Kobo in Conversation

Nathan Maharaj spoke with journalist Carol Off. She was the long-running cohost of CBC Radio's award-winning program, As it Happens. She is also the author of The Lion, The Fox, and the Eagle, The Ghosts of Medak Pocket, and 2024's At a Loss For Words: Conversations in the Age of Rage. Her new book is True Patriot Love: Reporting from the Frontlines of Canadian Sovereignty. 
Carol Off on why Canada is a good idea

Nathan Maharaj spoke with Marc Bendavid, winner of the 2026 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction for his novel The Sapling. It's a love story, but unlike any love story you've ever read. Klara Bloem is an art teacher, and Marc—yes, there is autobiography woven through this work of fiction—he's a thoughtful boy who's drawn to Klara's encouraging, lively presence. They forge a friendship that lasts years and endures upheavals in each of their lives.
How Marc Bendavid found permission to write his award-winning novel

This bonus episode comes courtesy of our friends at the Kobo Writing Life Podcast. Co-hosts Vanessa Salemi and Laura Granger interviewed Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife and the long-awaited sequel: Life Out of Order. That's a book that came up a couple weeks ago in another bonus episode we had with Deandra Lalonde, all about the biggest books coming out this fall 2026 season.
If you're a writer looking for tips on developing your craft and growing your self-publishing business, check out the Kobo Writing Life Podcast and get started with Kobo Writing Life.

Nathan Maharaj spoke with Jamaluddin Aram, 2024 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize-winner and author of the novel Nothing Good Happens in Wazirabad on Wednesday about his new collection of essays called The Blood of Things: A Love Letter to Afghanistan. 
Jamaluddin Aram on writing beyond lines of division

Producer and Kobo in Conversation co-host Nathan Maharaj enlisted the help of Kobo's Deandra Lalonde to guide readers through this overwhelming fall 2026 season of new books.
Here are all the books Deandra and Nathan covered in this episode.
Series
A Court of Splintered Harmony - Sarah J. Maas
Threshing Day - Rebecca Yarros
Dead Beat - Leigh Bardugo
Victorious - VE Schwab
Literary
The Disappearers - Marlon James
Ply - Hernan Diaz
Partita - Barbara Kingsolver
American Hagwon - Min Jin Lee
The Radiance - Ayad Akhtar
Buzz-bound
Exit Party - Emily St. John Mandel
Life Out of Order - Audrey Niffenegger
The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman - Deesha Philyaw
Hollywood, Ending - John Green
Hollow Bones - Jodi Picoult
The Pirate Queen - Ariel Lawhon
Switzy - Emma Cline
The Sorceress of Sky Serpents - Eden Robinson
Nonfiction
Swan Song - Charles Spencer
The Vanishing Family - Robert Kolker
The American Way of Killing - Malcolm Gladwell
Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea - Emily Wilson
Redwood - Ben MacIntyre
Deandra's faves so far
Taipei Story - R. F. Kuang
Broken Rival - Tessa Bailey
The Disappearers - Marlon James
More links at: Kobo's big fall 2026 books round up!