S9 Ep. 17 Eleanor Shearer on Migrants in Hiding and a Caribbean History of Canada

Novelist Eleanor Shearer joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new novel, Fireflies in Winter, which depicts the little-known history of how the Leeward Maroons of Jamaica—a free Black community descended from formerly enslaved Africans and indigenous people—came to Nova Scotia at the end of the 18th century. Shearer, who is British and has Caribbean ancestry, explains the genesis of her interest in the Maroons as an example of successful resistance to slavery, since they fought the British in Jamaica, but also a kind of collusion with it, as they captured and returned runaway slaves to plantations there. She reflects on the connections between her Black heroines’ precarious situation in historic Canada and the situation of immigrants in the U.S. and elsewhere today. She also considers her research process, depicting queer life in earlier periods, the importance of sensory and embodied detail in historical writing, and her choice to write about the past in the present tense. Shearer reads from Fireflies in Winter.To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell.Eleanor ShearerFireflies in WinterRiver Sing Me Home‘Rebranded plantations’: how empire shaped luxury Caribbean tourism | Slavery | The GuardianOthersAnne of Green Gables by L.M. MontgomeryDavos 2026: Special address by Mark Carney, PM of Canada | World Economic ForumPrime Minister Carney delivers remarks at the World Economic Forum Annual MeetingBlack Loyalist Heritage Center, Nova ScotiaCarrefour Atlantic Emporium BookstoreFiction/Non/Fiction Season 8, Episode 22: Suzette Mayr and Kai Thomas on Canada Versus TrumpSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.