My Life In Books with Red Szell

Bestselling novelist Helen Simonson revels in setting strength of character against small-minded social convention. While her debut, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, was a contemporary romantic satire, her latest book, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club, transports the reader back to the summer of 1919, and an English seaside town emerging from the trauma of World War One and the Spanish Flu pandemic. But for the women who did their bit to aid the war effort, and the men disabled by the conflict, the battle for respect and equality is far from over. With Helen’s trademark blend of wit and poignancy, and her sharp eye for historical detail, the novel joyfully skewers pomposity, celebrates those who defy convention, and extols the timeless beauty of the Sussex landscape. Join Helen and Red as they discuss biplanes, committees, prejudice and the little-known story of a submarine stranded on a Sussex beach…

Alissa York is a Canadian author whose novels and short stories have won her international acclaim. Her latest book, Far Cry, immerses the reader in the harsh conditions of a salmon cannery on the remote north west coast of British Columbia in 1922. It’s a haunting tale of survival, forbidden love, addiction, and jealousy, with a mystery at its heart and the Canadian wilderness all around. Join Alissa and Red as they explore the history of Canada’s working class, and man’s often jagged interaction with nature.

Throughout the history of talking books, the question of how to bring illustrations to life has posed problems for authors and audio producers. But it’s a challenge that artist James Norbury was eager to meet. Following the international success of his illustrated book Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, James set about adapting his story to bring its message of friendship, hope and acceptance to a listening audience. It is a craft that he has honed in Big Panda’s sequel, The Journey, and perfected in his latest book The Cat Who Taught Zen. And, as we’ll hear, it all began in a second-hand bookshop! Join James, Red, and a litter of kittens, as they explore mindfulness and the power of words to change the way we think.

Valerie Jerome’s grandfather John “Army” Howard was Canada’s first Black Olympian, and her brother Harry Jerome was one of the most recognizable Black athletes of the 1960s. He set a total of seven world records, earning him the title of the world's fastest man, and competed at three Summer Olympics, including Tokyo in 1964 where he won bronze in the 100m. Valerie herself became Canadian senior women’s champion in the sprints and long jump at the age of 15 and went on to represent Canada at the 1960 Rome Olympics. In her memoir Races: The Trials and Triumphs of Canada’s Fastest Family, Valerie gives the inside track on her family’s remarkable history, and the racism that they fought along the way – from their community, the press, their country, and even within their home.

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Szell for the latest episode of AMI-audio's My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. Since the publication of her debut, The Secret of the Ninth Stone, Kylie Fitzpatrick has established a reputation as a historical novelist that has won her fans around the globe. Her latest novel, Under the Black Mountain, is written under the pen name KT Fitzpatrick and blends history with mystery, to transport the reader back to 1919 and far northern Queensland, Australia. It's a tale that reveals how the shockwaves of the First World War radiated to effect even that remote corner of the world. Join Kylie and Red as they discuss the shell shock, narcotics and strange goings-on in the outback.

Naben Ruthnum is an award-winning author whose work encompasses memoir, food writing, screenplays and thrillers. His latest book takes a pinch of all those ingredients, ventures into the realm of Young Adult fiction, and adds a dash of classic 1990s supernatural horror. The result is The Grimmer, which is a must-read for fans of Stranger Things and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but which is also subtly seasoned with questions around identity and addiction. So, prepare to be hooked, and irresistibly reeled back into the realm of 1996.

There’s an old adage among authors that you should write what you know. And as a prize-winning New York Times theatre critic, Alexis Soloski has an intimate knowledge of the theatre scene both on and off-Broadway. Her debut novel, Here in The Dark, follows an acid-tongued theatre critic as she investigates a stranger’s disappearance. By turns caustically funny and brutally dark, the book draws the reader deep into a world where the boundaries between theatre and reality become increasingly blurred and tenuous. Join Alexis and Red as they discuss how life and art reflect each other, and the star performance given by Broadway actress Laura Benanti as the narrator of the audiobook.

For this episode, Red is joined by Canadian author Erum Shazia Hasan, whose compelling debut novel, "We Meant Well," explores the complex moral and emotional landscape of international aid work. Set in an unnamed post-colonial failed state, the book grapples with timely questions about what it means to be charitable, who deserves what, and who gets the power to decide. With her background as a Sustainable Development Consultant for various UN agencies, it’s a world that Erum is well qualified to discuss. Join Red and Erum as they explore the contradictions and consequences of Western intervention in the developing world. .

PAGING ALL BOOK LOVERS! Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. Tyler LeBlanc was working as a bicycle tour guide when a chance encounter led him to look into the history of his name. Growing up on the south shore of Nova Scotia, he’d been unaware of his Acadian roots. But the discovery that he could trace his family all the way back to the Acadian Expulsions parked a curiosity that has transformed the way he views identity, family and the place he calls home. Painstakingly researched, his book, Acadian Driftwood, pieces together the lives of his ancestors after they were shattered by their enforced removal from their homeland by the British in 1755. Join Tyler and Red as they explore the history behind and legacy of Le Grand Dérangement.

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio's My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. A week-long retreat on a beautiful country estate with no phones and no wi-fi might sound like the perfect getaway, but not in Rebecca Thorne's book. The Grief House is a spine-chilling mystery that blends psychological suspense with supernatural terror. Cut off from the outside world, a small group of guests and the couple who run the retreat find themselves battling not only their own demons but rising flood waters and a sense of menace that threatens to engulf them. As the reader is led deeper into the recesses of each character's mind, we too discover that "There is nothing like the cold that freezes from within." Join Rebecca and Red as they discuss the psychology of fear and the realm of spiritualism in the lives and literature of those who dare to explore them. My Life in Books airs Mondays at 1 p.m. Eastern on AMI-audio, or download the podcast from your favourite podcast provider.

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. Femi Kayode’s debut novel, Lightseekers, introduced the world to Philip Taiwo, a U.S.-trained forensic psychologist investigating crime and corruption in Nigeria. It became an international bestseller and its sequel has been eagerly anticipated. Gaslight certainly doesn’t disappoint. Like Lightseekers, it’s a tense thriller inspired by real events, this time revolving around a Nigerian megachurch with a global reach. By turns hard-hitting and emotionally sensitive, the book not only probes the underbelly of Nigerian society but also explores wider questions of faith and identity. Join Femi and Red as they discuss the corruption of power and the portrayal of diversity in fiction.

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. It was the most costly and destructive disaster in Canada’s history. The 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire reduced Alberta’s fourth-largest city to ash, displaced 90,000 people and took 15 months to put out. Miraculously the death toll was extremely low, but as John Vaillant argues in his internationally best-selling book, Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast, the inferno that consumed Fort McMurray is a harbinger of our near future. Combining a flair for storytelling that reads like the screenplay of a disaster movie, and a searing examination of mankind’s exploitation of fire and the fossil fuels that feed it, John explains how we have supercharged our atmosphere and now live in a world that is more explosively flammable than at any time in human history. Join Red and John as they discuss the history of fire, the role of the fossil fuel industry in global warming, and some of the extraordinary stories of those caught up in the Fort McMurray fire.

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. In 2008, award-winning food and travel writer Sylvie Bigar accepted an assignment to write about cassoulet, France’s ancestral bean and meat stew. Little did she know that this seemingly bland story would lead her to re-examine her privileged but dysfunctional childhood in Switzerland and force her to reckon with her identity and her own dramatic family history. Her resulting memoir, Cassoulet Confessions: Food, France, Family and The Stew that Saved My Soul, has garnered rave reviews around the world. And with three recipes for the famed French stew, it’s a feast for the body and the mind. Join Sylvie and Red as they discuss heritage, heartache and beans!

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. For this episode, Red is joined by N.V. Peacock, who by her own admission has "a curiously dark mind" that is driven by a fascination with the "What if" question. In her latest thriller, The Brother, she asks, what if you found out you were adopted and that one of your blood brothers was a serial killer? What follows is a fast-paced game of cat and mouse, as her protagonist tries to establish which of her new-found siblings is a murderer. It’s full of twists and turns and references to the true crime cases that first inspired Nicky Peacock to pick up the pen. And with dual first-person narratives, it’s ideally suited for audio. Join Red and Nicky as they discuss the fascination of true crime, and the power of psychological profiling and forensic genealogy to solve cases.

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. For this episode Red is joined by Christine Higdon, a Canadian author whose latest novel, "Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue," is a vivid portrayal of life in Vancouver during the early 1920s. It tells the story of four working-class sisters living in the wake of the First World War and the ensuing Spanish flu pandemic that robbed them of their only brother. It’s a man’s world of speakeasys and strict codes of conduct, bootleggers and back-room abortions, where having a child out of wedlock or being gay is considered a crime. As the sisters struggle to find justice, agency, and love in this often hostile world, Christine Higdon invites us to examine questions of choice and inclusion in our society 100 years later. Join Christine and Red as they discuss the power of historical fiction to cast light on contemporary issues, and the place of talking animals in literature!

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. For this episode, Red is joined by Mallory Tater, whose debut novel, The Birth Yard, has attracted both praise and comparisons with The Handmaid’s Tale. Like Margaret Atwood’s classic story, The Birth Yard is a dark and cautionary tale of patriarchal control and the abuse of women’s rights. But Mallory’s novel doesn’t take place in a dystopian future. Instead, it is set firmly in present-day Canada, in a commune cut off from the ordinary world, where women have no agency and serve as brood mares. Join Mallory and Red as they explore cults, misogyny and contemporary Canadian fiction.

This time, Red is joined by Meg Howrey, who was a professional ballet dancer before she took up the pen. Her background in the performing arts is evident both in the subject matter of her novels, and in their deft pacing. Her latest book, They’re Going to Love You, is a pitch-perfect tale of creative ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice. Set across three decades, from New York City during the 1980s AIDS crisis, to present-day Los Angeles, the story unfolds through the memories of its now middle-aged protagonist as she moves towards its final act, revealing the secret that lies at its heart. Meg and Red delve into the choreography of writing a novel, and discover Meg’s comedy thriller side as co-author of the Magnus Flyte books.

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. For this episode, Red is joined by Max Wallace, the Canadian journalist, filmmaker, human rights activist, and best-selling author. Max’s most recent work, After The Miracle: The Political Crusades of Helen Keller, offers a new perspective on an individual who remains an international icon nearly 150 years after her birth. But whereas previous biographers have concentrated on the sentimental story of Keller’s struggles as a deafblind and mute child, portraying her teacher, Annie Sullivan, as a miracle worker and so making Keller a secondary character in her own story, Max focuses on Keller’s achievements as an adult. Join Max and Red as they discuss Helen Keller’s lifelong commitment to racial justice, socialism, and disability rights, as well as her love of movies and dirty jokes!

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. For this episode, Red is joined by Leah Redmond Chang, a historian with a background in comparative literature and research. Her latest book, Young Queens, is a fascinating and highly insightful historical biography of three Renaissance women exercising power in a world dominated by men. It tells the dramatic and intertwined stories of Catherine de Medici (Queen of France from 1547 to 1559), Elisabeth de Valois (Queen of Spain from 1559 to 1568) and Mary Queen of Scots (Queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567). Fusing new archival research with rich narrative prose, the book also asks profoundly modern questions about women, gender and power. Join Leah and Red as they explore what it meant to be a queen in Renaissance Europe’s real-life Game of Thrones.

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. For this episode, Red is joined by Canadian writer Curtis LeBlanc, who until recently has been best known for his poetry, but with the publication of his debut novel, Sunsetter, he’s finding a far wider audience. Set over a single weekend when the carnival comes to a post-industrial Canadian prairie town, the book is a mesmerizing blend of crime thriller and literary fiction. Across its pages, Curtis unflinchingly peels back the layers to reveal a community in the clutches of small-town police corruption, designer drugs, and teen disillusionment. And yet, for all this, it’s a novel where hope refuses to lay down and die. Join Curtis and Red as they discuss the lure of the carnival, teenage angst, and the natural beauty of the prairies. My Life in Books airs Mondays at 1 p.m. Eastern on AMI-audio, or download the podcast from your favourite provider via this link:https://www.ami.ca/My-Life-Books/recent_episodes