Antonio Michael Downing's literary journey into the South
Host Nathan Maharaj spoke with Antonio Michael Downing, author of the 2021 memoir Saga Boy: My Life of Blackness and Becoming, as well as the illustrated children’s book Stars in My Crown. For just about a year now he’s also been the host of CBC’s The Next Chapter, where every week he talks to authors (and once in a while an opinionated bookseller) about books they want people to pay attention to. He joined us to talk about his first novel: Black Cherokee. It’s the story of Ophelia Blue Rivers, a girl growing up in South Carolina where her mixed ancestry leaves her struggling for acceptance amidst the Cherokee community where her grandmother raised her. Antonio Michael Downing's literary journey into the South
--------
49:06
--------
49:06
Scott Alexander Howard on border-crossings across time
Host Michael Tamblyn spoke with novelist Scott Alexander Howard, winner of the 2025 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and author of The Other Valley. It’s the story of Odile Ozanne, a young girl who lives in a small village in a valley. In the next valley over, in the west, there is an identical village where events from 20 years ago are taking place, and in the valley to the east there is another village where it’s 20 years in the future. Occasionally, and under the strictest controls and in a disguise rendering them unidentifiable, people will visit the other valleys, looking forward, or backward in time. One day, visitors from the east—that is, from the future—are recognized by Odile, and she has to carry on pretending she hasn’t seen what she knows she saw. Scott Alexander Howard on the border-crossings between present and past
--------
35:42
--------
35:42
Rob Franklin's upwardly-mobile, downwardly-spiraling Great Black Hope
Host Nathan Maharaj spoke with novelist Rob Franklin. His debut novel Great Black Hope is about a young man, named Smith, who gets arrested for cocaine possession on his way home from a party at the end of an oppressively hot New York summer. Smith is Black, and he’s queer; he’s also a Stanford graduate and his family back in Atlanta is, as they say, not without means. As Smith’s court date looms and he enters treatment for addiction, he’s grieving the sudden and tragic death of a friend. Rob Franklin's upwardly-mobile, downwardly-spiraling Great Black Hope
--------
42:20
--------
42:20
Timothy Caulfield and The Certainty Illusion - Live at KoboCon 2025!
This past spring Kobo held an event for employees called KoboCon. It was an opportunity for the staff of Kobo to share interesting things they're working on and some big ideas they're grappling with. One of those big ideas was how the information ecosystem affects readers, writers, and individuals coming together at work, so we brought in expert explainer and debunker Timothy Caulfield to talk about it through the lens of his latest book The Certainty Illusion: What You Don’t Know and Why It Matters. While we take a little break for the summer, we're bringing you that on-stage conversation now. Timothy Caulfield and The Certainty Illusion - Live at KoboCon 2025!
--------
42:20
--------
42:20
Wally Lamb waded into autobiography for The River is Waiting
Host Nathan Maharaj spoke with novelist Wally Lamb, the author of novels including She’s Come Undone, I Know This Much Is True, and The Hour I First Believed. His new novel, his first in nearly a decade, is The River is Waiting. It’s about Corbin Ledbetter, Corby to his friends, husband to Emily and father to twins Maisie and Niko. Corby’s at the precipice of mid-life when he makes a terrible, terrible mistake. It’s the kind of mistake most of us would struggle to imagine ever coming back from, but that’s what Corby has to figure out as he endures punishments from society, family, and the harshest judge of all, himself. Wally Lamb on wading into autobiography for The River is Waiting
In-depth conversations with authors about their books—how and why they write, the books and authors they admire, and so much more. Plus, occasional takes on what's going on in the business of books. And year-end round-ups of reading recommendations from the staff of Rakuten Kobo, the global digital bookseller.
Episodes run ~45 minutes.
Hosted by Michael Tamblyn and Nathan Maharaj.
Ireland