9 books you heard about on CBC Radio this week

Here's a round-up of the best book and author interviews from CBC Radio(external link) from March 30-April 5, 2019.

Mistakes to Run With by Yasuko Thanh

Image | Mistakes to Run With by Yasuko Thanh

Caption: Mistakes to Run With is a memoir by Yasuko Thanh. (Don Denton, Hamish Hamilton)

Yasuko Thanh opens up about her tumultuous life in Mistakes to Run With, from rebelling against her evangelical parents, living on the streets of Vancouver and becoming a sex worker to falling in love and writing an award-winning novel. Thanh writes that, despite her success, she still struggles with events of the past.
Heard on: The Next Chapter

Late Breaking by K.D. Miller

Image | Late Breaking by K.D. Miller

Caption: Late Breaking is a short story collection by K.D. Miller. (Andrew Leith McRae, Biblioasis)

Late Breaking, the latest collection of short stories by K.D. Miller, is based on the art of Alex Colville. The collection centres on characters occupying Sackville, N.B., where Colville lived and taught for many years. The characters that Miller portrays are getting older and contending with a world that focuses predominantly on youth.
Heard on: The Next Chapter

We All Fall Down by Daniel Kalla

Image | Daniel-Kalla-We-All-Fall-Down

Caption: We All Fall Down is the tenth novel by writer and doctor Daniel Kalla. (Simon & Schuster)

Daniel Kalla is an emergency room doctor based in Vancouver, B.C., and the international bestselling author of 10 books. His latest, We All Fall Down, is a thriller about the black death. Set both in the past and present, Kalla explores the plague caused in the medieval period, and how its effects would be felt if it were to break out today.
Heard on: The Next Chapter

The Twice-Born by Aatish Taseer

Image | BOOK: The Twice-Born by Aatish Taseer

Caption: British-born journalist and author Aatish Taseer was interviewed by CBC's Eleanor Wachtel in 2019. (Michelle De Marco, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

In The Twice-Born: Life and Death on the Ganges, novelist and journalist Aatish Taseer explores the world of India's Brahmins — who sit at the top of the Hindu caste system — set against current politics of nationalism, revivalism and revenge. The book centres on the city of Benares, also known as Varanasi, the spiritual capital of Hinduism, where Taseer first encountered Brahmins and began his study of the ancient language of Sanskrit.
Heard on: Writers & Company

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Image | The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Caption: The Little Prince was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's only children's story and is one of the most translated works of all time. (Raincoast Books, Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is a children's book about an aviator who crashes in the desert and meets a little prince from a distant planet. It was written 76 years ago and still sells millions of copies a year. It's also the most translated non-religious text ever, with translations in 300 languages.
Heard on: q

Solitary by Albert Woodfox

Image | Solitary: My Story of Transformation and Hope

Caption: Albert Woodfox is the author of the memoir Solitary. (Ben Shannon/CBC, HarperCollins Canada)

Albert Woodfox was convicted in 1973 for the murder of a prison guard — he still maintains his innocence — and would remain in solitary confinement until 2016, when he was released. For all that time, he spent 23 hours a day in small cell, measuring 6-feet wide, 9-feet long and 12-feet high. Woodfox has written about his time in prison in his new book Solitary: My Story of Transformation and Hope.
Heard on: The Current

Antisemitism: Here and Now by Deborah E. Lipstadt

Image | Antisemitism

Caption: Deborah E. Lipstadt is the author of Antisemitism: Here and Now. (Osnat Perelshtein/Random House Canada)

Deborah E. Lipstadt is an award-winning author and historian whose work has focused on the Holocaust and Holocaust denial. She wrote her latest book, Antisemitism: Here and Now, as a clarion call to take anti-Semitism seriously as an evil that has led to the vilification, persecution and murder of millions of Jews for millennia.
Heard on: The Sunday Edition

Operatic by Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler

Image | Kyo Maclear

Caption: Kyo Maclear's first graphic novel for young readers is called Operatic. (Groundwood Books, Nancy Friedland)

When her music class learns about opera, Charlie becomes obsessed with the life of Maria Callas. She looks to the ultimate diva for direction on how to cope with her feelings for her classmate Emile and her concerns for Luka, who hasn't showed up to school in weeks. Operatic is written for readers aged 10 to 14.
Heard on: q

Nibi's Water Song by Sunshine Tenasco, illustrated by Chief Lady Bird

Image | Nibi's Water Song

Caption: Nibi's Water Song was written by Sunshine Tenasco (right) and illustrated by Chief Lady Bird (left) and will be available through Scholastic Books. (Provided)

Seeing a drawing of an Indigenous child on a book cover prompted Sunshine Tenasco to write her own children's story about the importance of clean water. Nibi's Water Song is about a little girl named Nibi who's thirsty and can't find clean water to drink. Nibi is also the name of Tenasco's 13-year-old daughter. In the book, with no luck from her tap or the nearby river, Nibi heads to the next town and starts knocking on doors looking for a safe source of drinking water.
Heard on: Unreserved

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