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For GBR’s first Patreon Preview, Makda is joined by Edmonton-based queer astrologer Milo Anderson Offerein for the first instalment of a four-part series on literary horoscopes. In this sneak peek, Milo gives a crash course in Astrology 101 before the pair recommend some reads for air signs Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. To listen to the full episode, subscribe to the Glass Bookshop Radio Patreon! Check out Milo’s astrological offerings on their website. You can find Milo on Twitter @AleaMilo and Instagram @moondemilo, as well as Facebook and Substack. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop.

After a brief, tech delay-induced break, GBR is back in action this week with special guest Priya Guns. The author of YOUR DRIVER IS WAITING sits down with Makda to talk origin stories, the highs and lows of writing in academia, and anger as a tool for transformation.  Priya Guns is an actor and writer previously published in short story anthologies, gal-dem, and Spring magazine, and anonymously in The Guardian. Born in Jaffna and raised in Tkaronto, she graduated from York University and studied Creative Writing at Kingston University in the U.K. No matter where she is, she is Scarborough at heart. YOUR DRIVER IS WAITING is her debut novel. Browse our back catalogue on our website and support the show by subscribing to the Glass Bookshop Radio Patreon! You can order YOUR DRIVER IS WAITING here.  You can find Priya on Twitter @priya_guns and on her website.  Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop.

On this episode of GBR, Makda is joined by multidisciplinary artist and educator Britta Badour to talk all things WIRES THAT SPUTTER, Britta's debut poetry collection. They discuss the skills performance poets bring to the page, what makes WIRES THAT SPUTTER feel like an album, and playfulness as creative practice. Britta Badour, better known as Britta B., is a Toronto based award-winning artist, poet, and educator. As a spoken word performer, she has featured at notable events such as The Walrus Talks, TEDx, as well as international literature festivals like Women of the World Poetry Slam and LitFest Bergen. She is the recipient of the Breakthrough Artist Award (Toronto Arts Foundation, 2021) and Lecturer of the Year (COCA, 2021). Britta holds an MFA in creative writing from University of Guelph and teaches spoken word performance at Seneca College. Support the show by subscribing to the Glass Bookshop Radio Patreon! You can order WIRES THAT SPUTTER here. You can find Britta on Twitter and Instagram @missbrittab and on her website. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop.

This week on the pod, writer, editor, and pop culture aficionado Jen Sookfong Lee joins Makda for her second stint on GBR, this time to discuss her new memoir SUPERFAN: HOW POP CULTURE BROKE MY HEART. The pair talk about the power of saying no, fandom in the Internet age, and the relationship between nostalgia and memory. Jen Sookfong Lee was born and raised in Vancouver’s East Side, and she now lives with her son in North Burnaby. Her books include The Conjoined, nominated for International Dublin Literary Award and a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, The Better Mother, a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award, The End of East, The Shadow List, and Finding Home. Jen acquires and edits for ECW Press and co-hosts the literary podcast, Can’t Lit. Her newest book is the memoir Superfan. Support the show by subscribing to the Glass Bookshop Radio Patreon! You can order SUPERFAN here and listen to Jen’s previous GBR episode here. You can find Jen on Twitter @JenSookfongLee and on Instagram @jenleefur. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop.

This week on the pod, GBR makes its triumphant return with an episode featuring two writers and interdisciplinary artists we all know and love: Emily Riddle and Jessica Johns. Celebrating Emily’s debut poetry collection THE BIG MELT and Jess’ debut novel BAD CREE, our favourite pair of besties come together to discuss the many kinds of love that make their lives full, the significance of writing the books they wished they had as teens, and the identity-affirming power of cultural knowledge. Emily Riddle is Nehiyaw and a member of the Alexander First Nation (Kipohtakaw). A writer, editor, policy analyst, language learner and visual artist, she lives in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton). She is the senior advisor of Indigenous relations at the Edmonton Public Library. Her writing has been published in The Globe and Mail, Teen Vogue, The Malahat Review and Room Magazine, among others. In 2021, she was awarded the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Award. Emily Riddle is a semi-dedicated Oilers fan and a dedicated Treaty Six descendant who believes deeply in the brilliance of the Prairies and their people. Jessica Johns is a nehiyaw aunty with English-Irish ancestry and a member of Sucker Creek First Nation in Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta. She is an interdisciplinary artist and winner of the 2020 Writers’ Trust Journey Prize. Browse our back catalogue on our website and support the show by subscribing to the Glass Bookshop Radio Patreon. You can order THE BIG MELT here and BAD CREE here (be sure to check out Cree & D too). You can find Emily on Twitter and Instagram @emilyjaneriddle and Jess on Twitter @jessicastellaaa and Instagram @jessicastellaa. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop.

Travel back in time and enjoy a recording from our June launch of Rollie Pemberton’s stellar memoir BEDROOM RAPPER. Rollie appears in conversation with musician, journalist, and friend, Vish Khanna. ***This conversation was originally published as an episode of Vish’s podcast Kreative Kontrol. Check out the episode and support Kreative Kontrol here.*** Rollie Pemberton is a writer, rapper, producer, poet and activist who performs under the name Cadence Weapon. He won the 2021 Polaris Music Prize for his album Parallel World. His writing has been published in Pitchfork, The Guardian, Wired and Hazlitt. Currently based in Toronto, Pemberton was a former Poet Laureate in his hometown of Edmonton. Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Vish Khanna works for CKUA Radio and has played in several bands and toured North America. He hosts a renowned topical interview podcast called Kreative Kontrol, is an Assistant Editor at Exclaim! Magazine, where he oversees the Comedy section, and he’s a co-organizer of the Long Winter arts series in Toronto, where he hosts a monthly talk show called Long Night with Vish Khanna. He was a Host and Producer at CBC Radio 3 and is an on-air columnist for the CBC Radio One program, The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers. He wrote a monthly arts column for the Guelph Mercury Tribune and his written work has also been featured in Pitchfork, NOW, the AV Club, the Globe and Mail, Spinner, Huffington Post, Signal to Noise, Aux, Eye Weekly, Chart Attack, Off the Shelf, and more. He began organizing and promoting concerts in Guelph in 1997 and did so sporadically until 2019 (including December’s annual Stay Out of the Mall mini-festival), under the moniker KYEO, which is a reference to a Fugazi song of the same name. He once co-hosted CFRU 93.3 FM‘s The Mich Vish Interracial Morning Show! with his wife Michelle. You can order BEDROOM RAPPER here. Find Rollie on Twitter and Instagram @cadenceweapon; or on his website and stream the album, Parallel World, wherever you get your music. Find Vish on Twitter and Instagram @vishkhanna; or on his website. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on the Glass Bookshop Radio website.  Transcript to come.

This week on the pod, Glass Bookshop's very own Arden Phillips and Moriah Crocker join Makda for their GBR debut. In advance of the holiday season, The Glass Gals (trademark pending) offer up an expertly curated gift guide that's sure to have something on it for everyone on your list. Books/products mentioned: MAKING LOVE WITH THE LAND by Joshua Whitehead COLD ENOUGH FOR SNOW by Jessica Au BAD FRUIT by Ella King SOMEBODY LOVES YOU by Mona Arshi HONEY AND SPICE by Bolu Babalola HAVING AND BEING HAD by Eula Biss Teremoto Puzzle by Michelle Campos Castillo Assorted Earrings by Warren Steven Scott Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on the Glass Bookshop Radio website.  Transcript to come.

This week on the pod, Makda sits down with writer, publisher, and friend of the shop Michael Hingston to chat about his new book TRY NOT TO BE STRANGE. They discuss what makes something obsession-worthy, the value of books as aesthetic objects, transferable skills between journalistic and literary writing, and more. Michael Hingston is a writer and publisher in Edmonton, Alberta. He is the author of the books Let’s Go Exploring and The Dilettantes, as well as the co-author of Harnarayan Singh’s memoir One Game at a Time. Hingston’s writing has appeared in Wired, National Geographic, The Atlantic, and the Washington Post. He is also one of the co-founders of Hingston & Olsen Publishing, makers of the Short Story Advent Calendar and other literary experiments.  You can order TRY NOT TO BE STRANGE here. Find Michael on Twitter @mhingston or on his website. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on the Glass Bookshop Radio website.  Transcript to come.

In this episode, Makda is joined by professor, podcaster, and writer Hannah McGregor for a deep dive into her new memoir A SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION. Together, they talk about podcasting as a scholarly practice, establishing boundaries online, building rituals of care, and more. Hannah McGregor (she/her) is a professor and podcaster living on the traditional and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She co-hosts the podcast Witch, Please, a critical rereading of the Harry Potter series, and on occasion she writes books.  You can order A SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION here.  Find Hannah on Twitter and Instagram @hkpmcgregor; or on her website.  Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on our website.  Transcript to come.

This week on the pod, Makda sits down with poet Alycia Pirmohamed to discuss her debut poetry collection ANOTHER WAY TO SPLIT WATER. They chat about online poetry forums, the trickiness of titles, writing in nature, and much more. Alycia Pirmohamed is a Canadian-born poet based in Scotland. She is the author of Another Way to Split Water, the chapbooks Hinge and Faces that Fled the Wind, and the collaborative essay Second Memory, which was co-authored with Pratyusha. Alycia received an MFA from the University of Oregon and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize, and the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. You can order ANOTHER WAY TO SPLIT WATER here. Find Alycia on Twitter @a_pirmohamed; on Instagram @alyciap_; or on her website. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on our website. Transcript to come.

In this episode, Makda chats with writer and activist Tsering Yangzom Lama about her debut novel WE MEASURE THE EARTH WITH OUR BODIES. The pair talk Tibetan literary influences, the intersection of art and activism, what it means to write "responsibly", and more. Tsering Yangzom Lama's debut novel, WE MEASURE THE EARTH WITHOUT BODIES, is a New York Times Summer Reads Pick and has been longlisted for the Toronto Book Award and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. She holds an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and a BA in Creative Writing and International Relations from the University of British Columbia. She currently lives in Vancouver, Canada.  You can order WE MEASURE THE EARTH WITH OUR BODIES here. Find Tsering on Twitter @tseringylama or on her website. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on glassbookshopradio.com.  Transcript to come.

For the Season 3 finale, Makda sits down with novelist-turned-poet Farzana Doctor for a conversation about her debut collection YOU STILL LOOK THE SAME. The pair talk unorthodox organizing principles, building self-care into the writing process, the blurry distinction between speaker and poet, and more. Farzana Doctor is the Tkaronto-based author of four critically acclaimed novels: Stealing Nasreen, Six Metres of Pavement, All Inclusive, and Seven. You Still Look The Same is her debut poetry collection. Farzana is also the Maasi behind Dear Maasi, a new sex and relationships column for FGM/C survivors. She is also an activist and part-time psychotherapist. You can order YOU STILL LOOK THE SAME here. Find Farzana on Twitter and Instagram @farzanadoctor; and on her website. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on glassbookshopradio.com.  Transcript to come.

This week, Makda speaks with multi-genre author Sandra SG Wong about her crime novel IN THE DARK WE FORGET. They chat about the allure of the Rockies, the untapped potential of unreliable narrators, feeling empowered in publishing, and more. Sandra SG Wong (she/her) writes fiction across genres, including the cross-genre Lola Starke novels and Crescent City short stories. A Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence finalist & Whistler Independent Book Awards nominee, as well as a speaker, mentor, and hybrid author, Sandra chairs the DEIJB Advisory Committee for Sisters in Crime and is a proud member of Crime Writers of Color. A standalone suspense, IN THE DARK WE FORGET is her most recent release. Tweet her @S_G_Wong & visit sgwong.com. You can order IN THE DARK WE FORGET here. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on glassbookshopradio.com.  Transcript to come.

In this episode, poets Z.Y. Yang and Natalie Wee become fast friends as they discuss Natalie’s latest poetry collection BEAST AT EVERY THRESHOLD. They talk about experimenting with form, making space for tenderness, reimagining the beastly, and much more. Z.Y. Yang (they/them) is a writer, poet, and haver of many names. They were born in Wuhan, China and grew up in the Canadian prairies on Treaty 6 territory. They are currently completing a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto, and their poems have been published in places such as Room, Contemporary Verse 2, and This Magazine. Natalie Wee is a queer creator. She is the author of OUR BODIES & OTHER FINE MACHINES (San Press, 2021) and BEAST AT EVERY THRESHOLD (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022). Her work was named first runner-up for the 2020 PRISM International Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize, winner of the 2019 Blue Mesa Review Summer Contest for poetry, and a Best of the Net finalist. Born in Singapore to Malaysian parents, Natalie is currently a settler in Tkaronto and was part of the Project 40 Collective, a Tkaronto-based pan-Asian artist community. She likes strawberry milk bread and banana milk (not bread). You can order BEAST AT EVERY THRESHOLD here. Where to find Z.Y.: on Twitter @zyyyyyang. Where to find Natalie: on Instagram @revengerice, on Twitter @natweewriter, or on her website. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on the Glass Bookshop Radio website. Transcript to come.

In this episode, Makda sits down with culture writer Elamin Abdelmahmoud for a conversation about his memoir/essay collection SON OF ELSEWHERE. The duo talk about leaning into introspection, the power of a perfect playlist, what’s in a name, and much more. Elamin Abdelmahmoud is a culture writer for BuzzFeed News where he also writes Incoming, the daily BuzzFeed News morning newsletter. He was a founding co-host of the CBC Politics podcast Party Lines, currently hosts CBC’s pop culture show Pop Chat, and is a contributor to The National’s "At Issue" panel. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Globe and Mail, and others. When he gets a chance, he writes bad tweets. You can order SON OF ELSEWHERE here. Find Elamin on Instagram @elamin and on Twitter @elamin88. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on the Glass Bookshop Radio website. Transcript to come.

This week on the pod, poets and pals Sanna Wani and Manahil Bandukwala join us from different rooms in Sanna’s home to chat about her book MY GRIEF, THE SUN. As they discuss the collection (and Manahil’s forthcoming debut MONUMENT), the pair celebrate love poems, Ontario’s Credit River, everyday acts of care, and much more.   Sanna Wani is a Kashmiri poet living by the Missinnihe river. MY GRIEF, THE SUN is her first book. She loves daisies.   Manahil Bandukwala is a writer and visual artist originally from Pakistan and now settled in Canada. In 2021, she was shortlisted for the bpNichol Chapbook Award. She works as Coordinating Editor for Arc Poetry Magazine, and is Digital Content Editor for Canthius. She is a member of Ottawa-based collaborative writing group VII. Her project Reth aur Reghistanis a multidisciplinary exploration of folklore from Pakistan interpreted through poetry and sculpture. She holds an MA in English from the University of Waterloo. MONUMENT, out September 2022, is her first book. You can order MY GRIEF, THE SUN here (and pre-order MONUMENT here). Find Sanna on Instagram @sannawani and Twitter @sannareya, or on her website; find Manahil on Instagram and Twitter @manahilbanduk, or on her website. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on the Glass Bookshop Radio website.  Transcript to come.

This week on the pod, culture writer Gloria Alamrew and author Jessamine Chan discuss Jessamine’s debut novel THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS. They talk motherhood, dynamic female characters, writing dystopia in already dystopian times, and more. Jessamine Chan’s short stories have appeared in Tin House and Epoch. A former reviews editor at Publishers Weekly, she holds an MFA from Columbia University. Her work has received support from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Wurlitzer Foundation, Jentel, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, the Anderson Center, VCCA, and Ragdale. Her first novel, THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS, is a New York Times bestseller and a Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club pick. She lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter. Gloria Alamrew is an Edmonton-based, Ethiopian-Canadian culture writer and editor. With a background in philosophy, her sharp writing and criticism focuses on critical analysis and centres around Blackness, culture, and womanhood, and the myriad ways they intersect. You can find her work in Refinery29, CBC, Parents Magazine, The Site Magazine, Well + Good, Huffington Post Black Voices, Zora Mag, Avenue Edmonton, among others. You can order THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS here. Where to find Jessamine: on Twitter @jessaminechan, on Instagram @jessamine.chan, or on her website. Where to find Gloria: on Twitter and Instagram @gloriaalamrew, or on her website. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on the Glass Bookshop Radio website. Transcript to come.

On this episode, illustrator Raymond Biesinger and architecture critic Alex Bozikovic interview one another about their new book, 305 LOST BUILDINGS OF CANADA. In the process, they chart their career paths, explore their artistic processes, examine the political nature of architecture, and more. Raymond Biesinger is an illustrator and artist born in 1979 who lived in Edmonton for twenty years and is also into editorial and commercial work on almost any subject. Other interests: minimalism, maximalism, world and local history, economics, music, science fiction, historic buildings, pictorial mazes, keeping a 135-year-old Montreal home from collapsing, etc. Past clients include a long list of business, culture, politics, and lifestyle magazines from around the globe. Alex Bozikovic is an architecture critic for the Globe and Mail and co-author of TORONTO ARCHITECTURE: A CITY GUIDE. He has also written for Toronto Life, Azure, and Metropolis. You can order 305 LOST BUILDINGS OF CANADA here. Find Raymond on Instagram @raymondbiesinger or on his website; find Alex on Twitter and Instagram @alexbozikovic. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on the Glass Bookshop Radio website.  Transcript to come.

This week on the pod, Jason sits down with Anne-Marie Turza—one of their all-time favourite poets—to discuss her latest collection FUGUE WITH BEDBUG. The pair chat about writing the microscopic, poetry’s untapped intertextual potential, their mutual love of Tolstoy's ANNA KARENINA, and much more. Anne-Marie Turza is the author of two collections of poetry, THE QUIET (Anansi, 2014), and FUGUE WITH BEDBUG (Anansi, 2022), and the chapbook SLIP MINUTE (Baseline, 2018). She was a finalist for the Bronwen Wallace Award and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Her debut collection, a Globe and Mail Top 100 book, was released to critical acclaim. She holds an MFA from the University of Victoria and a Bachelor of Nursing Science from Queen’s University. She lives in the territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən, the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. You can order FUGUE WITH BEDBUG here. Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on the Glass Bookshop Radio website. Transcript to come.

In this episode, Makda is joined by poet Steffi Tad-y to discuss Steffi’s debut poetry collection FROM THE SHORELINE. They talk about the pros and cons of formal literary education, what it means to make the ordinary extraordinary, Steffi’s ideal imagined reader, and much more. Steffi Tad-y is a poet and writer from Manila and currently lives in Vancouver on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Her first chapbook, I DID NOT WANT TO BE READ, I WANTED TO BE BELIEVED IN, was published by Frog Hollow Press under its Dis/ability Series Catalogue in 2019. Her second chapbook, MERIENDA, was published by Rahila’s Ghost Press in 2021. Some of her poems can also be found in Open Minds Quarterly, Event Magazine, Train Poetry Journal, and Red Alder Review. She is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio. You can order FROM THE SHORELINE here. Find Steffi on Instagram @steffitaddashy, or on her website. Register for Steffi's book launch with Massy Books & Massy Arts here.  Find Glass Bookshop on all social platforms @glassbookshop and check out previous episodes of the show on the Glass Bookshop Radio website. Transcript is available here.