What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books

Bob McDonald

My guest on this episode is Bob McDonald. Bob has been the host of CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks since 1992 and is a regular science commentator on the CBC News Network and a science correspondent for The National. He is the author of multiple books, including The Earthling’s Guide to Outer Space, Canadian Spacewalkers, and The Future is Now. He has been honoured with the Michael Smith Award for science promotion from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Sandford Fleming Medal from the Royal Canadian Institute for Science, and the McNeil Medal for the public awareness of science from the Royal Society of Canada. He has also been made an Officer of the Order of Canada and has an asteroid named after him. Bob’s most recent book is the memoir Just Say Yes, which was published in 2024 by Douglas & McIntyre. Astronaut and author Chris Hadfield says about Just Say Yes that “Bob takes his rare ability to explain the world to us all and applies it to himself in this delightful, often surprising and ever-insightful autobiography.”
Bob and I talk about the importance of promoting and communicating real science amid the proliferation of misinformation and conspiracy theories (and why the closing of the Ontario Science Centre doesn’t exactly help with that goal), about his initial reluctance to include the story of his childhood sexual abuse in his memoir (but why he is proud that he did), and about his work-in-progress, a book for kids that focuses on—surprise!—science.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Jowita Bydlowska

My guest on the episode is Jowita Bydlowska. Jowita is the author of four books, including the bestselling memoir Drunk Mom, and the novels GUY and Possessed. She is a journalist, and teaches at the Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her most recent book is the novel Monster, which was published by Anvil Press in 2024. Author Barbara Gowdy said about Monster: “that a book with almost pornographic sexual scenes should be so humane and polished, so well written, is astonishing.”
Jowita and I talk about the identity crisis she is currently undergoing as a writer, about the weirdly personal criticism she received for the revelations in her debut memoir, and about why she doesn’t expect the same reaction when she publishes her next book, also a memoir.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Amy Stuart

My guest on this episode is Amy Stuart. Amy is the author of four bestselling novels, including her first, Still Mine, and her most recent, A Death at the Party, which was published in 2023. Her most recent book is Home and Away, a memoir by former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin, which she co-wrote with Sundin. That book was published by Simon & Schuster Canada in 2024, and was an instant #1 bestseller. Sundin’s fellow player Tie Domi said about the book that “it’s a treat to hear Mats tell his story after all these years.”
Amy and I talk about the very out-of-character way she landed the job of co-writing the Mats Sundin book, about the newfound attention it has brought her when she coaches hockey, and about the impact it has had on the way she thinks about her career as a thriller writer.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Anuja Varghese

My guest on this episode is Anuja Varghese. Anuja is a writer whose debut book, the short-story collection Chrysalis, was published by House of Anansi Press in 2023. That book won the Writers Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers, the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, and the Hamilton Literary Award for Fiction. It was also nominated for a Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. Quill & Quire said that “every piece in Chrysalis is as subtle and punchy as the eponymous final story. Varghese’s women are like her words: brutal, elegant, and resonant."
Anuja and I talk about Hamilton, Ontario’s weirdly tight-knit literary scene, about the manuscript for Chrysalis initially meeting with only rejection and silence from publishers, and about dealing with audiences and readers who have trouble with some of the more graphic material in that book.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Daniel Innes and Christina Wong

My guests on this episode are Daniel Innes and Christina Wong. Daniel is an artist whose work includes painting, art installation, graphic and textile design, and illustration. He currently divides his time between Toronto and an artist residency in Hyōgo, Japan. Christina is an author, playwright, and multidisciplinary artist whose plays have been performed at Factory Studio, Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace, and the Palmerston Library Theatre, and whose writing has appeared in TOK Magazine and the Toronto Star. Daniel and Christina’s first book collaboration is the graphic novel Denison Avenue, which was published by ECW Press in 2023 and was a finalist on Canada Reads and for a Carnegie Medal for Excellence through the American Library Association. In its review of the book, The New York Journal of Books said that “as Chinatowns all over the country become gentrified and disappear, Denison Avenue provides an important reminder of what is being lost.” 
Daniel and Christina and I talk about the shock of their book’s success, about getting advice on surviving the Canada Reads experience from former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, and about changing up their creative process for their next collaboration, currently in the works.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Margaret MacMillan

My guest on this episode is Margaret MacMillan. Margaret is a historian and author whose bestselling books include The War That Ended Peace; Nixon and Mao; Women of the Raj; and Paris 1919. She is emeritus professor of History at the University of Toronto, where she served as Provost of Trinity College, and an emeritus professor of International History at Oxford University, where she served as Warden of St Antony’s College. Her work has won numerous awards, including the Samuel Johnson Prize, the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize, a Governor General's Literary Award, and the Duff Cooper Prize. In 2015 she was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. Her most recent book, War: How Conflict Shaped Us, was published by Allen Lane in 2020 and was a finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize. The Guardian called War a “hugely readable chronicle of conflict.”
Margaret and I talk about the current alarming state of international relations, about her drive to write historical works that can be read and understood by non-historians, and about the Canadian short-story writer whose biography she would love to write.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Ivan Lesay

My guest on this episode is Ivan Lesay. Ivan is a senior climate finance advisor at the National Bank of Slovakia and has served as the State Secretary of that country’s Finance Ministry. In addition to his policy work, he has published two children’s books, and writes lyrics for a hardcore band. His debut novel for adults, Topografia bolesti, was published in 2020, and was shortlisted for the Slovak National Book of the Year award. An English translation of the novel, The Topography of Pain, translated by Jonathan Gresty, was published by Canada’s Guernica Editions in 2024. In its review of The Topography of Pain, The Miramichi Reader said that “Lesay is comfortable with data and figures, no doubt; he’s also gifted with words.”
Ivan and I talk about the (mostly) friendly rivalry between Slovaks and Czechs, and how that parallels Canada’s relationship with the US, about suddenly adding a side-career as a novelist to his distinguished work in economic policy, and about how, thanks to COVID, his novel never got a proper launch event until the publication of the translated version last year.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Sheung-King

My guest on this episode is Sheung-King. Sheung-King’s debut novel, You Are Eating an Orange. You Are Naked, was published by Book*Hug Press in 2021, and was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award. It was longlisted for Canada Reads and named one of the best book debuts by the Globe and Mail. His most recent book is the novel Batshit Seven, published by Penguin Canada in 2024. That book was named a book of the year by the Globe and Mail and by the CBC, and was the winner of the Writers' Trust Atwood Gibson Fiction Prize. The Toronto Star called Batshit Seven “a highly unusual, highly effective examination of both contemporary society and the quest for identity.”
Sheung-King and I talk about his state of mind the morning after winning the Atwood-Gibson prize, about some of the best writing advice he ever got, and about living in both Canada and China, and always feeling like a returnee no matter which country he is in.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Shashi Bhat

My guest on this episode is Shashi Bhat. Shashi the author of the novels The Most Precious Substance on Earth, a finalist for the Governor General's Award, and The Family Took Shape, a finalist for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Her fiction has won the Writers’ Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize and been shortlisted for a National Magazine Award and the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. She is the editor-in-chief of EVENT magazine and teaches creative writing at Douglas College. Shashi’s most recent book is the story collection Death by a Thousand Cuts, published by McClelland & Stewart in 2024. That book was longlisted for the  Giller Prize and was named a book of the year by the Globe and Mail, Apple Canada, and the CBC. Author Liz Harmer said about the book that “Shashi Bhat writes scenes of contemporary life with such wit and aplomb you almost don’t realize they’ve also broken your heart.”
Shashi and I talk about how her writing style has grown both darker and more overtly humorous, the pressures she has felt about the kinds of stories that she, as a woman from a South Asian family, was supposed to write, and about her enduring love for short fiction.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Derek McCormack

My guest on this episode is Derek McCormack. Derek is the author of more than a dozen books, including Dark Rides, The Haunted Hillbilly, and The Well-Dressed Wound. He has written frequently about fashion and art for places like Artforum and The Believer, and was a regular fashion writer for the National Post. His most recent book is Judy Blame’s Obituary: Writings on Fashion and Death, a collection of his fashion writing published in 2022 by Pilot Press. The Heavy Feather Review called Judy Blame’s Obituary “a furious haberdashery of [McCormack’s] own shining and ghostly obsessions. When writing about fashion, McCormack is writing about his life.”
Derek and I talk about his complicated literary reputation, about writers needing to fight against their natural desire for attention and acceptance, and, not uncoincidentally, about publishing a novel with a title I am too boring and polite to say out loud on a podcast.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.