Getting Lit with Linda - The Canadian Literature Podcast

This is Getting Lit with Linda’s 100th episode – a real milestone! To mark this specific achievement, three scholars join Linda to speak about an historic author rather than a contemporary one: the magnificent Jane Rule. Born in 1936, she authored several short story collections, essays, and novels, including The Desert of the Heart (Talon), a landmark novel published in 1964 and made into a movie in 1985. The movie was titled Desert Hearts (2.10) directed by Donna Deitch. The three scholars are Marilyn Schuster, “the godmother of Jane Rule Studies” (3.00; author of Passionate Communities and A Queer Love Story, 14.15 ), Amber Dean (working on a second volume of Jane Rule’s letters exchanged with Rick Bébout, 14:18 ), and Cate Sandilands (completing a collection of stories, titled Dear Jane Rule). Linda has also comipleted her biography about Rule. Why are they so enamored of her? You’ll have to listen to this episode to find out!They talk about some of Rule’s novels, short stories, and essays, including The Desert of the Heart (1.55; 6:00; 6:55), The Young in One Another’s Arms (7:45), Inland Passage, (9:38), Lesbian Images (9:00), This is Not for You (12.54), and Contract with the World (12.04). They also speak about the following:·     Some of Jane Rule’s awards (Order of British Columbia and Order of Canada, 1.20)·     David Anderson (11:12), a scholar who completed his doctorate in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University·     James Baldwin (17:55) and the citation, “If I am not what you say I am, then you are not who you think you are.”·     Jane’s letters and prolific letter writing (17.40; 22:45; 28:25)·     Public lesbianism (16.32); being critical of insular heteronormativity (17.10)·     Galiano Island (22:45; 28:15), their swimming pool (25:54), and the Bank of Jane (26:19)Stick around for the takeaway and their advice to aspiring writers and researchers! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this interview, award-winning poet, Farah Ghafoor talks to Linda about Shadow Price (House of Anansi), shortlisted for the Trillium Prizes this year (check out our social media for pics from the event!). Since Ghafoor invites her readers to pay closer attention to our immediate biospheres, Linda does just that – opening with observations about the natural microcosm of which she is a part (yep, squirrels are mentioned).This is a very smart collection, that traverses subjects as far ranging as economics to the history of trees. Ghafoor invites her readers on that journey to remind them that they are not passive consumers but making decisions every day that highlight we have more power than we think -- and it all begins with where we focus our attention. Other highlights:Trillium Prize Book Awards (2:46)Jenny Odell's How to do Nothing (6:00)Passivity, passive voice, perspectives that imply passivity (8:00)The importance of the past to our future(s) (15:30)Guy Debord’s The Society of Spectacle (22:50)The Labubus (22.35)Producer: Linda Morra; Associate Producer; Maia Harris; Music by Raphael Krux Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anyone who knows Linda also knows that she has a very passionate love-hate relationship with the city of Montreal. While one some days, she is bursting with pride for all that is wonderful about the city, on other days, she is less enthusiastic. But she’s not alone in her ardour, as the litany of authors who have been featuring Montreal in their work highlights—from Louise Penny's Grey Wolf (Minotaur Books) to Lee Lai's award-winning Cannon (Drawn & Quarterly), Montreal is a city that people love to write about. In this episode, Linda chats with another such author – Arjun Basu – about his novel The Reeds (ECW Press) – and how Montreal is featured, somewhat unobtrusively as part of the plot but also as another character in this novel. The four main characters, each perspective advancing the plot, are what Basu refers as “Four Equals One”—but Linda adds Montreal to that list.Want to know more about this novel? Check out this review in Montreal Review of Books. Producer: Linda Morra; Associate Producer; Maia Harris; Music by Raphael Krux Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Linda interviews Lee Lai about Cannon, the graphic novel for which Lai was shortlisted for the Carol Shields Prize (the only author on the shortlist with a Canadian connection).The friendship between the protagonist of the same name (Cannon) and Trish puts the very definition of their relationship to the test, complicated in part because Cannon is trying to be responsible to everyone around her—and the net result is that Cannon fails to advocate for herself.Lai refers to Love in a F** Up World by the activist and educator Dean Spade, which Linda picked up after the interview. She was fascinated by Spade's question: How do we build lasting and effective resistance movements, if we are not even examining the ethics of foundational relationships like friendship? That’s the question that Lee Lai takes up. Lai isn’t dismissive or casual about friendship—it isn’t “just friendship” in that sense, but rather friendship that is fair, ethical, democratic.Other points of discussion- loving conflict (as Lee Lai says, “as the only thing that genuinely changes unsustainably bad dynamics”)- types of conflict: inner, between people, between art production and the way we see the world- Sarah Schulman, Conflict is Not Abuse (see also Ties that Bind and Let the Record Show)- chosen families and queer friendships- betrayal in friendship and unchecked expectations- Tuck Woodstock (podcaster) and the Gender Reveal podcast- Randa Abdel-Fattah's interview for the podcast, Between the Covers (David Naimon; see also Mariam Kaba's interview for this podcast)- Sheila Watson’s The Double Hook- R.F. Kuang, Yellowface- James McEvoy, Love and Friendship in the Western Tradition : From Plato to Postmodernity (2023)Producer: Linda Morra; Associate Producer; Maia Harris; Music by Raphael Krux Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Season 7 of Getting Lit with Linda, where we learn to love literature one book at a time!In this episode, Linda interviews the Métis writer, Brittany Penner about her memoir, Children Like Us (Random House Canada). It's elegantly written and carefully crafted, and, in spite of the book's length, Linda couldn't put it down. Linda and Brittany discuss her childhood, the Sixties Scoop (14:32), Brittany's story around being adopted (19:10), and the medical system, in Saskatchewan and Quebec, and across Canada.Here are some other highlights of their discussion:Stanford Marshellow Experiment (23:32)Joyce Echaquan and the Joyce Principle (24:52)Healing and empowerment (27:50)Women’s reproductive health (31:23)Photos in the memoir (33)The memoir’s sequel (36:48)Please note the NEW!! feature of the podcast: The "Takeway" (37:52), in which all guest writers, including Brittany, will be offering one piece of advice to aspiring writers.Producer/Host/Writer: Linda Morra; Associate Producer: Maia Harris; Music: Raphael Crux. We are grateful to the Canada Council for their support for this second year of production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.