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Over the course of the last 6 years on Daybreak, Russell Bowers and Angie Abdou have gathered monthly to discuss new Alberta books. On the final Daybreak Christmas Book Show, they chat one last time about 4 new books from, Theresa Shea ("The Shade Tree"), Micheline Maylor ("The Bad Wife"), Ken Haigh ("On Foot to Canterbury"), Colin Harris (Take me Outside: Running Across the Canadian Landscape")

Over the course of the month of December, CBC is looking into the high cost of food. A recent Dalhousie University study pegged food inflation at 5% and the group, Vibrant Calgary, found families are spending roughly $220/month more this year over last. Budgets are tight so to examine how some folks are coping, Russell Bowers reached out to 3 Albertans for his show, Daybreak. Joan Karlowsky is a retiree in Calgary, Georgia Hanson is a teacher in Fort MacLeod, and Shauna Ogston is a stay-at-home mother is Calgary. You can find more of these stories and other ways to save money on groceries on our website, cbc/ca/calgary, or google CBC Calgary and The High Cost of Food. You can also contribute your own story and any helpful hints you may have found

The Romance genre is the most popular fiction genre on the bookshelves and millions of readers consume these tales of love every day around the world. Eight Alberta romance writers have combined their talents to publish an eight-novel collection under the title, "Hugs, Kisses, and Mistletoe Wishes." The stories range from sexy to historical but in keeping with the season, these eight writers decided to stick with “sweet romance,” charming feel-good love stories set during the holidays. One of the authors involved is Ellen Jorgy and joined Russell from her home in Red Deer county.

Daybreak's books reviewer, Angie Abdou ("This One Wild Life") joins Russell to discuss a new book about multilingualism by Julie Sedivy, as well as a new children's adventure by Jocey Asnong.

For the first time in 40 years, Swedish pop megastars, ABBA have returned to record shops with a album of new material. Fans and retailers alike were excited by the news, as was University of Alberta instructor, Jon Eason. He teaches Scandinavian Studies and this new music was a welcome sound in his classroom. He joined Russell to chat about and listen to the album.

Each year, the clubs belonging to the National Hockey League take it in turns to select amateur players from all over the world. Some of the young athletes already come with reputations for greatness but most of the teams draft in hope of finding raw talent. During the last 50 years, a handful of these drafts have played a pivotal role in shaping the NHL for a generation. The story of those drafts is detailed in a new book, "Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years in NHL History," and it's written by father and son, Evan Dowbiggin and Bruce Dowbiggin (Of Ice and Men, Cap In Hand, The Meaning of Puck.)

Books reviewer, Angie Abdou stops by for the month of October to have a chat about "Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas" by Omar Mouallem of Edmonton.

Julie Sedivy is an award-winning writer and linguist who has just published her latest book, "Memory Speaks - On Losing and Reclaiming Language and Self." Its a scientific and personal meditation on language loss and the possibility of renewal. As a child, Julie Sedivy left Czechoslovakia, eventually settling in Alberta. The English language soon took over her life and she writes that for her there was more at stake than the loss of language: there is also the loss of identity. Julie Sedivy spoke with Russell safe from home on Daybreak.

Jon Turk has been an adventure writer over the last 6 decades. His new book will be featured at the Banff Mountain Book Festival and it's available from Rocky Mountain Books. The new book is called "Tracking Lions: Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu." Books Reviewer, Angie Abdou, sat down with Russell to discuss it.

In the 2021 federal election campaign, the Liberals, Conservatives, and NDP are all promising to fix Canada’s electricity system as part of their climate policy. The aim is to speed the switch from oil and gas and coal to clean electricity. To do that, experts say Canada will need two or three times as much electricity in the next generation, so all the Parties say we need a national power grid. Markham Hislop is a climate and energy journalist and he spoke with Russell about what this plan means for Alberta.

The Calgary International Film Festival will be celebrating the province's film-making talent during their 22 annual festival scheduled from September 23 to October 3. CIFF's Alberta Spotlight will showcase four diverse feature movies, including "Here and After." It's directed by Calgarian, Shaun Crawford, and the story focuses Ray and Arora as Arora makes an audacious claim that she can predict the outcome of their day together and it only gets more intriguing from there. Shaun Crawford is a first time director on this flick, although he had previous screenwriter success with the film, "A Miracle On Christmas Lake."

During the federal election, politicians and pundits have plenty of opportunity to express their views, so at Daybreak, Russell decided to reach out to some of the voters who will actually cast a ballot this year. Bonnie Beaumier is a part-time teacher, James Raworth is lawyer, and Wendy Stans is a florist.

During the federal election, politicians and pundits have plenty of opportunity to express their views. Meanwhile at Daybreak, Russell decided to reach out to some of the voters who will actually cast a ballot this year. Jeff Yip is an oil and gas engineer in Calgary, Chuck Orlick is an accountant from Stettler, and Kismet Caffet is an office manager in Medicine Hat.

Books reviewer Angie Abdou is back for the month of August. Angie is a professor of creative writing at Athabasca University and she's the author of "The One Wild Life," a memoir about hiking and adventuring with her daughter. However, Angie joins Russell to chat about 3 Alberta books on her desk this week-end.

This past week, Russell wandered into a shop in the Mission district of Calgary, called Inspirati, a shop that sells tea towels. Many people have memories of the tea towels we would see in kitchens as children. As it turned out, Russell got quite a lesson in tea towels and other types of linens from the shop's proprietor, Wendy Brownie.

In her latest look at a new Alberta book, Angie Abdou (This One Wild Life, The Bone Cage) reviews a new memoir by Reinekke Lengelle, "Writing the Self in Bereavement."

Best-selling author, and long-time New Yorker writer, Tony Hiss has written a prescription for a planet in trouble as he looks at the damage done to Earth and how to move forward. "Rescuing The Planet" takes readers on a journey to meet people who trying to save place for nature to flourish and explains why it is in all our interest. He's especially excited by climate efforts being made in Canada and in Alberta. Russell reached Tony Hiss in New York City.

Ten years ago this month, the multiple award-winning Canadian travel blog Toque & Canoe launched here in Calgary. Co-founders Jen Twyman and Kim Gray portaged a bright red canoe through downtown to mark the occasion. The two women, one a photojournalist and another a writer, were determined to re-invigorate what media coverage of travel in Canada could look like. They felt like mavericks in the digital media space however, a decade on, Toque & Canoe continues to produce their own brand of travel culture in Canada. Editor-in-chief Kim Gray joined Russell to talk all things travel.

Born and raised in small town Alberta, singer, Jennie Harluk, has spent much of her life exploring music and honing her craft. She was studying piano at six, and by age 10 she was performing regularly and writing her own songs. She's already been on the stage at the Calgary Stampede and the Country Thunder Festival. Jennie's debut single “Blame It On Me” came out to all streaming platforms on July 23 and she spoke with Russell about her life and new single.

The amount of physicians and health care professionals available to cover shifts in rural Alberta have been scarce and it's led to a string of temporary emergency room closures, as well as breaks in certain medical procedures for months in smaller communities. A shortage of physicians and other health care staff in rural Alberta isn't new as rural hospitals have always struggled with attracting and retaining physicians and health care professionals for various reasons. However, what hasn't been seen is this frequency of temporary emergency room closures, and breaks in service. The CBC's Tahirih Foroozan joined Russell to talk more about this issue.