If you love crime and mystery writing, you will love MOTIVE - the Crime & Mystery Festival slated to take place between June 3 and June 5, 2022 at the Harborfront Centre in Toronto. The line-up of authors either speaking or giving workshops is nothing short of impressive: it features writers from Canada, of the ilk of Thomas King (who will be interviewed by CBC's Shelagh Rogers), but also international writers like Gunnar Staalesen, Thomas Enger,and Ilaria Tuti.

Linda chats with Terri Favro, an Toronto-based, Italian-Canadian author who is poised to release her next novel, The Sisters Sputnik, a sequel to her acclaimed speculative fiction novel, Sputnik's Children.

What do you want to know for? This is the question Linda considers as she writes her biography about Jane Rule - one that Nobel-Prize winning writer, Alice Munro, has considered many times as she weaves autobiography and fiction in her work, specifically in the book under discussion in this episode, The View from Castlerock.

In this episode, the second part of her interview with Stephen Collis, Linda goes in greater depth about Collis's poetry, speaking to him about his most recent collection of poetry, A History of the Theories of Rain (Talon Books).

In this episode, Linda interviews Stephen Collis about his most recent collection of poetry, A History of the Theories of Rain (Talon Books). The next episode is the second part of that interview. For now, just a couple of points of clarification: SFU, the acronym that Collis and Linda use in this interview, stands for Simon Fraser University. Also, they refer to the SLAPP suit by which Collis was confronted. For those of you who may have never heard of this before, a SLAPP suit is a civil lawsuit or counterclaim that alleges defamation but is really initiated for the purposes of intimidating, burdening, punishing, or harassing – and usually it is filed against people or organizations who speak out about issues of public interest.

In today's episode - for International Women's Day - Linda chats with Shani Mootoo about her forthcoming book of poetry, Cane Fire (Book *Hug) and the collaborative nature of its production.

In this episode, Linda has the great pleasure of chatting with , the writer, scholar, publisher, and current He is the author of several books, including 49th Parallel Psalm (finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize); Performance Bond; (finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award); the graphic novel, ; and (winner of the City of Vancouver Book Award). He has also edited two anthologies: and Orature and The Revolving City: 51 Poems and the Stories Behind Them (finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award).

In this first episode of the season, she considers the movie, Don't Look Up (dir. by Adam McKay, 1.13, 2.49), the nature of satire (with reference to Mordecai Richler, 2.00, and Jonathan Swift, 2.11), and the looming environmental crisis. It's a topic that poet, Rita Wong (4.32) has addressed unflinchingly in her work, especially forage (published by Nightwood Editions, winner of the Dorothy Livesay Prize, 6.09). Linda recalls getting in touch with Wong when her former student, Morgan Cohen (5.25), used her work in an independent study (which has since gone on to be published). In so doing, Linda is shocked to discover Wong's legal entanglement (7.44), but, in the process, she realizes and is inspired by Wong, who has made a clear decision to be a land protector.

Linda and several of this season's contributors--Chantel Lavoie, Marco Timpano, Amanda Barker, and Michael Nest--render their book recommendations for the holidays.

In this episode, Linda considers Richard Van Camp, a Dene author who wrangles with what masculinity is, what it looks for those who identify as men, and how and why that may (or should) change. Published by Great Plains Publications, The Moon of Letting Go is the book of focus in this episode, particularly the story, "Show me Yours" (7.27) - and yes, it means exactly what you think it does, but maybe not showing exactly what you think it might. Linda refers to one of the preeminent scholars of Van Camp's work, Dr. Sam McKegney (6.01), and cites from his work, The Burden of Peace (University of Regina Press, 2021), to explore what Van Camp is trying to accomplish in this work.

As #winterstormwarnings arrive, perhaps you may want to curl up with some of the writers' books that were shortlisted for the Quebec Writers' Federation awards - Linda speaks to some of the writers shortlisted for the Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature, in addition to one of the poets shortlisted for the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. She also spoke about the QWF Gala and the times she slipped on floor-length ballgowns over her jeans for the Governor General's Awards before entering Rideau Hall in Ottawa. So she asked the writers interviewed for this episode how they felt about being shortlisted.

Linda opens this episode with a dedication to her nephew -- and then "shares the light" of Diwali with children's literature author, Mitali Ruths, with whom she chats about her book Archie Celebrates Diwali. Published this year by Charlesbridge Archie Celebrates Diwali is based on an epic, Ramayana, and focuses on the South-Asian festival of lights (3.45, 8.45, and 10.30). Mitali addresses Diwali's origins (3.45 and 4.37), how it is celebrated (15.11), and the reasons for writing this story (7.30, 8.45, 10.30 and 18.30). She makes reference to Sanjay Patel's Ramayana: Divine Loophole (8.27); the significance of Archie's name (a reference to archana and to the Emmy-winning British actress, Archie Panjabi, 20); her fabulous illustrator, Parwinder Singh (4 and 4.15); and, more generally, the plot and meaning of the book (20.30). Mitali also locates this book as one among several in a renaissance of South-Asian stories (9.35).

Happy Hallowe-en! This episode tackles a book that deals with ghosts, gruesome accidents, and murder -- Kevin Lambert's You Will Love What You Have Killed, translated by Donald Winkler (published by Biblioasis 2020) from the French (Tu Aimeras Ce Que Tu As Tué, 5.40). Linda begins this episode with a personal anecdote about a dead body that was found in a dog house (on the property of her parents' neighbours): she uses this narrative to explore the idea of the "repressed," that is, those emotions or moments or stories we would prefer to forget. Lambert, she argues, not only does not allow us to forget the repressed, he insists we grapple with its elements--it makes for a disorienting and yet bewitching read, as even Le Devoir in its review of the book noted (11.43)! Like reigning horror writer from Quebec, Patrick Senecal (5.16), Lambert is skilfully eliciting a sense of our horror, highlighting its effects by locating the events of the book in Chicoutimi, Quebec (6.26) and toppling stereotypical notions of romance, or picturesque rural areas as featured in books like Maria Chapdelaine (7.00).If you want to read other reviews about Lambert's book, you can visit CBC book reviews here or Xtra here).

In this episode, multiple award-winning Nisga'a author Jordan Abel and host Linda Morra discuss his most recent book, Nishga (published by McClelland & Stewart in 2020), the intergenerational legacies of trauma for residential school survivors, and the importance of not only listening to, but also "witnessing" their stories. He speaks about his relationship with his father's art and the kinds of "activism" that writing might perform.

Linda focuses on Indigenous writers in this podcast in view of Orange Shirt Day (every child matters!) and the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. She recommends several writers (some of them featured on 49th shelf), including Cherie Dimaline and Joshua Whitehead.

Remember Shirley Temple, that Hollywood cinema's icon of idealized (white) girlhood? Linda looks up a short clip, "On the Good Ship Lollipop," and feels uncomfortable (trigger warning here) and explains why she and some of her students shared that experience. She considers the importance of contextualizing or historicizing our responses to cultural artefacts -- but, even so, there is good reason to feel uncomfortable about Temple's childhood performances. That's not necessarily the case for our interpretation of the heroine of the first part of Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony.

In this episode, addressing Jane Rule's Taking My Life (Talon Books), Linda discusses why bodies "complain" and what it means when they do. In the Takeaway section, she reviews Sara Ahmed's new book, Complaint (Duke University Press). In Complaint!, Ahmed examines institutional harassment and bullying, and how to read complaints that are lodged against such institutions. In the entirety of the episode, Linda is discussing how we respond to different forms of "grooming" (Ahmed) or bodily coercion - and why indeed the body complains.

In this episode, and as part of the Sealey challenge, Linda interviews poet and scholar, Chantel Lavoie, about her love for the poetry of Margaret Atwood - in particular, the collections Morning in the Burned House (Penguin Random House), The Door (Penguin Random House), and Dearly (HarperCollins).

We develop relationships with people and communities as we share stories with them--in fact, that is a sign of our role or place within the community--but we don't get to demand to hear them, especially when we are not a part of that community. In this episode, Linda examines Thomas King's collection, One Good Story, That One (published by HarperCollins), and particularly the story of the same title, with this idea in mind. She considers his literary technique in relation to Van Gogh's Starry Night (you can check out the painting in this Van Gogh immersive exhibition) and then his other story and graphic novel, Borders. The latter is relevant in relation to the Takeway portion of the podcast, in which she interviews her former student Darrin Prine about the genre. Darrin introduced her to Spice & Wolf (by Isuna Hasekura, with illustrations by Jū Ayakura), and in this section, he also makes reference to Goblin Slayer (by Kumo Kagyu), Watchmen (by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon), Middlewest (by Skottie Young and Jorge Corona), and Full Metal Alchemist (by Hiromu Arakawa).

In reflecting about her father and her visit with him to his small Italian village some years ago, Linda draws comparisons with Nino Ricci's Lives of the Saints (Penguin/Random House), in which the young male protagonist, Vittorio, must work out how he feels about his mother who flies in the face of the strict moral codes of the Italian town. With reference to other Italian-Canadian writers -- Terri Favro, Connie Guzzo-McParland, Pier Giorgio Di Cicco -- and also the audio book read by Marco Timpano (with great thanks to Penguin/Random House for permissions), the television version of Ricci's novel and Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Madelena, the episode addresses the patriarchal conditions for women in Italy, but also what it means to see our parents as more than just parents, but as people with their own lives, dreams, and regrets. In the Takeaway section -- and perhaps a counterpoint to the episode's discussion -- Linda looks at and recommends Dior's Petit Dictionnaire de La Mode, which she picked up at the recent Dior Exhibit at the McCord Museum in Montreal, Quebec.