What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books

Dennis Bock

My guest on this episode is Dennis Bock. Dennis is the author of the short story collection Olympia and the novels The Ash Garden, The Communist’s Daughter, Going Home Again, and The Good German. His work has won the CAA Jubilee Award, the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, the Betty Trask Award, and the Canada-Japan Literary Award, and been shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Kiriyama Prize, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and the Giller Prize. His most recent novel is Strangers at the Door, published by HarperCollins Canada in 2025. The Winnipeg Free Press called it “eerily delightful.”   Dennis and I talk about how playing guitar helps him write novels, about writing historical fiction that is more focused on the second part of that category than the first, and about learning to allow himself some fallow time between books. This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock [https://www.nathanwhitlock.ca/], in partnership with The Walrus [https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/]. Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky [https://alukashevsky.bandcamp.com/]. Used with permission. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Kate Cayley

My guest on this episode is Kate Cayley. Kate has published two short story collections and three collections of poetry. She has won the Trillium Book Award, the Mitchell Prize for Poetry, and an O. Henry Prize, and been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, among other awards. She has also served as a playwright in residence with Tarragon Theatre. Her most recent book is the novel Property, published by Coach House Books in 2025. That novel was short-listed for the Foreword INDIES prize for literary fiction, and for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, presented in partnership with The Walrus. Publishers Weekly called Property ”an unflinching tale of a community’s fragile bonds.”   Kate and I talk about the surprise and pleasure of an award nomination coming many months after a book is published, about what her novel owes to the rats in her neighbourhood, and about the strangeness of being a debut novelist, six books into her career. This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock [https://www.nathanwhitlock.ca/], in partnership with The Walrus [https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/]. Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky [https://alukashevsky.bandcamp.com/]. Used with permission. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Adriana Barton

My guest on this episode is Adriana Barton. Adriana is an author and journalist whose writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the Boston Globe, Western Living, Vancouver magazine, and elsewhere. Her debut book is Wired for Music: A Search for Health and Joy Through the Science of Sound, published by Greystone Books in 2022. That book was a finalist in the Canadian Book Club Awards and the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada Book Awards. The Globe and Mail called it “thoroughly researched and tenderly written.” Adriana and I talk about how different the original pitch for her book was from its final version, about how she gets through her nervousness around public speaking, and about her ongoing difficulties with her planned follow-up book. This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock [https://www.nathanwhitlock.ca/], in partnership with The Walrus [https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/]. Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky [https://alukashevsky.bandcamp.com/]. Used with permission. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Gabrielle Drolet

My guest on this episode is Gabrielle Drolet. Gabrielle is a journalist, essayist, and cartoonist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, the Globe and Mail, New York Times, The Walrus, VICE, Teen Vogue, and more. Her essays on disability have been nominated for a Digital Publishing Award and won gold at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards. Her first book, Look Ma, No Hands: A Chronic Pain Memoir, was published by McClelland & Stewart in 2025, and was a finalist for a 2026 Lambda Literary Award. Journalist Sarah Hagi called the book “a remarkable debut from an incredible voice.” Gabrielle and I talk about some of the more ethically dubious gigs she has taken on as a freelance writer, about writing using voice-to-text software, and how that has changed her style, and about her worries that next book, which is not a memoir, might have less of a hook in comparison with her first. This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock [https://www.nathanwhitlock.ca/], in partnership with The Walrus [https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/]. Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky [https://alukashevsky.bandcamp.com/]. Used with permission. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Jacquelyn Zong-Li Ross

My guest on this episode is Jacquelyn Zong-Li Ross. Jacquelyn’s fiction, poetry, essays, and art criticism have appeared in BOMB, C Mag, The Ex-Puritan, Fence, Mousse, and elsewhere. In addition, She is an editor at The Capilano Review. Her debut book, The Longest Way to Eat a Melon, was published by Sarabande Books in 2025. The New York Times called it "a collection of short stories each more satirical and surreal than the last." Jacquelyn and I talk about her book ending up in a New York Times trend piece, about turning self-consciousness from an obstacle to her writing into one of its central themes, and about how her approach to writing has been changed by becoming a parent. This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock [https://www.nathanwhitlock.ca/], in partnership with The Walrus [https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/]. Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky [https://alukashevsky.bandcamp.com/]. Used with permission. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.