Archived Programs


March 7, 2010

On Bookmark this week, acclaimed Edmonton author Todd Babiak talks about his new book Toby: A Man.

We also feature a conversation with Grande Prairie author, poet and publisher Dymphny Dronyk, talking about the new publication Home and Away: Alberta's Finest Poets Muse on the Meaning of Home, an anthology of poetry that has found its way onto best-seller lists in Edmonton and Calgary.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


February 28, 2010

Bookmark interviews author Kate Pullinger about her Governor-General award-winning novel Mistress of Nothing.

We also feature award-winning filmmaker Gil Cardinal, Chinese dissident writer Sheng Xue, and author and activist Minister Faust, talking about writing and creating from outside the Canadian mainstream.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


February 21, 2010

Our guest this week is Winnipeg writer and British ex-pat Rosie Chard, discussing her powerful new book of survival and adaptation in an energy-starved Canadian winter, Seal Intestine Raincoat, published by NeWest Press of Edmonton.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


February 14, 2010

Bookmark talks to Donna Coates, co-editor with George Melnyk of the collection: Wild Words: Essays on Alberta Literature.

And we feature Part Two of our Two-Part interview with Alberta novelist and poet Robert Kroetsch and his new book of poetry entitled Too Bad: Sketches Toward A Self-Portrait.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


February 7, 2010

Jerry Auld of Canmore, Alberta, joins us to talk about his debut novel Hooker & Brown, an adventure story woven around the two mountain peaks of the title.

Part One of a Two-Part interview with acclaimed Alberta novelist and poet Robert Kroetsch, looking back on the evolution of a distinguished writing career and discussing his just-published collection of poems entitled Too Bad: Sketches Toward a Self-Portrait.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


January 31, 2010

Author Jessica Simon from Whitehorse, Yukon, joins us to talk about her Arctic thriller From Ice to Ashes, just published by NeWest Press of Edmonton. And Edmonton writer Vanna Tessier puts in a first appearance on Bookmark, talking to us about a thriller of her own, her 2007 novel Shooting Picasso.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


January 24, 2010

An interview with Dr. Afua Cooper, a pioneer of Canada’s dub poetry scene and a leading expert on black history in Canada, recently a guest of the Canadian Literature Centre in Edmonton.

Kevin Aulenback provides a fascinating glimpse into Alberta’s prehistoric history in his new book Identification Guide to Fossil Plants of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Drumheller, Alberta, published by University of Calgary Press.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


January 17, 2010

An interview with Kat Flannery and Roberta Laurie of Prairie Dog Publishing about their collection How I Shot My Brother And Other Stories, featuring the talents of writers in Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and surrounding Parkland County.

Bookmark looks at the recent Frontenac Press publication Moon Nibbler: The Art of Pat Strakowski by Andrew Oko. This book profiles the totally original artwork developed by Strakowski over three decades.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


January 10, 2010

Author Diane Wishart talks about her new book The Rose That Grew From Concrete, a portrait of an Edmonton inner-city highschool that reveals the unique challenges to learning faced by Alberta’s disenfranchised youth and the equally significant challenges facing their teachers.

Calgary’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy continues to give new life to the Sherlock Holmes genre with its new publication Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes. Bookmark talks with the book’s editors Charles Prepolec and J.R. Campbell.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


January 3, 2010

Tony Whyte talks about his new book The Meteorites of Alberta, a fascinating study of the space rocks that have landed in our province and what they tell us about the universe.

An interview with Warren Elofson, author of Somebody Else’s Money: The Walrond Ranch Story, 1883-1907, a look at the rise and fall of one of the great ranches of the northern Great Plains.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


December 27, 2009

University of Calgary Art History professor, Geoffrey Simmins discusses his book about artist, poet and Zen Buddhist lay priest Ron (Gyo-Zo) Spickett, Spirit Matters.

Internationally renowned humourist and travel writer Will Ferguson of Calgary talks about his latest work dedicated to a walking tour of Northern Ireland entitled Beyond Belfast.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


December 20, 2009

Transplanted Maritimer and long-time Calgary poet Bob Stallworthy talks about his collection of poetry entitled Things That Matter Now.

Public policy consultant, journalist and author Satya Das of Edmonton discusses his view that the Athabasca oilsands can be exploited in an environmentally sustainable manner, the subject of his book Green Oil.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


December 13, 2009

81-year-old author Joseph Lothian talks about his powerful historical fiction The Grasshopper, set in the southwestern Alberta coal mining communities of the 1930s.

Calgary author Tom Wayman discusses his extraordinarily black comedy about coming-of-age in the 1960s entitled Woodstock Rising.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


December 6, 2009

One of the world’s foremost advocates for the protection of the planet’s freshwater supplies, Robert William Sandford talks about his new book Restoring the Flow: Confronting the World's Water Woes.

Edmonton financial consultant Chad Viminitz has written an informative and challenging book entitled Money Assassins: How they stole your financial freedom and how you can get it back, in which he calls for a return to some of our grandparent’s values in order to help avert financial and environmental disaster.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


November 29, 2009

Calgary author Betty Jane Hegerat talks about her new and second novel entitled Delivery, a powerful emotional novel about family secrets.

Leilah Nadir attended Edmonton’s Litfest this fall to share her powerful book The Orange Trees of Baghdad, the story of her quest to discovery her lost family in Iraq. She talks with Ken Davis about her journey.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


November 22, 2009

Calgary CAA-writer-in-residence Lori Hahnel talks about her new collection of short fiction entitled Nothing Sacred, in which she ravages many of the myths of the happy ending.

The unofficial keeper of Edmonton’s history, Tony Cashman, talks with Bookmark about his latest of sixteen books on the early days of the city, this book entitled When Edmonton Was Young.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


November 15, 2009

A leading writer of Canadian creative non-fiction, Myrna Kostash of Edmonton, discusses her latest work, the uniquely assembled Frog Lake Reader, which revisits the Frog Lake Massacre of 1885. And Calgary businesswoman and lawyer Donna Kennedy-Glans talks about her book Unveiling the Breath: One Woman's Journey into Understanding Islam and Gender Equality.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


November 8, 2009

Award-winning writer Deborah Willis talks with Bookmark about her acclaimed collection entitled Vanishing and Other Stories, nominated for this year’s Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction. And author and social critic Hal Niedzviecki talks about the new book he presented at WordFest in Calgary this fall, The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


November 1, 2009

Bookmark talks with acclaimed Edmonton artist Ian Sheldon about his new book of paintings marking the 800th anniversary of the founding of Cambridge University, the book entitled Cambridge Footsteps: A Passage Through Time. And we speak with the head of University of Calgary Press, Donna Livingstone, about the unique role of the university press in Alberta.


Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


October 11, 2009

This week on Bookmark, Margaret Atwood reads from her new book Year of the Flood. And head of the book publishing program at Simon Fraser University, Rowland Lorimer, discusses the turbulent changes sweeping the book world and what we might expect to see in the future of book publishing.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


October 4, 2009

On Bookmark this week, Calgary Herald columnist Bob Remington and crime reporter Sherri Zickefoose talk about their new book Runaway Devil, recounting one of the most sensational stories in the annals of Canadian crime. We also feature a conversation with Fort Langley author Don Hunter about his terrific new mystery Incident at Willow Creek, published by NeWest Press of Edmonton.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


September 27, 2009

Anne Green talks with Bookmark about this year's edition of Wordfest: The Calgary-Banff International Literary Festival. We also feature an interview with long-time political observer Rich Vivone about his new book Ralph Could Have Been A Superstar.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


September 20, 2009

On Bookmark this week, Edmonton author Thomas Trofimuk discusses his blockbuster third novel, Waiting for Columbus. We also talk with Calgary playwright Gordon Pengilly about his new published collection of plays entitled Metastasis.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


September 13, 2009

Bookmark returns for a third season this Sunday at 12:30pm. On this week’s program, we profile a simultaneous two-city book launch of Susan MinsosSquire Davis and the Crazy River, with video links between the University of Alberta in Edmonton and McMaster University in Hamilton. We’ll also interview Susan about her new book and we’ll report on what else Alberta’s literary community is up to in celebrating this year’s Alberta Arts Days, September 18 to 20th.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


SEASON TWO


GwenJune 28, 2009

Calgary author Carolyn Pogue, founder of The Art of Peace: A Camp for Kids, talks about her new book for young adults entitled Gwen, the tale of one of England's destitute Barnardo children coming to Canada in search of a new life.

And Edmonton poet Pierette Requier, one of four poets featured in this year's Quartet series by Frontenac House, talks about her collection of poems details from the edge of the village, which centres around the experience of Francophone Albertans.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Making GameJune 21, 2009

Well known Calgary author Sydney Sharpe is our guest, talking about her new book Staying in the Game: The Remarkable Story of Doc Seaman.

We also are in conversation with Peter Atkinson, author of Making Game: An Essay on Hunting, Familiar Things and the Strangeness of Being Who One Is.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


True StoryJune 14, 2009

A conversation with Calgary's ultra-conservative activist Ezra Levant, about his book Shakedown, a best-selling work published by McClelland and Stewart.

Meantime, well-known Edmonton playwright Marty Chan and illustrator Lorna Bennett talk about their collaboration in creating the children's book True Story.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Broken VoicesJune 7, 2009

Bookmark talks with teacher Dale Wallace about the publishing company run by his students out of Beaverbrook High School in Calgary.

And we meet Valerie Mason-John, an award-winning author and journalist from Britain who emigrated to Edmonton just two months ago. Valerie shares her impressions of her new life and of Alberta and talks about her acclaimed book Broken Voices, about the 'Untouchable' women of India.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


AfterMay 31, 2009

A conversation with Jennifer Ford (Brower), author of Lost Tracks: Buffalo National Park 1909–1939, a fascinating account of a conservation effort doomed to failure.

Bookmark also speaks with children’s author Hazel Hutchins about her new book After, which tells the story of two young teens whose families are plunged into grief following a random shooting.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Between Forest and Sky: A Fire-Tower JournalMay 24, 2009

Sharon Stratton spends her summers watching for forest fires and her winters writing in Calgary. She talks about her experience as revealed in a new book Between Forest and Sky: A Fire-Tower Journal.

We also speak with Daniel Coleman, author of In Bed With The Word, a new book that celebrates the joy of reading.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Dal  & RiceMay 17, 2009

Calgary author Michael Davie discusses his raw and funny new book Fishing for Bacon, published by NeWest Press.

And Edmonton writer Wendy Davis shares her memories of growing up in India under the British Raj, in a new book entitled Dal & Rice.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Cause for HopeMay 10, 2009

The Very Reverend Bill Phipps of Calgary, former moderator of the United Church of Canada, talks about his new book Cause for Hope: Humanity at the Crossroads.

We also feature Annari van der Merwe, a renowned figure in South Africa’s book publishing community, who delivered a keynote address last weekend at the Get Publishing conference in Edmonton.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


We are All Treaty PeopleApril 12, 2009

Bookmark talks with the Dean of the U of A’s Augustana Campus in Camrose, Dr. Roger Epp, about his new book of essays entitled We are All Treaty People, published by University of Alberta Press.

And we share a conversation with Asish Gupta, publisher of the intriguing independent Calgary publisher Bayeux Arts.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


In the Hands of AnubisApril 5, 2009

On Bookmark this week, novelist Ann Erikssen discusses her critically acclaimed new love story In the Hands of Anubis, published by Brindle and Glass.

And University of Alberta history professor Sarah Carter shares insights into the battle over monogamy waged in western Canada in the late 1800s, the subject of her book The Importance of Being Monogamous.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


ChanceMarch 29, 2009

Calgary author Anne Metikosh talks about her latest book Chance, published by NeWest Press of Edmonton. Chance tells the story of the family into which Metikosh married: Dragan is a young Yugoslavian thrown into a German prison camp in the Second World War. Galina survives the German siege of Leningrad only to be also thrown into the prison camp. The two meet and marry and survive in a world where survival has become merely a matter of chance.

Also on Bookmark this week, we interview writer and mountain climber Bill Corbett about the updated new version of his fascinating book The 11,000ers of the Canadian Rockies.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


War GamesMarch 22, 2009

Bragg Creek author Jacqueline Guest discusses her new book War Games.

And retired professor M. Ann Hall of Edmonton talks about her history Immodest and Sensational: 150 Years of Canadian Women in Sport.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


EunoiaMarch 15, 2009

University of Calgary English professor and acclaimed sound poet Christian Bok talks with Bookmark about his work Eunoia, which recently found its way onto the bestseller lists in England, six years after it was first published.

We also speak with acclaimed Edmonton author Marina Endicott discusses life since her book Good To A Fault was nominated for a Giller Prize last fall. She also talks about her new book currently being written and the re-release of her debut title Open Arms.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


A Raw Mix of Carelessness and Longing March 8, 2009

Calgary author Cecelia Frey talks to Bookmark about her stunning novel, A Raw Mix of Carelessness and Longing - the story of two young musicians growing up in Edmonton and discovering the western Canadian music scene.

We also speak with Lou Morin and Douglas Barbour about the future and unique history of one of Alberta's most influential and enduring publishers NeWest Press.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


The Desert ContractMarch 1, 2009

This week on Bookmark, Calgary author John Lathrop talks about his new thriller set in the Middle East, entitled The Desert Contract.

And Edmonton poet Su Croll reads from and discusses her new book Blood Mother.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Women BetweenFebruary 22, 2009

This week on Bookmark, a conversation with the indomitable Verna Reid. Reid, now in her 80s, is a writer, artist, mother through great-grandmother, and a legendary figure on the Calgary arts and culture scene. We talk about her new book: Women Between: Construction of Self in the Work of Sharon Butala, Aganetha Dyck, Mary Meigs and Mary Pratt.

Peers, Alberta, author and forest ranger Dave Hugelschaffer discusses his new book One Careless Moment, the second book in the Porter Cassel Mystery series, published by Cormorant Books of Toronto. Porter Cassel is a different type of crime investigator, one who investigates deliberately started forest fires.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Whale SongFebruary 15, 2009

This week on Bookmark, we sit down with Rose and David Scollard to talk about Frontenac House, their respected if modest Calgary literary press that this year celebrates its tenth anniversary. They are marking the occasion by publishing 10 books of poetry in a series called Dektet 2010.

We also talk with an Edmonton writer who is unabashedly one of the most intensely self-promoting authors in the marketplace today. Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song and other suspense novels, shares her insights into what any writer should do to help ensure success for their published work.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


The Uncertain Business of Doing Good: Outsiders in AfricaFebruary 8, 2009

Author Shirlee Smith Matheson talks about her biography Maverick in the Sky: The Aerial Adventures of WWI Flying Ace Freddie McCall, published by Frontenac House of Calgary.

And we caught up with Canadian filmmaker Larry Krotz to discuss his new book The Uncertain Business of Doing Good: Outsiders in Africa.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 17 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Canada’s StonehengeFebruary 1, 2009

Editor Richard C. Davis discusses his book Nahanni Journals: R.M. Patterson’s 1927-1929 Journals, which reveal the fascinating escapades of an Oxford graduate seeking gold and adventure in the wilds of the Canadian north.

We also feature an interview with Gordon R. Freeman, an Edmonton scientist who unveils remarkable new archaeological discoveries in his just-released book Canada’s Stonehenge: Astounding Archaeological Discoveries in Canada, England, and Wales.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


When Will I Awaken From This LIfe?January 25, 2009

Bookmark interviews Edmonton poet Mohammed Al-Nassar about his work When Will I Awaken From This Life? Selected Poems in English and Arabic.

We also interview the world’s leading expert on freshwater preservation, Dr. David Schindler, talking about his new book The Algal Bowl, which analyses the threat to global freshwater supplies posed by nutrient pollution.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Family Literacy DayJanuary 18, 2009

This week’s Bookmark program is dedicated to upcoming observances around National Literacy Day on January 27th. We feature a roundtable discussion on a variety of literacy issues.

Our guests include Sandra Irving, executive director of the Centre for Family Literacy in Edmonton. We also speak with a a mother of three boys who is highly involved in literacy programs for youngsters and we talk with an adult student working to achieve greater literacy.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Driven to KillJanuary 11, 2009

Sociologist and Author J. Peter Rothe discusses the fascinating research behind his new book Driven to Kill: Vehicles as Weapons.

Edmonton author Caterina Edwards discusses her book Finding Rosa: A Mother with Alzheimer’s, a Daughter in Search of the Past.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


The Good StewardJanuary 4, 2009

The second and final part of an interview with Linda Cook, CEO of the Edmonton Public Library, in conversation about the changing roles and challenges of today's public library system.

We also interview Calgary writer Brian Brennan about his book The Good Steward: The Ernest Manning Story, the first biography to be written about one of Alberta’s and Canada’s political giants of the past.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Chronicle of CommerceDecember 28, 2008

Bookmark talks with Linda C. Cook, the CEO of the Edmonton Public Library, about the role of the modern library in society, the crisis facing school libraries across Canada, and the importance of literacy to our success as a nation.

We also speak with Dr. Bill Preshing, the 80 year old writer of Chronicle of Commerce: A History of the School of Business at the University of Alberta, published during this, the U of A’s 100th anniversary.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Tar SandsDecember 21, 2008

On Bookmark this week, we speak with journalist and author Andrew Nikiforuk about his new book Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent.

We also feature an interview with senior business writer for the Globe & Mail Report on Business, Gordon Pitts, author of Stampede! The Rise of The West and Canada’s New Power Elite.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Kiss The Joy As It FliesDecember 14, 2008

An interview with scholar, researcher, painter and forester, A.K. Hellum, about the book Listening to Trees, published by NeWest Press. This book tells the story of Hallum’s lifelong journey around the world to save the planet’s declining forests.

And we speak with one of Canada’s great writers of children’s literature, Sheree Fitch, talking about her new novel – this one for adults – entitled Kiss The Joy As It Flies.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Gravity JournalDecember 7, 2008

Bookmark speaks with Edmonton writer Gail Sidonie Sobat about her book Gravity Journal, a book geared to young women that paints an unflinching portrait of eating disorders.

We’ll also feature an interview with Austin Clarke, a great Canadian writer known for his richly textured prose that blends Canadian and Caribbean cultural nuances.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


The Story That Brought Me Here: To Alberta From EverywhereNovember 30, 2008

On this week’s Bookmark program, acclaimed Ontario writer Susan Olding talks about her new work Pathologies. The book is published by Calgary’s new literary publishing house, Freehand Press. Susan was a featured writer at Edmonton’s LitFest in October.

We also speak with Edmonton journalist and author Linda Goyette, editor of a new collection of stories and poems by Canadian immigrant writers. The Story That Brought Me Here: To Alberta From Everywhere features 36 Alberta writers from 27 countries of origin.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Sage IslandNovember 23, 2008

Bookmark interviews Calgary writer Samantha Warwick about her new book Sage Island. Samantha was a featured writer at October’s WordFest in Calgary and Banff.

Also on the program, an interview with a Calgary publisher who over the past decade has built one of Canada’s most prestigious and successful science fiction and fantasy publishing houses. Brian Hades of Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy is our guest.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


CockroachNovember 16, 2008

On Bookmark this week, we talk with Canada's hottest writer, Rawi Hage. His new book Cockroach is nominated for the Governor-General's Literary Award, the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His book De Niro’s Game won the 2008 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the largest monetary prize for a single work of fiction in the English language. Hage, one of the stars at this year’s WordFest in Banff and Calgary, talks with us about Cockroach, which centres on the immigrant experience in Montreal.

We also feature an interview with Jack Brink, curator of archaeology at the Royal Alberta Museum. He has written a well-researched and fascinating new book entitled Imagining Head-Smashed-In that reveals the world of buffalo hunting by aboriginals on the Canadian prairies prior to contact with Europeans.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


A Fair Country: Telling Truths About CanadaNovember 9, 2008

On this week’s program, an interview with celebrated Canadian author and intellectual John Ralston Saul, talking about his new book: A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada.

And Bookmark talks with Montreal author Saleema Nawaz, one of four writers who launched Calgary’s new literary press Freehand Books earlier this fall. We talk with Saleema about her collection of short stories and novellas entitled Mother Superior.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


The Great Karoo October 12, 2008

Bookmark this week features an interview with acclaimed Alberta writer Fred Stenson about his new book The Great Karoo, an epic novel that places southern Alberta cowboys on the battlefields of the Boer War.

Meantime, new writer R.L. Prendergast of Edmonton is doing it the hard way. He has self-published his first novel, entitled The Impact of a Single Event. The book tells the fascinating story of a fatal car accident and the chance discovery of an ancient journal. Bookmark talks with Prendergast about the experience of writing and publishing the book.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Passchendaele: Canada's Triumph and Tragedy on the Fields of FlandersOctober 5, 2008

This week, we talk with artistic director of WordFest: Calgary-Banff International Writers Festival, Anne Green, about this year's festival which gets underway October 14th.

We also feature an interview with military historian and author Norman S. Leach about his new book Passchendaele: Canada's Triumph and Tragedy on the Fields of Flanders. Leach was the history consultant on Paul Gross' new movie Passchendaele, set to open in Canadian theatres on October 15th.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


The Shadow of MalabronSeptember 28, 2008

This week, Bookmark features an interview with acclaimed Edmonton author Thomas Wharton, discussing his new book for younger readers, The Shadow of Malabron.

We also feature an interview with Calgary writer Garry Ryan, talking about the latest book in his Detective Lane Series, A Hummingbird Dance.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


The Trouble with LionsSeptember 21, 2008

On this week's program, we sit down with Melanie Little, editor of Calgary's newest publishing house, Freehand Books, to talk about the mandate for the literary press.

And we feature an interview with storyteller and wildlife veterinarian Dr. Jerry Haig, talking about his new book The Trouble with Lions, published by University of Alberta Press.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Riding with RilkeSeptember 14, 2008

Bookmark opens Season Two featuring an interview with Edmonton English professor and motorcycle enthusiast Ted Bishop, whose book Riding with Rilke has been selected as the designated book for this fall's Edmonton Reads campaign.

We also speak with Marina Endicott about her critically acclaimed new novel Good to a Fault, published by Freehand Books of Calgary.

And Sharon Bodnarchuk of Audrey's Books in Edmonton drops by to talk about what's "Hot Off The Shelf."

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


SEASON ONE


An Imperfect OfferingJune 29, 2008

This week, Bookmark speaks with Dr. James Orbinski, former president of the international organization Médecins Sans Frontières. Dr. Orbinski discusses his book An Imperfect Offering.

We also feature a beautiful new book published by Frontenac House of Calgary. Breathing Stone, written by a leading authority on Northwest Coast culture and art, Carol Sheehan, reveals the modern generation of artists and art expressed through Haida argillite sculpture.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Frontier FarewellJune 22, 2008

On this week's Bookmark, a conversation with well-known Regina lawyer Garrett Wilson, now retired. Wilson talks about his book Frontier Farewell, which examines the 1870s of western Northern America and how the events of that decade changed the West forever.

We also talk with Edmonton author and journalist Linda Goyette about her new book for children entitled Rocky Mountain Kids.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


CanWrite! ConferenceJune 15, 2008

The Canadian Authors Association is holding its national conference in Edmonton, July 3-6. On this week's show, Bookmark features a round-table interview with organizers and writers from the C.A.A.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Freckles: A Child's LifeJune 8, 2008

On Bookmark this week, we feature a conversation with a retired school teacher from rural Alberta who has been called the "Lucy Maud Montgomery of the Prairies." Ardith Trudzik is author of two books, Freckles and Core of My Apple and is working on a third book in the series. Ardith took up writing at the age of 73, telling the story of her childhood growing up in poverty on a farm in rural Alberta during World War II.

We also sit down with Carl Honoré, the Edmonton-raised author of the best-selling book In Praise of Slowness. Honoré has a new book out entitled Under Pressure: Rescuing Childhood from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 20 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


The Truth About CanadaJune 1, 2008

Canadian nationalist extraordinaire Mel Hurtig recently returned to Alberta to promote his new book The Truth About Canada and, of course, dropped into Bookmark's studios for a chat.

We also feature an interview with Thomas Wharton, the acclaimed Alberta author of such award-winning novels as Icefields and Salamander.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


WonderfullMay 25, 2008

Bookmark features an interview with author William Neil Scott, about his new book Wonderfull and the fictional town of Garfax.

We also feature an interview with Edmonton poet Alice Major about a major new work, the extended narrative poem The Office Tower Tales.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)



The Toss of a LemonMay 18, 2008

Bookmark features an in-depth interview with Padma Viswanathan, author of the acclaimed debut novel The Toss of a Lemon. Padma, who grew up in St. Albert, Alberta, but now makes her home in Arkansas, is the 2008 New Face of Fiction author for Random House Canada.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 20 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)



Wrongfully ConvictedMay 11, 2008

Bookmark talks with Edmonton author Peter Boer about his book Wrongfully Convicted, about Canadians sentenced to prison for crimes they did not commit.

And we visit with author Jason Brink and artist Jim Westergard, both of Red Deer, about their deliciously dark new work of so-called "punch fiction" entitled Fly on the Wall.

Listen to the program (28 minutes)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)



The Black Grizzly of Whiskey CreekApril 13, 2008

This week on Bookmark, Winnipeg poet Mary Murphy reads from her searing volume of poetry Shattered Fanatics.

And we feature part two of a two-part interview with mountain man, poet, author and musician Sid Marty. This week, Sid talks about his new book The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)



Magic WeaponsApril 6, 2008

Bookmark talks with Sam McKegney of Mount Royal College in Calgary, author of a groundbreaking book entitled Magic Weapons: Aboriginal Writers Remaking Community After Residential Schools.

And we present part one of a two-part interview with Pincher Creek poet, author, singer-songwriter, environmental activist and honest-to-God mountain man Sid Marty. On this week’s program, Sid talks about a crusade to protect an endangered area of southwestern Alberta wilderness and call it Andy Russell Provincial Park.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Untamed SpiritMarch 30, 2008

Bookmark has a word this week with Edmonton’s Doris Maron, author of Untamed Spirit, the story of her remarkable 3-year around-the-world journey on a motorcycle.

And Calgary’s Glen Dresser talks about his debut novel Correction Road, the first draft of which was written during a 3-day novel writing competition.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Back RoadsMarch 23, 2008

This week on Bookmark, writer Ted Ferguson talks about his new book Back Roads, an account of his decision to leave his stress-filled life in Vancouver for a quiet corner of northern Alberta.

And we take a look at the Check Out the Writer! rural writer-in-residence program, a partnership of the Writers Guild of Alberta and the Library Association of Alberta. Seven rural library systems in Alberta currently have writers-in-residence through this program.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 10 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Long After FathersMarch 16, 2008

Bookmark features an interview with award-winning Calgary poet and novelist Roberta Rees, discussing her first work of short fiction Long After Fathers.

And we feature an interview with University of Alberta writer-in-residence Rob McLennan of Ottawa.

Listen to the program (28 minutes)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Quiet Revolution West: The Rebirth of Métis NationalismMarch 9, 2008

Bookmark talks with Kurdish writer Jalal Barzanji, Edmonton’s first writer-in-exile, a man targeted for death until he fled Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

We also feature an interview with John Weinstein, author of Quiet Revolution West: The Rebirth of Métis Nationalism.

Listen to the program (28 minutes)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


I Am Hutterite
March 2, 2008

Bookmark interviews Mary-Ann Kirkby, author of I Am Hutterite, the fascinating national best-seller about one woman's account of her own growing up in a Hutterite colony and her family's struggle to adapt to the outside world when they left their community.

We also speak with David Finch, author of Pumped: Everyone's Guide to the Oilpatch, the authoritative guide to understanding Alberta's oil industry.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 15 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


W. O. MitchellFebruary 24, 2008

Bookmark takes a closer look at the Alberta government’s recently announced new cultural policy and find out what’s in it for Alberta literature. We’ll talk to writers, publishers, librarians, politicians and analysts.

We’ll also feature part two of our two-part tribute to one of Canada’s most famous authors - W.O. Mitchell - on the eve of the 10th anniversary of his death.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 15 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


The Bone Cage

February 17, 2008

Bookmark interviews author Angie Abdou of Cranbrook, BC, about her acclaimed debut novel The Bone Cage published by Edmonton’s NeWest Press.

We also present part one of a two-part tribute to the late great spiritual grandpappy of many an Alberta writer - W.O. Mitchell - leading up to the 10th anniversary of his passing.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 8 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)



All Our Sisters: Stories of Homeless Women in CanadaFebruary 10, 2008

Bookmark talks with Susan Scott, Calgary-based author of All Our Sisters: Stories of Homeless Women in Canada.

We also head over to the University of Alberta Bookstore in Edmonton, head down into the basement, and get a look at a weird contraption that can print any book you want in about 4 minutes.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 15 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)


Sheri-D Wilson

February 3, 2008

Bookmark talks to Michael Kryton, Yardley Jones and Spyder Yardley-Jones, Edmonton-based artists, and illustrators of the phenomenally best-selling Bachelor Guides series of books.

We also put the spotlight on internationally acclaimed performance poet Sheri-D Wilson of Calgary. She talks about, among other things, the new surrealist movie she’s just filmed on location in Paris and the new book of poetry she has coming out this spring.

Listen to the program (28 minutes and 12 seconds)
(In order to listen you must have Windows Media Player. To install the latest player, click here.)