Candy Palmater once described herself as "a gay, Native, recovered-lawyer-turned-feminist-comic who was raised by bikers in the wilds of northern New Brunswick."

She lived in Halifax for almost three decades, where she studied law, worked as a lawyer and for the Nova Scotia government, recorded a TV show for APTN and claims to have unionized a Tim Hortons.

Palmeter will be a panelist in this year's Canada Reads competition and when she came to Halifax to talk about the book she's championing — The Break by Katherena Vermette — Mainstreet saw an opportunity to get past promotional blurbs and get to know her better.

Here's Bob Murphy's interview with her, recorded last week at the Halifax Central Library.