Page Fright: A Poetry Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Natalie Lim is back with her debut poetry collection, Elegy for Opportunity! Andrew talks about capturing connection in poems. It's a great reunion!

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Natalie Lim (she/her) is a Chinese-Canadian poet living on the unceded, traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Peoples (Vancouver, BC). She is the author of a full-length book of poetry, Elegy for Opportunity (Wolsak & Wynn, 2025) and a chapbook, arrhythmia (Rahila's Ghost Press, 2022). Winner of the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize and Room Magazine’s 2020 Emerging Writer Award, her work has been published in Arc Poetry Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry 2020 and elsewhere.

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Andrew French is a poet from North Vancouver, British Columbia. They have published three chapbooks, most recently Buoyhood (Alfred Gustav Press, 2025). Andrew holds a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University and an MA in English from UBC. They write poems, book reviews, and have hosted this very podcast since 2019.

Tolu Oloruntoba returns to chat about his third poetry collection, Unravel. Andrew asks about getting "good" feedback. It's a "good" one!

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Tolu Oloruntoba was born in Ibadan, Nigeria, where he studied and practiced medicine. He is the author of three collections of poetry, The Junta of Happenstance, winner of the Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize and Governor General’s Literary Award, Each One a Furnace, a Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize finalist, and most recently, Unravel.

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Andrew French is a poet from North Vancouver, British Columbia. They have published three chapbooks, most recently Buoyhood (forthcoming with Alfred Gustav Press, 2025). Andrew holds a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University and an MA in English from UBC. They write poems, book reviews, and have hosted this very podcast since 2019.

Jim Johnstone joins the show to discuss his new poetry anthology celebrating 10 years of Anstruther Press, The Anstruther Reader. Andrew asks about chapbooks, full-lengths, and turning off "editor brain." It's an informative chat!

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-- Jim Johnstone is a Toronto-based poet, editor, and critic. He is the author of seven collections of poetry, most recently The King of Terrors (Coach House Books, 2023), as well as a collection of essays titled Bait & Switch (The Porcupine's Quill, 2024). Johnstone is a senior editor at Palimpsest Press, where he recently published The Anstruther Reader: Ten Years of Poems, Broadsides, and Manifestos.

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Andrew French is a poet from North Vancouver, British Columbia. They have published three chapbooks, most recently Buoyhood (forthcoming with Alfred Gustav Press, 2025). Andrew holds a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University and an MA in English from UBC. They write poems, book reviews, and have hosted this very podcast since 2019.

Daniel Cowper has advice for the people who don't like poetry. Andrew brings in a journal we've seen before. Everybody is happy.

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Daniel Cowper's poetry has appeared in Arc, Vallum, CV2, Prairie Fire, and various other literary publications in Canada, the US, and Ireland. In 2017 he was long-listed for the CBC Poetry Prize, and a chapbook of his poetry, The God of Doors, was published by Frog Hollow Press, was published as co-winner of Frog Hollow's chapbook contest. His first full length collection of poetry, Grotesque Tenderness, was published by McGill-Queen's University Press in summer 2019. He lives on Bowen Island, BC, with his wife, Emily Osborne, and their baby.

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Listen to more episodes at: www.theandrewfrench.com/pagefright

David Ly talks about the best doughnuts. Andrew loves Grindr epigraphs. Everybody leaves in high spirits.

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David Ly is the author of Stubble Burn (Anstruther Press, 2018) and Mythical Man (Anstruther Books, 2020). His poetry has also appeared in publications such as PRISM international, The Puritan, carte blanche, Pulp Literature, The Maynard, and The /tƐmz/ Review. He has been long- and short-listed for the Thomas Morton Memorial Prize in Poetry and the Magpie Award in Poetry, respectively. Twitter @dlylyly.

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Listen to more episodes at: www.theandrewfrench.com/pagefright

Isabella Wang talks about poetic form. Andrew brings in a super fun book. Everybody is delighted.

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Isabella Wang's debut poetry chapbook is On Forgetting a Language (Baseline Press 2019). At 19, she has been shortlisted twice for The New Quarterly's Edna Staebler Essay Contest, and she holds a Pushcart Prize nomination for poetry. Her poetry and prose have appeared in over twenty literary journals including CV2, Minola Review, and carte blanche, and is forthcoming in the What You Need to Know Anthology (The Hawkins Project, co-founded by Dave Eggers). She is an assistant editor at Room magazine,  RA for SpokenWeb, and pursuing a double major in English and World Literature at SFU.

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Listen to more episodes at: www.theandrewfrench.com/pagefright

Cassidy McFadzean talks about poetry, astrology, and transitioning between forms. Andrew talks about a scary tarot reading. Everyone ends up smiling.

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Cassidy McFadzean was born in Regina, graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and currently lives in Toronto. She is the author of Hacker Packer (McClelland & Stewart 2015), which won two Saskatchewan Book Awards and was a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Her poems have appeared in BOAAT, Event, The Fiddlehead, PRISM international, and The Best Canadian Poetry 2016, and have been shortlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize and The Walrus Poetry Prize. Her second book is Drolleries (M&S 2019).

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Listen to more episodes at: www.theandrewfrench.com/pagefright

Aislinn Hunter talks teaching, writing, and finding your passion. Andrew brings her a spicy book of poetry. All parties are pleased.

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Aislinn Hunter (born in Belleville, Ontario) is a Canadian poetry and fiction author. She studied art history and writing at the University of Victoria where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Her Master of Fine Arts degree came from the University of British Columbia, her MSc in Writing and Cultural Politics came from the University of Edinburgh as did her PhD where she wrote on writers' houses/museums and resonant things with a focus on the Victorian era and thing theory via Heidegger. She currently teaches Creative Writing part-time at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Hunter's research interests include material culture, museums, books-as-things, Victorian writers and ephemera.

Her 2002 novel Stay was adapted for film by Wiebke Von Carolsfeld and released as a Telefilm / Irish Film Board co-production in 2013, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. It stars Aidan Quinn and Taylor Schilling. Her novel, The World Before Us, set in a UK museum, was published by Doubleday, Canada in 2014 and by Hamish Hamilton in the UK, Hogarth Press in the US, and Marchand de Feuilles in Quebec. It won the 2015 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and was a New York Times Editor's Choice Book, an NPR 'Best Book' and a Chatelaine Book Club pick. In the spring of 2017 her third book of poetry, Linger, Still, was published by Gaspereau Press. It won the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry and was long-listed for the Pat Lowther Poetry Prize.

Dr Hunter was selected to be a Canadian War Artist and in 2018 she worked with the Canadian Armed Forces and with NATO Forces at CFB Suffield. Her new novel 'The Certainties' is due out in 2020 with Knopf Canada.

She was married for 25 years but lost her husband to brain cancer in 2018. She currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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Listen to more episodes at: www.theandrewfrench.com/pagefright 

Hasan Namir discusses love, equality, and his incredible writing. Andrew regrets not bringing his copy of Hasan's book. Everybody enjoys themselves.

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Iraqi-Canadian author Hasan Namir graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BA in English and received the Ying Chen Creative Writing Student Award. He is the author of God in Pink (2015), which won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Fiction and was chosen as one of the Top 100 Books of 2015 by The Globe and Mail. His work has also been featured on Huffington Post, Shaw TV, Airbnb, and in the film God in Pink: A Documentary. He was recently named a writer to watch by CBC books.  Hasan lives in Vancouver with his husband. War/Torn (2019, Book*Hug) is his latest poetry book 

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Listen to more episodes at: www.theandrewfrench.com/pagefright 

Aidan Chafe discusses his book, mental illness, and why growing up is hard. Andrew agrees and is in awe of Aidan's writing. Everybody has a great time.

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Aidan Chafe is a public school teacher and the author of Short Histories of Light (2018), and the chapbooks Right Hand Hymns and Sharpest Tooth. He lives in Burnaby, BC, and is on twitter @allegorically. 

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Listen to more episodes at: www.theandrewfrench.com/pagefright