Writers and Company CBC Arts & Entertainment
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- Arts
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CBC Radio's Writers and Company offers an opportunity to explore in depth the lives, thoughts and works of remarkable writers from around the world. Hosted by Eleanor Wachtel.
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Alice Oswald on poetry, nature and the shedding of identity
To celebrate poetry month, a conversation with one of England’s greatest living poets, Alice Oswald. Winner of the 2017 international Griffin Poetry Prize for her book Falling Awake, Oswald's work explores the relationship between human life and the natural world. Her latest title, Nobody, is a book-length poem inspired by Homer’s Odyssey.
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The beautiful, melancholy world of Anita Desai
This week on Writers and Company, Anita Desai — one of India's most celebrated and successful writers. Over the course of her career, which spans five decades, Desai has written several novels and has been nominated for the Booker Prize three times. Eleanor Wachtel spoke to her on stage at Montreal's Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival in 2017, where she received the Grand Prix for lifetime achievement. Desai's latest book, Rosarita, is forthcoming from Picador Press.
This interview originally aired May 7, 2017. -
James Runcie on the beauty, sorrow and genius of Johann Sebastian Bach
James Runcie's novel, The Great Passion, imagines a year in the life of Johann Sebastian Bach, culminating with the first performance of his St. Matthew Passion in Leipzig, Germany during Easter 1727. Told through the eyes of a fictional, 13-year-old student, it explores the man behind the legendary composer: an ambitious working musician and father of eight, coping with grief and loss, through faith and music.
This interview originally aired June 12, 2022. -
How Hisham Matar's writing reflects life under dictatorship and the pain of his father's abduction
This week, two conversations with the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir The Return. In 2011, Libyan British author Hisham Matar spoke with Eleanor Wachtel about his childhood living under Gadhafi’s dictatorship and the search for his father, a political dissident who was imprisoned. Then, from 2020, Matar reflects on his memoir The Return and his book A Month in Siena, which explores the relationship between history, art and grief. Please note: this episode contains difficult subject matter.
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Irish writers Michael Collins, Claire Keegan, Colum McCann and Nuala O'Faolain reflect on home and away
This week on Writers and Company from the Archives, Irish authors Michael Collins, Claire Keegan, Colum McCann and Nuala O'Faolain. They spoke with Eleanor Wachtel in 2003 onstage at the Victoria Literary Arts Festival.
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Catherine Lacey imagines a character without race or gender in her novel, Pew
The American novelist and short story writer talked to Eleanor Wachtel about growing up in Mississippi and her novel, Pew, which follows a mysterious stranger who makes a big impact on a small town in the American South. This interview originally aired February 28, 2021.
Customer Reviews
Please make back episodes available
For so many years now our tradition has been to go for a long drive in the country on Sunday while listening to Writers and Company …. I’ve been listening since the very first shows …. Please some how make all the old episodes available? My fav was that Francine du Plessy Grey show …. Will miss you Elenor
Oh Eleanor!
I only just found out that they will not be any more new shows of writers and company, where the most literate woman in Canada will lead us through novels and authors, so that we may enrich are the lives! You have accompanied me in so many trips to the store, to pick up children, to deliver gifts to friends, to spend an afternoon in my backyard weeding. I thank you very much for all your incredible research and inviting interviews.
I suppose this means that we will just have to go through all the back library of interviews and podcasts. You're a gem. We will miss you Eleanor.
Eleanor the Great
Simply the best of the best. Thank you for your years devoted to bringing literary discourse into our lives with singular intelligence, warmth, and sensitivity. Mon chapeau!