My Life In Books with Red Szell

Sean Farrell’s debut novel, Frogs for Watchdogs, has one of the most memorable titles of this year’s new publications. The story it tells, likewise, lingers long in the mind. Set in rural Ireland at the tail end of the 1980s, much of it is seen through the eyes of a young boy running wild in both his surroundings and his imagination. As he struggles to adapt to changing family circumstances, and exert some control over his unsettled life, the boy’s creative powers turn ferociously destructive. It’s a tale packed full of menace, yearning, and the intensity of childhood, brought vividly to life as an audiobook by two of Ireland’s finest narrators. Join Sean and Red as they discuss the importance of storytelling in forming our own narratives, and why Sean chose to write from the perspective of a 7-year-old child. About AMI AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca. Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+ Learn more at AMI.ca Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online: @AccessibleMedia@AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio@AccessibleMediaInc@AccessibleMediaIncfeedback@ami.ca

In 2017, Sarah Bax Horton was researching her family history when she made the chance discovery that her great great grandfather was a Metropolitan Police sergeant who worked on the Ripper case. Little did she suspect that this would lead her to the Ripper’s true identity. In One-Armed Jack: Uncovering the Real Jack the Ripper, Sarah combines painstaking research, recently declassified files, and modern profiling techniques, to identify a new prime suspect, and solve the mystery of why the killings stopped as suddenly as they started. About AMI AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca. Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+ Learn more at AMI.ca Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online: @AccessibleMedia@AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio@AccessibleMediaInc@AccessibleMediaIncfeedback@ami.ca

David Bergen is widely regarded as one of Canada’s best writers. Most of his 11 novels and two short story collections have been in contention for major literary prizes, including The Time In-Between, which won the 2005 Scotiabank Giller Prize. His latest novel, Away from the Dead, was also longlisted for the Giller Prize, and is set in early-twentieth century Ukraine amidst the chaos and terror of revolution and war. As anarchists, Bolsheviks, and armies of various colours come and go, each claiming freedom and justice, David weaves an unforgettable tale about the resilience of love and hope. Join David and Red as they explore the two very different memoirs that inspired Away from the Dead, and the Russian literature that underpins the novel. About AMI AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca. Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+ Learn more at AMI.ca Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online: @AccessibleMedia@AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio@AccessibleMediaInc@AccessibleMediaIncfeedback@ami.ca

Arjun Basu is a Canadian author and podcaster, whose novel Waiting for the Man was longlisted for the 2014 Giller prize. His latest book, The Reeds, is set in 2017, around Western Montreal, and follows the changing fortunes of a close-knit, middle-class family, across a single summer. By turns wry and poignant, the novel explores questions of work/life balance, identity, nostalgia and compulsive consumerism, against the backdrop of our brave new online world. It’s a wise, and ultimately optimistic story that weighs want against need, and finds solace in art and food! Join Arjun and Red as they discuss identity, branding, consumerism and the regeneration of Montreal. About AMI AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca. Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+ Learn more at AMI.ca Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online: @AccessibleMedia@AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio@AccessibleMediaInc@AccessibleMediaIncfeedback@ami.ca

An Astonishment of Stars is Kirti Bhadresa’s debut volume of short stories. Many of the fourteen tales in the collection chart the lives of women of colour living in Canada, as they navigate relationships, aspirations, and cultural expectations. Like all good authors of short fiction, Kirti takes everyday situations and looks at them from unfamiliar angles, while also examining the emotional lives of a population whose contribution to society all too often goes unseen in mainstream culture. Join Kirti and Red as they explore the ups and downs of trying to fit in while remaining true to oneself, and the joy of cooking. About AMI AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca. Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+ Learn more at AMI.ca Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online: @AccessibleMedia@AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio@AccessibleMediaInc@AccessibleMediaIncfeedback@ami.ca

As a child, K.J. Aiello found hope and escape in magical stories of dragons, wizards, and fantasy. These tales provided a safe space where K.J. could reframe their battle with mental illness and trauma, and envisage the vanquishing of the darkness that haunted them. In The Monster and the Mirror: Mental Illness, Magic, and the Stories We Tell, K.J. blends memoir, research, and cultural criticism, to examine their own mental illness. Exploring The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and other tales, they show how the darker realms of the human psyche have been portrayed and often stigmatised in popular culture; and suggest how the fantasy genre might also have therapeutic benefits. Join K.J. and Red as they discuss K.J.’s quest for the ‘what if’ and explore the regenerative power of creative imagination. About AMI AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca. Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+ Learn more at AMI.ca Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online: @AccessibleMedia@AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio@AccessibleMediaInc@AccessibleMediaIncfeedback@ami.ca

Rachel Stark’s debut, Perris California, is a beautiful and heart-rending novel. Set in the 1990s in what one character calls ‘the land of momma’s boys’, it’s a story of violence, broken dreams, tenderness, and longing that shines a light on the resilience of women living in a mostly unseen America. In a style reminiscent of John Steinbeck and Annie Proulx, Rachel contrasts the vastness and beauty of the landscape with the claustrophobia and grittiness of the lives of its inhabitants, while also insisting that hope exists in our capacity to mend each other. Join Rachel and Red as they discuss the harsh realities and strong bonds binding those scraping a living in the ‘golden’ state. About AMI AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca. Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+ Learn more at AMI.ca Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online: @AccessibleMedia@AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio@AccessibleMediaInc@AccessibleMediaIncfeedback@ami.ca

Tara Moss has much in common with the heroines of her internationally best-selling crime novels. The Canadian Australian former model is glamourous, tenacious, quick-witted, and committed to fighting for justice. She also relishes a challenge, has a Private Investigator license, and as we’ll hear, isn’t afraid of putting herself in the way of danger to learn what she needs to know. Her latest series features Billie Walker, a Second World War correspondent turned private investigator based in Sydney, who evokes the charisma of Lee Miller in the film noir style of Raymond Chandler. Following the publication of the second book in the series, we felt it was high time to get Ms Moss in for questioning. Join Tara and Red as they discuss femme fatales, fact-checking, fast cars, and feminism.

Alis Hawkins is a Welsh crime novelist with a keen eye for historical detail. Her latest series, The Oxford Mysteries, is set in the city of dreaming spires during the 1880s, at a time when the first women were being permitted to study there, albeit not on an equal footing. Her protagonist, Rhiannon Vaughan, is one of them, and is named after a fearless and put upon heroine from Welsh folklore. In the latest story, The Skeleton Army, she needs all her wits about her when the Salvation Army arrives in town with its message of temperance sparking murder and mayhem in a city almost as famous for its breweries as its university! Join Alis and Red as they reveal the untold history of The Skeleton Army, and the under-reported lives of a pair of pioneering female academics.

For many of us, the coming of a new year is the time when we resolve to try and quit our bad habits and make a clean start. For most, overindulgence in the things we crave is relatively benign, but for some it is an addiction that causes untold harm to themselves and those around them. Sebastian Wocker is a journalist, musician and recovering addict. In his memoir The Joy of Addiction: Confessions of a Teenage Wastrel, he gives an unflinching account of his descent into the abyss of drug and alcohol dependency. As the highly ironic title suggests, the book is a tragicomedy, offering both an insight into the mind-set of an addict and an invaluable message of recovery. Join Sebastian and Red as they explore some of the causes and effects of drink and drug dependency, and how to find a road to recovery.

Manda Scott is a novelist, podcaster and shamanist practitioner. After building a reputation as one of Britain’s leading crime writers, she achieved international recognition with her highly acclaimed series of historical novels about the warrior Queen Boudica, and a quartet of spy thrillers set in ancient Rome. More recently she had been devoting her time to her podcast Accidental Gods and believed that she had done with writing novels. But then she realised that it was providing her with the material she needed to weave a tale that modelled her hopes for a better future. The result is Any Human Power, a thriller that Manda describes as a Thrutopia, and which blends mythology, technology and compassion to offer a pathway for positive social change. Join Manda and Red as they explore shamanism, sustainability, and an author’s duty to address global crises.

Catherine Bush is a Canadian novelist who has spoken internationally about the importance of addressing the climate crisis through fiction. Her latest novel, Blaze Island, is an ecological retelling of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, set on a fictional island off Newfoundland. Cut off from the rest of the world after a Category 5 hurricane devastates the East Coast of North America, the younger survivors are left battling a storm of emotions about their compromised future, while their elders wrangle over how best to prosper from the sins of the past. Join Catherine and Red as they discuss adapting Shakespeare, geo engineering, and living at the sharp edge of climate change.

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. David Tatel is a recently retired US Federal Appeals Court judge who has spent a lifetime championing equal justice for all. During nearly 30 years’ service on America’s second most powerful court, he ruled on many landmark cases and earned a reputation for his clear-sighted legal opinions. Diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa aged 15, he has been legally blind for his entire adult life. Now in his 80s he has published his autobiography, Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice, in which he not only looks back over his career but also reflects on the years he spent denying and working around his sight loss, before finally embracing it as an essential part of his identity.