What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books

Lynn Coady

My guest on this episode is Lynn Coady. Lynn is the author of eight books, including the novel The Antagonist, which was shortlisted for the 2011 Giller Prize, and the short-story collection Hellgoing, which won the Giller Prize in 2013. Her most recent novel novel is Watching You Without Me, which was published by House of Anansi  2019 and Knopf US in 2020.
 
Publishers Weekly said that Watching You Without Me “stands out for its incisive, bleakly humorous look at gullibility and the complexities of guilt.”
 
Lynn is also an accomplished TV writer who has worked on shows like Diggstown and Orphan Black.
 
Lynn and I talk about how winning the Giller did, and didn’t, change her career and her perspective on her own writing, how writing for TV has become her main creative outlet, and is in many ways a healthier and more rewarding one, and why she isn’t 100% sure she will ever write another novel. We also talk very, very briefly about the scandal that her book Hellgoing played a very minor part in.
 
Lynn Coady: lynncoady.com
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact

Ann Douglas

My guest on this episode of WHAT HAPPENED NEXT is Ann Douglas. Ann is the bestselling author of 26 works of non-fiction — yes, that is correct — and creator of the Mother of All Books series, which have sold over half a million copies in North America.
 
Her most recent book is Navigating the Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women, published by Douglas & McIntyre in 2022. Kim Shiffman, the Editor-in-Chief of Today's Parent, says that Ann's book "made me feel seen, understood and empowered.”
 
Ann and I talk about what it’s like to write 26 books, a feat that included writing her first book in less than two months, while pregnant, and then later writing 5 books in one year. We also talk about the years of emotional and physical burnout that followed that particular stunt, and how she has found a new sense joy and balance by tackling the least emotionally taxing writing project of them all... a novel.
 
Ann Douglas: anndouglas.ca
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact

Alicia Elliott

My guest in this episode is Alicia Elliott. Alicia is a Mohawk writer living in Brantford, Ontario, whose essays have been nominated for multiple National Magazine Awards. She is also a recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Alicia’s first book, the essay collection A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, was a national bestseller, and was nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. It also won the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.
 
The New York Times Book Review called that collection “raw” and “unflinching”, the Globe and Mail called it “a tour de force” and Booklist called it "required reading.”
 
Alicia and talk about her upcoming first novel, about the slightly unreal-sounding process of writing and publishing her first book, and about how she has handled the occasionally complicated reality of being a high-profile Indigenous writer. (We also talk very briefly about the Vanderpump Rules reunion.)
 
Alicia Elliott's author page at Penguin Random House Canada.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact

Claire Ross Dunn

My guest on this episode is Claire Ross Dunn. Claire is not only a novelist, whose first book, At Last Count, was published in 2022 by Invisible Publishing, but also a story editor and producer for television, where she has worked on obscure little shows like Little Mosque on the Prairie and Degrassi: The Next Generation.
 
At Last Count was named a Best Book of 2022 by the Globe and Mail.
 
Claire and I talk about how she felt like a complete newbie shifting from the film-and-TV world to that of books, how she discovered many of the skills she learned in the former were transferable to the latter, and how an early success at getting Devo to play her high school pretty much set the pattern for her entire creative career.
 
Claire Ross Dunn: clairerossdunn.com
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact

Elyse Friedman

My guest on this episode is Elyse Friedman, the author of a whole bunch of things, including a number of screenplays, a collection of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a few novels, the most recent of which is The Opportunist, which was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2022. The Toronto Star review of The Opportunist said that “In exciting, page-turning prose, Friedman’s brilliant plotting and wonderfully devious characters act out scenes of mayhem and power struggles.”
 
Elyse and I talk about how Anne of Green Gables inspired her early shift into novel-writing, why she thinks her career makes no sense, and why she thinks struggling screenwriters should just write novels.
 
The Opportunist at HarperCollins Canada.
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact

Alix Ohlin

On this episode of What Happened Next, I speak with Alix Ohlin. Alix is the author of three novels and three short story collections. Alix as been shortlisted twice for the Giller Prize, among many other award nominations, and she chairs the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia. Alix’s most recent book is the collection We Want What We Want, published by House of Anansi in 2021. Esquire said that We Want What We Want is “Shot through with dark humour and keen powers of observation.” The Toronto Star called the stories in the collection “stunning” and said that “Alix Ohlin is a magician.”
 
Alix and I talk about the culture shock she experienced when she first became part of the Canadian literary world, the weird and intense experience of launching her career by publishing two books simultaneously, and why, if she were absolutely forced to do so, she would say she is a short-story writer first.
 
Alix Ohlin: alixohlinauthor.com
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact

Dawn Promislow

On this episode of What Happened Next, I speak with Dawn Promislow. Dawn is the author of the short story collection Jewels, published in 2010, and the novel Wan, published by Freehand Books in May 2022. Author Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer has called Wan “a masterpiece” and said that this “beautiful, painterly, sublime, and sonically exquisite novel … is a work of utter genius.”
 
Dawn and I talk about the long stretch of time between her first and second book (and how that is only partly her fault), the astonishingly short time it took her to write the first draft of Wan when she finally did so, and how a work by JM Coetzee opened her creative imagination and helped her realize she could write fiction in the first place.
 
Dawn Promislow: dawnpromislow.com
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact

Andrew Pyper

On this episode of What Happened Next, I speak with Andrew Pyper. Andrew is the author of a dozen bestselling books, including the novels The Homecoming, The Residence, and many others. His most recent project is Oracle, an audio-only book he created for Audible that was narrated by Joshua Jackson (Yes, Dawson's Creek’s Joshua Jackson.) Andrew also created a kind of sequel for Oracle in the form of an original audio drama called Oracle 2: the Dreamland Murders, also starring Mr Jackson. That was released by Audible in 2022.
 
In our conversation, Andrew talks about the strange experience of being part of the major promotional effort put behind Oracle and its sequel, the odd career he has created for himself as a writer with one foot in the literary world and one in the worlds of horror, thrillers, and suspense, and about his connection to the late Steven Heighton.
 
Andrew Pyper: andrewpyper.com
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact

Nicola Winstanley

On this episode of What Happened Next, I speak with Nicola Winstanley, the author of six picture books, including her most recent, How to Teach Your Cat a Trick: In Five Easy Steps, published by Tundra Books in 2022. Nicola’s books have received numerous award nominations, including the Marylin Bailie Picture book award and the Governor General’s Award. CM Reviews called How to Teach Your Cat a Trick a “funny, sweet story that highlights what all cat owners know: cats will do what they want, when they want."
In our conversation, Nicola talks about the long gestation period of picture books, the social anxiety that makes her dislike making in-person author appearances, and her shift away from writing for children.
 
Nicola Winstanley: nicolawinstanley.com
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact

Farzana Doctor

On this episode, I speak with Farzana Doctor about her first poetry collection You Still Look the Same, published by Freehand Books in 2022*. We talk about the how she learned to market herself, how publishing a collection of poetry was a surprisingly relaxing experience (at least compared to publishing her four previous novels), and how the messes of her forties have broadened her ambitions as a writer.
 
Listen for a chance to win a copy of You Still Look the Same, courtesy of Freehand Books.
 
* In the introduction, I say 2021 by mistake.
 
Farzana Doctor: farzanadoctor.com
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.
Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact