francesca ekwuyasi

My guest on this episode is francesca ekwuyasi. francesca is a writer, artist, and filmmaker whose first book, the novel Butter Honey Pig Bread, was published in 2020 by Arsenal Pulp. That book won the Writers' Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers; was shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and a Lambda Literary Award, and was longlisted for the Giller Prize. In 2021, it was a runner-up on the CBC's Canada Reads competition. Her most recent book is Curious Sounds: A Dialogue in Three Movements, a collaboration with celebrity chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and visual and recording artist Roger Mooking. That book was published in 2023, also by Arsenal Pulp. Publishers Weekly said about Curious Sounds that “there's a sense of a mind spilled onto the page, with sharp insights scattered throughout. The results are both odd and enchanting.”

francesca and I talk about how having her first book on Canada Reads was directly responsible for her second, about how writers should let themselves explore whatever theme or territory has them in its grip, and about how, having written her first novel all over the place and on whatever materials were handy, she has finally discovered the joy of writing at an actual desk.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.

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