Dimitri Nasrallah

My guest on this episode is Dimitri Nasrallah. Dimitri is the author of four novels, which have received nominations for multiple awards and have won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and the McAuslan First Book Prize. His most recent book is the novel Hotline, published in 2022 by Véhicule Press, where Dimitri also serves as the fiction editor. Hotline was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a Canada Reads selection in 2023. In its review of Hotline, Quill & Quire said the the novel “intertwines hope and sorrow to create a moving story that sears the heart.”

 

Dimitri and I talk about how working as an editor changed the way he writes novels, and how his plan to keep Hotline alive in readers’ minds beyond the usual 5 or 6 weeks after publication got blown up, in a good way, by Canada Reads. We also talk about some of the frustrations he felt about how Hotline was discussed on Canada Reads, and how he is in no rush to complete the follow up to that novel.

 

Dimitri Nasrallah: vehiculepress.com

Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact