops a broader metaphor, beginning with considerations of literacy (see CBC’s recent assessment) to the need to recalibrate our critical reading apparatus – and then Maia Harris suggests Elaine Castillo’s How To Read Now. And that sets the stage for the interview.

As a result of Zilla Jones’ The World So Wide, slated for publication with Cormorant Books on April 26, 2025, Linda reflects on opera (specifically Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino) – historically an elitist art form, but one that Felicity Alexander, the protagonist of Jones’ novel, in part challenges and overcomes through the very successes of her career. The trajectory of that career takes a darker turn when she finds herself in Grenada during the 1983 American invasion of that country – not an untimely revisioning of history in view of the current American political situation (27:40; 28:50).

In this first episode of Season 6 of Getting Lit With Linda, the host – Linda Morra – begins with a few important announcements: GLWL is now being supported by the Canada Council for the Arts! With that support, we have a "special" season that we're calling GETTING LIT GOES GLOBAL. It means we are emphasizing books or topics that take on international proportions or have international repercussions.

Getting Lit With Linda will now also feature an annual prize – more of that in future episodes. And we have a new team on board, featuring Maia Harris (Associate Producer), James Healey (Sound Producer), Aki Barabadi (Marketing Consultant), and Raphael Krux (Music).

Wishing all listeners of Geting Lit With Linda a very Happy International Women’s Day! With guest, Andrea Warner, we want to let you know that Season 6 is set to launch very soon!

In this, the 78th episode and the final one of season 5, Linda offers the “Nine Days of Christmas” with nine different book recommendations for the holidays. Who makes the cut? Well, we could say you need to listen to find out, but we want you to find the books easily, so here they are with their links:

Alice Zorn’s Colours in her Hands (Freehand Books), Téa Mutonji’s Shut Up You’re Pretty (VS Books, Arsenal), Katherena Vermette’s Real Ones (Hamish Hamilton), Ian Williams', What I Mean to Say (Anansi), Sarah Polley's Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory (Penguin), Suzette Mayr’s The Sleeping Car Porter (Coach House Press), Derek Webster’s National Animal (Véhicule Press), Sue Goyette's A Different Species of Breathing (WLUP),and Bart Vautour’s The Truth About Facts (Invisible Publishing)

Linda writes an open letter to Ivan Coyote, in response to their book, Care Of: Letters, Connections, and Cures (published by McClelland & Stewart during the pandemic). This important volume of letters is extraordinary and, while we're no longer in the throes of a pandemic, it remains as relevant as ever. With references to WB Yeat's poem "The Second Coming" and an article by Anna Russell that appeared in The New Yorker, this episode highlights the vital contribution this book makes - and it's more than just a pineapple.

In this episode, Linda converses with Jenny Haysom (2.48) about her novel Keep (published by Anansi). Featuring three main characters, the narrative is driven by the conflict that emerges when Harriet, an elderly poet, is diagnosed with the onset of dementia and must face selling her house -- and the two home stagers, Eleanor and Jacob, tasked with emptying it of its contents. Both Eleanor and Jacob are drawn into Harriet's world and the questions around what we keep, what we throw away, and what we value and why. It becomes clear why Haysom refers to this Victorian-esque novel as "a ghost story without ghosts."

A bilingual episode/un épisode bilingue. Linda opens with her delight about having won the Women in Podcasting Awards in Education - she effusively thanks her listeners!

What kinds of books haunt us and why? In this episode, Linda considers Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach and Jessica Johns' Bad Cree, but ultimately picks a book that thoroughly haunted her - Michel Jean's Qimmik (published by Libre Expression, not yet translated into English). Set in Nunavik, the novel traverses two time periods--that are connected in ways that are completely unexpected and deeply moving.

Quels types de livres nous hantent et pourquoi ? Dans cet épisode, Linda choisit un livre qui l'a profondément hantée : Qimmik de Michel Jean (publié par Libre Expression, pas encore traduit en anglais). Situé au Nunavik, le roman traverse deux périodes qui sont reliées de façon tout à fait inattendue et profondément émouvante.

Linda opens with a word of thanks to her listeners who voted--because she is now a Finalist for the Women in Podcasting Awards.

This episode features an interview, which was live at Word on the Street in Toronto, with the writer of Mi'kmaq and settler descent, who published a novel, The Berry Pickers and, most recently, her short story collection, Waiting for the Long Night Moon (both published by published by Random House). It is a joyful and animated conversation, with an audience that was warm and supportive.

Linda speaks with Corinna Chong about her novel, Bad Land, published by Arsenal Pulp Press and long-listed for the Giller Prize. Chong, originally from Calgary, lives in Kelowna, B.C. where she teaches English and fine arts at Okanagan College. She published her first novel, Belinda's Rings, in 2013.

In her opening remarks, Linda explains why she sees the protagonist and main narrator, Regina, as … well, kind of “brat.” She's a fascinating, messy, and lovable character who has buried her life--and the secrets around that life--in the home in which she and her brother, Ricky, were raised ... until he shows up with his daughter, Jez, with a new secret of their own. The tensions that are produced open wide the secrets by the novel's end, revealing both the beauty and violence that have haunted Regina for years.

And a final reminder! Please vote for us in the Women's Podcasting Awards! Only a few days left!

Linda considers the persistence of present-day misogyny, then speaks with Daniela Vlaskalic about her co-written play, The Drowning Girls, which features the women who were victims of a turn-of-the-century serial killer. It was such a famous case, even Agatha Christie mentioned it in one of her novels. To set the stage - pun intended - for this play, Linda outlines the legal and historical situation for women in Canada - obtaining the right to vote was a bare minimum., but even getting bank accounts and mortgages were an ordeal up until only a few decades ago. It's not so surprising that this history informs the present moment, when, for example, women still make less in terms of pay than men and disparaging remarks are being made about single women who have cats in the United States. (Linda is not afraid to mention that she has two cats - Pinky and Moe.) She also briefly alludes to women and legal matters, including her right to get a divorce.

Linda has been mulling over what an education is, what purposes it serves. She was so curious about it that she begin to reflect on the etymology of the word. The root of “educate” comes from educe, from the Latin, meaning "to lead forth" or "lead out of," which then led her to think, leading out of … what? From where and to where? And who is doing the leading? For whom? And why? Weaving in her personal conversations and experiences alongside different cultural texts – from Valley of the Bird Tail to An Education to Tom Wayman’s “Did I Miss Anything?” – she ultimately focuses on M. NourbeSe Philip’s She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks to demonstrate the potential deleterious effects of an “education.” It is not always an innocent or innocuous process.

Indigenous mothers, Indigenous children, Indigenous parents – Willie Poll sees you – and she wants you to know that you’re enough.


In this episode of Getting Lit With Linda, Willie Poll (Metis Nation of Ontario) discusses with Linda why she wrote this children’s book, titled My Little Ogichidaa, and the source of inspiration for its creation – in large part, the Moose Hide Campaign (2:00).

Linda begins this episode with a brief acknowledgement of the passing of Nobel Prize winner for the short story, Alice Munro – who died a couple of days before this episode was aired. It's a pertinent moment to take pause when the subject of this episode is, in part, about anniversaries - which often include remembering when a beloved person dies or, as was the case only a few days ago, honouring a special person - like mothers on Mothers' Day. Who we choose to so honour and how we do so says a great deal about us, not just the persons we are honouring.

In this live episode -- the second one of Getting Lit With Linda held at the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival and co-sponsored by the Quebec Writers' Federation -- Linda speaks with Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashi, Beaver Clan, of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation) about their book, Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, A White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation. The book has been receiving all manner of recognition — and deservedly so. In this interview, Douglas and Andrew explain how and why we have arrived at the present moment, and how there is hope for finding the pathway toward meaningful reconciliation.

What does the work of painter Renoir and his paintings of full-bodied women (2.15; 12.34), and tanning beds (2:30) have to do with the Quebecois author Marie Claire Blais (3:15) and La Belle Bette/Mad Shadows (3:20)? Have a listen to today’s episode to find out … In this episode, Linda looks at Blais’s Mad Shadows and its historical importance to Quebec.

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Quel est le rapport entre l'œuvre du peintre Renoir et ses tableaux de femmes épanouies (2.15 ; 12.34), et les lits de bronzage (2:30), et l'auteure québécoise Marie Claire Blais (3:15) et La Belle Bette/Mad Shadows ( 3:20) ? Écoutez l'épisode d'aujourd'hui pour le découvrir... Dans cet épisode, Linda se penche sur La Belle Bette et son importance historique pour le Québec.

In this episode, Linda and Bryn Turnbull discuss her new historical novel, The Paris Deception - and what it means to represent women's lives historically when there has been inadequate records or representation for them.Linda considers the Indigo Girls and their song about Virginia Woolf - and listening attentively to the voices of women through time. Turnbull alludes to The Monuments Men (both the movie and the book) and her novel as an equivalent for women to such a story. Among other topics, we address necessary deceptions (18.56), significant visual art work still missing since the Second World War (21.30), and women as scapegoats during Second World War (27).