Six authors explore topics at the forefront of our minds while guests enjoy a continental breakfast and our signature mimosas. Delving into the natural world, Sarah Cox offers a fresh perspective on protecting biodiversity in Signs of Life, while Amorina Kingdon offers a captivating exploration of underwater sound in Sing Like Fish. In the human animal kingdom, Kate Black meets our consumerism and nostalgia head on in Big Mall. Jane Philpott, one of Canada’s most respected health professionals, sets out a roadmap to our well-being in Health for All. Danny Ramadan shares his captivating story, from Syrian refugee to bestselling author, in his new memoir, Crooked Teeth, while Niigaan Sinclair uses the story of Winnipeg to illuminate the reality of Indigenous life all over what is called Canada in Wînipêk. Talk about food for thought. Hosted by Kathryn Gretsinger.
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KATE BLACK’s essays have been published in The Globe and Mail, The Walrus, and Maisonneuve. In 2020, she was selected as one of Canada’s top emerging voices in non-fiction by the RBC Taylor Prize and the National Magazine Awards. She grew up in Alberta, and lives in Vancouver.
SARAH COX is an award-winning author and journalist based in Victoria, B.C. In May 2022, Cox won the Canadian Association of Journalists’ Award for Environmental & Climate Change Reporting and her investigative reporting for the Narwhal has also been awarded the World Press Freedom Award and the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism. Cox’s 2018 book Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand Against Big Hydro won a B.C. Book Prize and was a finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing (Writers’ Trust of Canada) and the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature.
KATHRYN GRETSINGER is an associate professor of teaching at the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media. She is a long-time public broadcaster at the CBC, and has been named one of North America’s top innovative journalism educators.
AMORINA KINGDON is a science writer whose work has been anthologized in Best Canadian Essays and received honors including a Digital Publishing Award, a Jack Webster Award, and a Best New Magazine Writer from the National Magazine Awards. Previously, she was a staff writer for Hakai Magazine. She lives in Victoria.
JANE PHILPOTT is Dean of Health Sciences at Queen's University, a family medicine doctor, and former Member of Parliament who served as Canada's Minister of Health, Minister of Indigenous Services, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government.
DANNY RAMADAN (he/him) is a Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker, and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, was longlisted for Canada Reads. His second novel, The Foghorn Echoes, won a Lambda Literary Award. He currently lives in Vancouver with his husband.
NIIGAANWEWIDAM JAMES SINCLAIR is Anishinaabe (St. Peter’s/Little Peguis) and an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba. He is a regular commentator on Indigenous issues on CTV, CBC, and APTN, and his written work can be found in the pages of The Exile Edition of Native Canadian Fiction and Drama, newspapers like The Guardian, and online with CBC Books: Canada Writes. Niigaan is the co-editor of the award-winning Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water (Highwater Press, 2011) and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories (Michigan State University Press, 2013), and is the Editorial Director of The Debwe Series with Portage and Main Press. Niigan obtained his BA in Education at the University of Winnipeg, before completing an MA in Native- and African-American literatures at the University of Oklahoma, and a PhD in First Nations and American Literatures from the University of British Columbia.
