Page Fright: A Literary Podcast

Manahil Bandukwala joins Andrew to chat about her debut full-length poetry collection, MONUMENT. Andrew questions whether a speaker is always necessary. It's a fun one! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Manahil Bandukwala is a writer and visual artist originally from Pakistan and now settled in Canada. She works as Coordinating Editor for Arc Poetry Magazine, and is Digital Content Editor for Canthius. She is a member of Ottawa-based collaborative writing group VII. Her debut poetry collection is MONUMENT (Brick Books). See her work at manahilbandukwala.com. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He has published two chapbooks, Poems for Different Yous (Rose Garden Press, 2021) and Do Not Discard Ashes (845  Press, 2020). Andrew has a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University and an MA in English from UBC. He writes poems, book reviews, and hosts this

Andrew begins a series of short audio reviews of poetry collections with a quick review of and reading from Jason Purcell's Swollening. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. They have published two chapbooks, Poems for Different Yous (Rose Garden Press, 2021) and Do Not Discard Ashes (845  Press, 2020). Andrew has a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University and an MA in English from UBC. They write poems, book reviews, and host this very podcast.

Annick MacAskill stops by the virtual studio to talk about her new book, Shadow Blight. Andrew asks Annick about applying myth to the personal. It's a great chat! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Annick MacAskill is the author of the poetry collections No Meeting Without Body (Gaspereau Press, 2018), a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the J.M. Abraham Award, and Murmurations (Gaspereau Press, 2020). Her third book, Shadow Blight, was published by Gaspereau Press this spring. Her poems have appeared in journals and anthologies across Canada and abroad, and she is currently serving as Arc Poetry Magazine's Poet-in-Residence. She lives in K'jipuktuk (Halifax) on the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq. annickmacaskill.com. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He has published two chapbooks, Poems for Different Yous

rob mclennan joins Andrew for a discussion of his new book of prose poems, the book of smaller. Andrew and rob chat about reviews and community. It's a good time! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Born in Ottawa, Canada’s glorious capital city, rob mclennan currently lives in Ottawa, where he is home full-time with the two wee girls he shares with Christine McNair. The author of more than thirty trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, he won the John Newlove Poetry Award in 2010, the Council for the Arts in Ottawa Mid-Career Award in 2014, and was longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2012 and 2017. In March, 2016, he was inducted into the VERSe Ottawa Hall of Honour. His most recent titles include the poetry collection the book of smaller (University of Calgary Press, 2022), and a suite of pandemic essays, essays in the face of uncertainties (Mansfield Press, 2022). An editor and publisher, he runs above

Carlie Blume comes by the virtual studio to talk about her debut poetry collection, Gigglepuss. Andrew and Carlie talk trauma and poetry. It's an enriching chat! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Carlie Blume was born on the unceded and ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh (Vancouver). She is a 2017 graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio and the author of Gigglepuss (Guernica, 2022). She currently lives on Salt Spring Island, B.C with her husband and two children. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He has published two chapbooks, Poems for Different Yous (Rose Garden Press, 2021) and Do Not Discard Ashes (845  Press, 2020).  Andrew has a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University and an MA in English from UBC. He writes poems, book reviews, and hosts this very podcast.

Chris Banks drops by to chat about his new book of poetry, Deepfake Serenade. Andrew asks about avoiding stereotypical depictions of sobriety in a poem. It's a super fun one! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Chris Banks is a Canadian poet and author of six collections of poems, most recently Deepfake Serenade out with Nightwood Editions (Fall 2021). His first full-length collection, Bonfires, was awarded the Jack Chalmers Award for poetry by the Canadian Authors’ Association in 2004. Bonfires was also a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry in Canada.  His poetry has appeared in The New Quarterly, Arc Magazine, The Antigonish Review, Event, The Malahat Review, GRIFFEL, American Poetry Journal, Prism International, among other publications. He lives and writes in Kitchener, Ontario. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Colum

Natalie Lim pops into the virtual studio to chat about her debut poetry chapbook, arrhythmia. Andrew mistakes a book of non-rhyming poems for a book of rhyming ones. It's a solid time! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Natalie Lim is a Chinese-Canadian poet living on the unceded, traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver, BC). She is the winner of the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize and Room Magazine's 2020 Emerging Writer Award, with work published in ARC Poetry Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry 2020, and elsewhere. Her debut poetry chapbook, arrhythmia, was published by Rahila's Ghost Press in 2022. You can find Natalie on twitter at @nataliemlim. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He has published two chapbooks, Poems for Different Yous (Rose Garden Press, 2021) and Do Not Discard Ashes (845  Press, 2020).  Andrew has a BA in Engl

Ellie Sawatzky stops by Andrew's virtual studio to chat about her debut full-length poetry collection, None of This Belongs to Me. Andrew learns about writing childcare poems. It's a great adventure! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Ellie Sawatzky (@elliesawatzky) grew up in Kenora, Ontario. A past winner of CV2’s Foster Poetry Prize, runner up for the Thomas Morton Memorial Prize, and a finalist for the 2019 Bronwen Wallace Award, her work has been published widely in literary magazines across North America. Her chapbook, Rhinocerotic, was published by Frog Hollow Press in 2018. None of This Belongs to Me is her debut full-length poetry collection, published by Nightwood Editions in October 2021. She is currently an editor for Friesen Press, a member of the Growing Room Collective, and curator of the Instagram account IMPROMPTU (@impromptuprompts), a hub for prompts and literary inspiration. She lives in Vancouv

Jaclyn Desforges joins Andrew to talk about her debut poetry collection, Danger Flower. Andrew asks Jaclyn about mental health writing. It's a blast! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Jaclyn Desforges is the author of Danger Flower (Palimpsest Press/Anstruther Books), one of CBC's picks for the best Canadian poetry of 2021. She's also the author of a picture book, Why Are You So Quiet? (Annick Press, 2020), which was nominated for a Chocolate Lily Award. Jaclyn is a Pushcart-nominated writer and the winner of the 2018 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices award, two 2019 Short Works Prizes, and a 2020 Hamilton Emerging Artist Award for Writing. She is an MFA candidate at the University of British Columbia’s School of Creative Writing and lives in Hamilton with her partner and daughter. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He has published two chapbooks, Do Not Discard Ashes (845  Press

Nolan Natasha chats with Andrew about his poetry collection, I Can Hear You, Can You Hear Me? Andrew asks about beauty and handwriting poems. Happy holidays! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Nolan Natasha is a queer and trans writer, performer, and filmmaker of Faroese and English ancestry, a settler living on unceded Mi’Kmaw territory in Halifax, Canada. Nolan has been a finalist for the CBC poetry prize, the Ralph Gustafson Poetry prize, the Geist postcard contest, and the runner-up for the Thomas Morton fiction prize. His debut poetry collection, I Can Hear You, Can You Hear Me? was released in the fall of 2019 with Invisible publishing. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He has published two chapbooks, Do Not Discard Ashes (845  Press, 2020) and Poems for Different Yous (Rose Garden Press, 2021).  Andrew has a BA in English from Huron University College at Weste

Andrew is joined by Michele Vanderwal and Michelle Arnett from Rose Garden Press to talk about his new chapbook, Poems for Different Yous, and the others they are publishing this month! They talk about philosophy, socks, and reading poems aloud. A true joy! ----- Sign-up to attend the Rose Garden Press/845 Press launch here! Buy Andrew's chapbook here! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Michelle Arnett is a co-founder of Rose Garden Press, through which she self-published a collection of poetry, the bird bath poems (2020). Her poetry has also been published by Canthius (2021). She resides in London, Ontario, where she completed her Master’s of Library and Information Science at Western University. Michele (Nicole) Vanderwal has self-published two collections of poetry, Touch Consciousness (Lulu, 2014) and the bird bath poems (Rose Garden Press, 2020). She currently resides in Mount Brydges as the Publishe

Souvankham Thammavongsa, Kayla Czaga, Ottavia Paluch, Jan Zwicky, and Tina Do each join Andrew for an interview about their involvement in Best Canadian Poetry 2021! Five interviews in one episode? What a treat! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He has published two chapbooks, Do Not Discard Ashes (845  Press, 2020) and Poems for Different Yous (Rose Garden Press, 2021).  Andrew has a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University and an MA in English from UBC. He writes poems, book reviews, and hosts this very podcast.

Síle Englert discusses her new (debut!) poetry collection, The Lost Time Accidents. Andrew wonders about bodies and movement. What a time! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Síle Englert is a queer, Autistic writer and multi-disciplinary artist. She is the author of The Lost Time Accidents, her debut poetry collection from icehouse press, and two chapbooks: The Phobic’s Handbook (Anstruther Press, 2020) and Threadbare (Baseline Press, 2019). Síle’s writing has placed Second in CV2’s 2-Day Poem Contest and Freefall Magazine’s Fiction contest, and was shortlisted for Arc Poetry Magazine’s Poem of the Year in 2020. Síle’s recent work can be found in the way out is the way in: an anthology of disabled poets from the League of Canadian Poets, and I Found Myself in You, a collaborative chapbook from Collusion Books. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He has published two chapbooks, D

Tara Borin discusses their debut poetry collection, The Pit. Andrew asks Tara where to find inspiration. What a joy! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Tara Borin is a queer, nonbinary settler poet living and writing in  the traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Dawson City, Yukon.  Their debut full-length poetry collection, The Pit, is available with Nightwood Editions. Tara’s work has also been anthologized in Best  New Poets In Canada 2018 (Quattro Books) and in Resistance: Righteous  Rage in the Age of #MeToo (University of Regina Press). Tara’s poems have been published in Prism International, Prairie Fire, The LaHave Review, Red Alder Review, and elsewhere online and in print. They completed The Writer’s Studio Online with Simon Fraser University in 2019. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He has published two chapbooks, Do Not Discard Ashes

Tolu Oloruntoba talks poetry as science, what he aspires to in his work, and his debut poetry collection, The Junta of Happenstance. Andrew reveals the limits of his vocabulary. It's a fun one! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Tolu Oloruntoba, has tried, and abandoned or failed at a variety of things. As a teenager, he worked hard at becoming a comic book artist and fantasy author. This was before going to medical school at 18, which dried out those dreams. Besides, he didn’t consider himself particularly good at either. He practiced medicine for 6 years, and lived in Nigeria and the United States before moving to Canada. He has somehow not abandoned poetry since he started to write it at 16, and had his debut collection of poetry, The Junta of Happenstance, published in May 2021. These days, he manages virtual health projects in British Columbia, and lives with his partner and two young children in so-called Sur

Brandon Wint discusses family history, spatial poetry, and his debut poetry collection, Divine Animal. Andrew shakes off the rust and interviews his first guest in months. It's a blast! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Ontario born poet and spoken word artist Brandon Wint uses poetry to attend to the joy and devastation and inequity associated with this era of human and ecological history. Increasingly, his work on the page and in performance casts a tender but robust attention toward the movements and impacts of colonial, capitalist logic, and how they might be undone. His poems and essays have been published in national anthologies, including The Great Black North: Contemporary African-Canadian Poetry (Frontenac House, 2013) and Black Writers Matter (University of Regina Press, 2019). Divine Animal is his debut book of poetry. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the au

Michael Deibert discusses being an emerging writer, reading practices, and his debut chapbook. Andrew talks to Michael about mundane images and fearing writing about himself. It's a great time! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Michael Deibert is a poet and painter currently living between Toronto and Vancouver, and studying at the University of British Columbia. His debut chapbook, The Gunshot Before the Marathon, was published by the Soap Box Press in 2019. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author of two chapbooks, Do Not Discard Ashes (845 Press, 2020) and Poems for Different Yous (Rose Garden Press, 2021). Andrew has a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University and an MA in English from UBC. He writes poems, book reviews, and hosts this very podcast.

Molly Cross-Blanchard joins Andrew to discuss her debut poetry collection, Exhibitionist. Andrew talks to Molly about mental health and body image. It's a blast! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Molly Cross-Blanchard is a white and Métis writer and editor born on Treaty 3 territory (Fort Frances, ON), raised on Treaty 6 territory (Prince Albert, SK), and living on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver, BC). She holds an English BA from the University of Winnipeg and a Creative Writing MFA from the University of British Columbia, and is the Publisher at Room magazine. Her debut poetry chapbook is I Don't Want to Tell You (Rahila's Ghost Press, 2018) and her debut full-length book of poetry is Exhibitionist (Coach House Books, 2021). ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author of two chapbooks, Do Not Discard Ashes (

Leah Horlick joins Andrew to discuss her latest poetry collection, Moldovan Hotel. Andrew talks to Leah about community in the pandemic. It's a delight! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Leah Horlick is a writer and poet who grew up as a settler on Treaty Six Cree Territory & the homelands of the Métis in Saskatoon. Her first book, Riot Lung (Thistledown Press, 2012), was shortlisted for a 2013 ReLit Award and a Saskatchewan Book Award. Her second collection, For Your Own Good (Caitlin Press, 2015), was named a 2016 Stonewall Honour Book by the American Library Association, and she was awarded Canada's Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT Emerging Writers that same year. She lived on Unceded Coast Salish Territories in Vancouver for nearly ten years, during which time she and her dear friend Estlin McPhee ran REVERB, a queer and anti-oppressive reading series.  She now lives on Treaty Seven Territory & Region

Rob Taylor returns to talk about his latest poetry collection, Strangers. Andrew asks Rob about community and editing. It's a joy! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. Follow the podcast on Twitter here. Follow the podcast on Instagram here. ----- Rob Taylor is the author of Strangers (Biblioasis, 2021) and three other poetry collections. He is also the editor of What the Poets are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation (Nightwood Editions, 2018), and the guest editor of Best Canadian Poetry 2019 (Biblioasis, 2019). ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author of two chapbooks, Do Not Discard Ashes (845 Press, 2020) and Poems for Different Yous (Rose Garden Press, 2021). Andrew has a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University and an MA in English from UBC. He writes poems, book reviews, and hosts this very podcast.