Well Reds: A Left Book Podcast

On episode 2 of the nation's newest and nicest interview show host Charlie Demers talks with LA-based comedian Ivan Decker (one of Canada’s very funniest people) about fish-gutting, learning French, and the painful present & bright future of post-vaccine comedy.Find out more about Decker's work at https://ivan-decker.squarespace.com/Get early access to the show by stepping in the chit-chat and subscribing to Charlie's excellent Substack at https://charliedemers.substack.com/people/14775259-charlie-demers or find new episodes one week after release wherever you get your podcasts!

In the inaugural episode of new weekly interview show 'Full of Chit-Chat' host Charlie Demers talks to Vancouver city councillor Christine Boyle about holidays in a multi-faith household, the literal and metaphorical crap of municipal politics, & how she held the line against a police budget increase for 2021.Find out more about Christine's work at https://vancouver.ca/your-government/christine-boyle.aspxSubscribe to the 'Full of Chi-Chat' wherever you get your podcasts!

On the December episode of the Well Reds podcast, it's a group effort as host Charlie Demers welcomes a galaxy of international stars to help him say "until next time"! As we prepare to step away from the mic for a break, thanks to the thousands of listeners who've helped to make this show a success over the last 20 months. We'll be back. See you in 2019!You can find Charlie's crime and comedy caper 'Property Values' from our sponsor Galiano Island books at galianoislandbooks.com and pick up his Juno-nominated comedy album 'Fatherland' wherever you find your music!MR7yJTOJpdq6upg7Br9B

On the November episode of the Well Reds podcast, host Charlie Demers welcomes journalist and academic Dawn Paley (author of 'Drug War Capitalism' from AK Press) for a wide-ranging conversation on Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador's 'A New Hope for Mexico' available now from Counterpoint Press.Follow Dawn on Twitter at @dawn_ and pick up 'A New Hope for Mexico' and Charlie's own crime and comedy caper 'Property Values' from our sponsor Galiano Island books at galianoislandbooks.com

On a spooky October mini episode of the Well Reds podcast, hair-raising host Charlie 'Drag Me To Hell' Demers is very sorry for the delay. Look for Charlie's chilling conversation with returning guest 'Sinister' Samir Gandesha (Director at Simon Fraser University Institute of the Humanities) on Chantal Mouffe's 'For a Left Populism' later this month.Catch Charlie on the 'Politics and Podcasts' panel at the 2018 Vancouver Podcast Festival this Thursday, November 8th: https://www.vanpodfest.ca/event/thursday-politics-and-podcasts

On the September episode of the Well Reds podcast, host Charlie Demers welcomes writer and policy researcher Vyas Saran (Maclean's, Vancouver Sun, policynote.ca) for a conversation on 'The Chapo Guide to Revolution: a Manifesto Against Logic, Facts and Reason' published by Simon & Shuster.Follow Vyas on Twitter at @vyassaran and pick up the 'The Chapo Guide to Revolution' and Charlie's own 'Property Values' from our sponsor Galiano Island books at galianoislandbooks.com

On the August episode of the Well Reds podcast, host Charlie Demers welcomes returning guest and noir writer Sam Wiebe (author of 'Cut You Down', 'Invisible Dead') for a conversation on Eva Dolan's tale of community activism, mystery and possible murder 'This is How it Ends', published by Bloombury USA.Pick up the 'This is How it Ends', 'Cut You Down', 'Invisible Dead' and Charlie's own 'Property Values' from our sponsor Galiano Island books at galianoislandbooks.com

On the July episode of the Well Reds podcast, host Charlie Demers is joined by Am Johal, Director of Simon Fraser University's Vancity Office of Community Engagement and co-author of 'Sweetness of Life: A Tar Sands Tale' (w/ Matt Hearn and Joe Sacco) for a few-holds-barred conversation on Asad Haider's 'Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump' out now from Verso Books.Pick up the 'Mistaken Identity' from our sponsor Galiano Island books at galianoislandbooks.com

On this not-Canada-Day-themed episode of the Well Reds podcast, host Charlie Demers is joined by journalist Leigh Phillips (bylines in Jacobin, The Guardian/author of 'Austerity Ecology: a Left Defense of Growth') for a smooth, sultry and wide-ranging conversation on John Newsinger's 'Hope Lies in the Proles: George Orwell and the Left' out now from Pluto Press.Pick up the book from our sponsor Galiano Island books at galianoislandbooks.com

Happy summer, listeners!Teacher's Christmas is coming as Shanee Prasad of the British Columbia Federation of Teachers member representing workers of colour in NC Federation of Labour Executive Council joins host Charlie Demers for a conversation on Jean Genet's Black Panther and Palestinian liberation memoir 'Prisoner of Love' (New York Review Books Classics). Plus: Vancouver French Consulate diplomat Etienne Sainte-Bourgeois weighs in on patriotism and the much-deserved citizenship of wall-crawling baby-saver Lassana Bathily.Find ‘Prisoner of Love' at our sponsor Galiano Island Books! https://www.galianoislandbooks.com/?searchtype=keyword&qs=prisoner+of+love&qs_file=&q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keyword

Join host Charlie Demers for a special May Day episode as he celebrates the podcast's first birthday with a live reading from his new novel 'Property Values' (Arsenal Press). Linking drug gang violence on Vancouver's Lower Mainland with the city's insane real estate bubble, Chapter 1 of the comedic crime caper introduces Scott Clark, the hapless protagonist intent on driving down the value of his home by staging a fake drive-by shooting. Find 'Property Values' at Galiano Island Books, official sponsor of 'Well Reds'!https://www.galianoislandbooks.com/?searchtype=keyword&qs=property+values&qs_file=&q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keywordProduced by Andre Goulet and mastered by Chris Hernandez at Studio Petit Palais in Montreal.

Children of the world have nothing to lose but their chains in the March episode of Well Reds!Join Simon Fraser University Institute of the Humanities Director Samir Gandesha and Juno-award-nominated host Charlie Demers for a gritty and granular conversation on 'Communism for Kids' from MIT Press.Find ‘Communism for Kids’ at our sponsor Galiano Island Books!https://www.galianoislandbooks.com/?searchtype=keyword&qs=communism+for+kids&qs_file=&q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keywordMastered by Chris Hernandez at Studio Petit Palais in Montreal.

On a special live episode, host Charlie Demers is joined by award-winning mystery writer Sam Wiebe (Last of the Independents, Invisible Dead) for a conversation on regret, revenge, real estate and 'Vancouver Noir' at the Galiano Island Books Literary Festival. Wiebe's 'Cut You Down', part 2 of the 'Wakeland' mystery trilogy, is available for pre-order now.Produced by Andre Goulet.Audio Mastering by Chris Hernandez at Villeray Studios, Montreal.

On this special bonus episode of Well Reds, host Charlie Demers speaks with celebrated writer and performer Carmen Aguirre on intimacy, politics, culture, salsa, Marxism and the hidden dance halls of Canada. This episode features strong themes and language.Carmen's show 'Broken Tailbone' premieres February 13th, 2018 at Vancouver cultural diversity and innovation hub The Cultch! https://thecultch.com/

On this special bonus episode of Well Reds, host Charlie Demers speaks with Hong Kong Exile's Milton Lim, fu-GEN Theatre's David Yee and Theatre Conspiracy's Tim Carlson on loss, resilience and the Chinese diaspora. Their new multidisciplinary show 'No Foreigners' premieres February 7th, 2018 at Vancouver cultural diversity and innovation hub The Cultch!https://thecultch.com/https://conspiracy.ca/https://www.hongkongexile.com/https://fu-gen.org/Photo credit: http://cuag.ca/osl/labs/02/media.html

On episode 11 of Well Reds it's a one man TOUR-DE-FORCE as host Charlie Demers walks a solo tightrope of COMEDY and PATHOS! In this MASTERCLASS on podcasting without a net, join Charlie for a DEEP DIVE DISCOURSE on David Chariandy's long-awaited, award-winning, Scarborough-set novel 'BROTHER'!Thanks to Galiano Island Books and our new sponsor, legendary Vancouver dance, theater and music cultural institution The Cultch!

On this special extra-length yuletide episode, United Church Canada minister Rev. Christine Boyle joins host Charlie Demers for a conversation on playwright Wallace Shawn's 2017 collection of essays 'Night Thoughts'. Also: Site C and the BC NDP. Kids, commercialism and Kris Kringle. All this plus a look back at 2017, the garbage year that was.Editing and production: André Goulet. Special holiday music on this episode includes the National Anthem of the USSR + the Internationale (w/ bells) plus a Christmas-themed recording of 'Wide is My Motherland'. Big thanks to Galiano Island Books, official bookseller of the 'Well Reds' podcasthttps://galianoislandbooks.com/

On this episode, host Charlie Demers is joined by Geoff Mann, author of 'In The Long Run We Are All Dead' and Director of the Center for Global Political Economy at Simon Fraser University, to discuss the story of an East German family whose lives reflects the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. This is a conversation on Tariq Ali’s 1998 novel ‘Fear of Mirrors’.Editing and production: André Goulet. Extro Music: "Joe Hill," by Paul Robeson. Big thanks to Galiano Island Books, official bookseller of the 'Well Reds' podcasthttps://galianoislandbooks.com/

On this episode, host Charlie Demers is joined by guest Roxanne Panchasi, Associate Professor of History at Simon Fraser University, for a discussion on China Miéville's acclaimed 'October: The Story of the Russian Revolution'.Editings and production: André Goulet. Extro Music: "Joe Hill," by Paul Robeson. Big thanks to Galiano Island Books, official bookseller of the 'Well Reds' podcast https://galianoislandbooks.com/

Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes on Black politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the United States. Earlier this year, she was targeted by online threats and abuse after Fox News and other outlets waged a campaign in response to a commencement speech in which she made the (uncontroversial) statement that Donald Trump is a "racist, sexist megalomaniac." Due to the serious threats against her, Dr. Taylor was forced to cancel several speaking events. In solidarity with Dr. Taylor, Charlie and Derrick decided to add her book, "From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation," to our summer schedule. After the horrifying events in Charlottesville in early August and the counter-protests that followed, it couldn't have been a more timely read. Joining our discussion this month is Dr. Ian Rocksborough-Smith, a scholar of U.S. and African American history and a former graduate school colleague of Dr. Taylor's. Ian and Charlie go way back. In fact, they grew up together in Burnaby, British Columbia, and the