image: Roddy Doyle interview

Interviewing Roddy Doyle for Kobo in Conversation. Scroll down for video.

I have been a books columnist for CBC Radio One since 2010, discussing topics from the biggest in international releases to the best in local literary events. I’ve been the “Should I Read It?” columnist for CBC Radio’s Day 6 since the show launched in 2010, and have also talked about books on q, Cross Country Checkup, and local CBC morning and drive-home shows across the country.

On stage, I have interviewed authors as part of the Kobo in Conversation series (pictured above), Word on the Street festival, Toronto Literary Salon, Toronto International Festival of Authors (formerly IFOA), PEN Canada’s Ideas in Dialogue series, and for a Nobel Prize tribute to Alice Munro.

CBC Radio One, Day 6

When a new book is published amid a swarm of media buzz, my column on Day 6 answers the question: “Should I Read It?”

  • 2023 Summer Reads >> audio
  • 2022 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • Cormac McCarthy, The Passenger Stella Maris >> audio
  • Iain Reid, We Spread >> audio
  • 2022 Summer Reads >> audio
  • 2021 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You >> audio
  • 2021 Summer Reads >> audio
  • 2020 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain >> audio
  • Jim Carrey & Dana Vachon, Memoirs and Misinformation >> audio
  • 2020 Summer Reads >> audio
  • Pandemic reading list >> audio
  • Emily St. John Mandel, The Glass Hotel >> audio (at 42 mins) >> write-up
  • 2019 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • Margaret Atwood, The Testaments >> audio  >> video
  • Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys >> audio
  • 2019 Summer Reads >> audio
  • Sally Rooney, Normal People >> audio
  • 2018 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • Eric Dupont, Songs for the Cold of Heart >> audio
  • James Frey, Katerina >> audio
  • 2018 Summer Reads >> audio
  • Rachel Kushner, The Mars Room >> audio
  • Terese Marie Mailhot, Heart Berries >> audio
  • 2017 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • Tom Hanks, Uncommon Type and Matthew Weiner, Heather, The Totality >> audio
  • John le Carré, A Legacy of Spies >> audio
  • 2017 Summer Reads >> audio
  • Paula Hawkins, Into the Water >> audio
  • Paul Auster, 4321 >> audio
  • 2016 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • Jonathan Safran Foer, Here I Am >> audio
  • 2016 Summer Reads >> audio
  • Don DeLillo, Zero K >> audio
  • Muriel Barbery, The Life of Elves >> audio
  • 2015 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • Garth Risk Hallberg, City on Fire >> audio
  • Harper Lee, Go Set a Watchman >> audio
  • 2015 Summer Reads >> audio
  • Mark Z. Danielewski, The Familiar, Vol. 1 >> audio
  • Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant >> audio
  • 2014 Holiday Gift Guide >>audio
  • David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks >> audio
  • 2014 Summer Reads >> audio
  • Adam Sternbergh, Shovel Ready >> audio
  • 2013 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries >> audio
  • Marisha Pessl, Night Film >> audio
  • 2013 Summer Reads >> audio
  • Dan Brown, Inferno >> audio
  • George Saunders, Tenth of December >> audio
  • 2012 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • J.K. Rowling, The Casual Vacancy >> audio
  • Zadie Smith, NW >> audio
  • 2012 Summer Reading >> audio
  • Richard Ford, Canada >> audio
  • 2011 Holiday Gift Guide >> audio
  • Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 >> audio
  • Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot >> audio
  • Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad
  • David Foster Wallace, The Pale King
  • CBC Radio One, q

    September 2022: What the possible Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster merger means for Canadian publishers and writers. I visited the Q studio and talked to host Tom Power about the potential PRH / S&S merger  >> audio

    Becky Toyne breaks down the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist >> audio

    CBC Radio OneFresh Air

    Book Talk Panel
    Along with CBC Books producer Erin Balser, I have discussed industry issues and publishing predictions with host Mary Ito. Book Talk topics have included: festival and fall-fiction previews, year-in-review segments, great reads to go with The Great Gatsby, sexy literary alternatives to Fifty Shades of Grey, and publishing predictions for the year ahead.

    Other columns for Fresh Air include:

    • Designated Reader. A monthly segment recommending three books: two new releases and an older novel that illuminated the month’s news.
    • Reading Resolutions. A New Year’s panel with David Michael Lamb and Mary Ito.

    Syndicated

    • Live-to-air interviews with CBC Radio One breakfast and drive-home shows across Canada.

    Kobo in Conversation

    An interview with Booker Prize-winning author Roddy Doyle about Two Pints.