Kobo in Conversation – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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Kobo in Conversation

Rakuten Kobo

Arts

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/16d. Total Eps: 180

In-depth conversations with authors about their books—how and why they write, the books and authors they admire, and so much more. Plus, occasional takes on what's going on in the business of books. And year-end round-ups of reading recommendations from the staff of Rakuten Kobo, the global digital bookseller. Episodes run ~45 minutes. Hosted by Michael Tamblyn and Nathan Maharaj.

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Apple

Data updated on 27/07/2026

Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇨🇦 Canada - Books
27/07/2026
#82
🇨🇦 Canada - Books
25/07/2025
#73
🇬🇧 Great Britain - Books
04/05/2025
#85

Spotify

No recent rankings available

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kobo-in-conversation?refid=stpr
8 shares
https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/koboinconversation
8 shares
https://www.kobo.com/en/ebook/in-the-upper-country-2?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=enblog&utm_campaign=kaithomaskic
2 shares

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/kobo-in-conversation/id1447420173?mt=2
8 shares

https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Itbwdxrngzfuntlwgsqo65mykii
8 shares

RSS feed quality and score

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RSS feed quality

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Score global : 43%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

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Latest published episodes

Recent episodes with titles, durations, and descriptions.

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Wally Lamb waded into autobiography for The River is Waiting

Season 9 · Episode 12

Wednesday, July 23, 2025 • Duration 43:25

Host Nathan Maharaj spoke with novelist Wally Lamb, the author of novels including She’s Come Undone, I Know This Much Is True, and The Hour I First Believed. His new novel, his first in nearly a decade, is The River is Waiting. It’s about Corbin Ledbetter, Corby to his friends, husband to Emily and father to twins Maisie and Niko. Corby’s at the precipice of mid-life when he makes a terrible, terrible mistake. It’s the kind of mistake most of us would struggle to imagine ever coming back from, but that’s what Corby has to figure out as he endures punishments from society, family, and the harshest judge of all, himself.

Wally Lamb on wading into autobiography for The River is Waiting

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Eliza Reid on paying homage to the difficult work of diplomacy

Season 9 · Episode 11

Wednesday, July 9, 2025 • Duration 41:12

Host Michael Tamblyn spoke with Eliza Reid, author of the novel Death on the Island. It’s a mystery set on a remote island in Iceland where a dinner party of diplomats turns fatal for the deputy ambassador of Canada.

And it just so happens that the elements of this story—Iceland, diplomacy, and the perils of being a Canadian out in the world—these are all things that Ottawa-born Eliza Reid knows well from the 8 years she spent as the First Lady of Iceland.

Eliza Reid on paying homage to the difficult work of diplomacy

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Aaron Kreuter finds new possibilities in summer camp

Season 9 · Episode 10

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 • Duration 42:29

Host Nathan Maharaj spoke with poet and novelist Aaron Kreuter. His new book is Lake Burntshore, which tells the story of the summer of 2013 at a Canadian Jewish summer camp that’s just fired a several camp counsellors after they're caught smoking (then-illegal) marijuana. The enterprising son of the camp's owner springs into action and comes up with a surprising solution to their sudden staffing needs: a group of charming and very young Israeli soldiers.

Aaron Kreuter finds new possibilities in summer camp

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Elyse Graham tells the story of WWII's scholarly spies

Season 9 · Episode 9

Wednesday, June 11, 2025 • Duration 43:36

Host Michael Tamblyn spoke with Elyse Graham, author of Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War Two. It’s the true story of how the United States, as war raged in Europe, quickly built an organization staffed with intelligence officers recruited not from the military—but from the ranks of the bookworms—the academics, librarians, and archivists found in universities and libraries across the US. After being trained in the art of espionage (and mortal combat) they were sent off to faraway places as exceptionally well-read spies.

Elyse Graham tells the story of WWII's scholarly spies

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Liann Zhang on satirizing social media influencers from the inside

Season 9 · Episode 8

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 • Duration 36:08

Host Nathan Maharaj spoke with Liann Zang, author of the new novel Julie Chan is Dead. In it, Julie Chan is in fact very much alive but her estranged twin sister Chloe, a wildly successful social media influencer, has suddenly died and it just so happens that Julie is for just a moment the only person in the world who knows Chloe is dead. So she decides to pick up and start living Chloe’s apparently fabulous life, letting the world believe it's Julie Chan's body being carried out of Chloe’s apartment on a stretcher.

Liann Zhang on satirizing social media influencers from the inside

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Jon Hickey on the politics of apocalypse

Season 9 · Episode 7

Wednesday, May 14, 2025 • Duration 46:25

Host Nathan Maharaj spoke with novelist Jon Hickey, author of Big Chief. It’s takes place in an Anishinaabe reservation called Passage Rouge Nation during the last weekend before a Tribal Presidential election. Incumbent president Mack Beck is coasting to another term happily overseeing tribal governmental matters as well as the Golden Eagle Casino and Hotel when his rival, activist Gloria Hawkins begins gaining steam in the home stretch. Gloria’s campaign, by the way, is being run by Mack’s estranged sister Layla, while his own campaign is run by his childhood friend and local boy made good in law school Mitch Caddo, who by the way seems to have almost had a thing with Layla back when they were kids.

Jon Hickey on the politics of apocalypse

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Claire Cameron on what she's learned from studying monsters

Season 9 · Episode 6

Wednesday, April 30, 2025 • Duration 41:25

Host Nathan Maharaj spoke with Claire Cameron, author of the novels The Bear and The Last Neanderthal. Her new book is How to Survive a Bear Attack. It’s a memoir of family, of illness, of love, and the author’s ongoing fascination with a 1991 bear attack that happened in a wilderness she knows so well.

Claire Cameron on what she's learned from studying monsters

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Nita Prose on saying goodbye to Molly Gray

Season 9 · Episode 5

Wednesday, April 16, 2025 • Duration 27:29

Host Michael Tamblyn spoke with mystery novelist Nita Prose, author of the international bestseller The Maid. It’s the story of Molly Gray, a 20-something hotel maid whose job perfectly suits her need for order and predictable routine. As tends to happen in mystery novels set in hotels, Molly discovers a dead guest and finds herself a suspect in the ensuing murder investigation—an investigation which she undertakes in parallel, with the help of her friends.

In Nita’s latest book, The Maid’s Secret, Molly is riding high: she’s been promoted to Head Maid & Special Events Manager, she’s engaged to the love of her life—the dashing Juan Manuel, and she’s just learned that she’s the owner of a piece of art that might be worth millions… If, that is, she can find out who stole it on the day it was supposed to be sold at auction.

Nita Prose on saying goodbye to Molly Gray

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Booktalking - The book Meta can't face, billionaire brainworms, fact-checking and fair use

Season 9 · Episode 4

Wednesday, April 2, 2025 • Duration 46:47

In our latest installment in this series, hosts Michael Tamblyn and Nathan Maharaj caught up on a book whose author they're not going to get to interview.

Topics covered in this episode:

Meta's problem with an ex-employee's tell-all memoir
The cognitive perils of being a billionaire
The publishing perils of nonfiction
Moving fast and breaking things as sage wisdom from the elders of Silicon Valley
LibGen and the fight in the courts over Faire Use in AI models

Books mentioned:

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism - A Memoir by Sarah Wynn-Williams
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

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Nate DiMeo on shaking up the past in The Memory Palace

Season 9 · Episode 3

Wednesday, March 12, 2025 • Duration 41:52

Host Nathan Maharaj spoke with podcaster Nate DiMeo about his book The Memory Palace, based on the podcast by the same name. In The Memory Palace, history comes in vignettes, as short stories, as jewels carefully mined from a variety of sources. Nathan and Nate talked about history as story, how Nate realized the thing that made him the best guy to sit next to at the bar was a great idea for a podcast, and the making of The Memory Palace's star-studded audiobook.

Nate DiMeo on shaking up the past in The Memory Palace

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Kobo in Conversation – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Kobo in Conversation – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other99+

Apple Podcast1

Play Store1

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

Apple Podcast1

Play Store1