Shows
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastBloomsbury's Nigel Newton on Gold-Digging, Fast Cars, Friendship, and Finding Harry PotterBloomsbury Publishing has been in business for almost forty years. Last year it earned £361.0 million. Over the past five years it’s taken in more than £1.4 Billion. It’s one of, if not the most successful publishing ventures of the past century. How does this work? I asked Founder and Chief Executive Nigel Newton. Here we talk about, among other things, Frank Newton — Nigel’s prospecting, race car-driving grandfather; about Peter, his wine-making father; about book publishing and stock picking; the acquisition A&C Black; The Garrick Club; ‘romantasy’ and Sarah J. Maas; Liz Calder; floata...
2025-11-241h 02
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastScott McIntyre and the Brutal Reality that is Canadian PublishingPublishing books in Canada is a punishing, risky business. Even if your little enterprise makes it through, surviving years of ups and downs, in the end nobody will buy it. Not even the Americans (who have bought everything else in Canada it seems), because viability is tied to Canadian government-approved domestic list-specific grants. Pretty bleak the whole thing. Not to say that being a publisher in Canada isn’t a damned good time, as Scott McIntyre’s lively new memoir A Precarious Endeavour ( not the be confused with The Perilous Trade - published fittingly or not by PRH...
2025-11-141h 02
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastJeff Deutsch on a new kind of bookstore and the paradox of the browseWe get into what "good" means, how a new model of bookselling might be funded; establishing new institutions and supporting the cause; about the ephemeral and the eternal, stars and blossoming fruit trees, William Blake, Robert Musil, mammon, Socrates learning to play the flute, the gift of finding something, or one, to love and knowing that this too shall pass; about the joys of "the browse," and thrift stores; capitalism, socialism, what people value, and civic-mindedness; Amazon, and underpaid work; James Daunt; Blundstones; old cowboy shirts, "slow time," Stendhal; bottling enthusiasm, Leon Forrest's Divine Days, Jaipur, and so much...
2023-04-031h 11
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastDirector Lizzie Gottlieb on her new documentary film Turn Every Page.My GP took off on me last year. Landed some big gig in Geneva I think. He's a bright one. Not that I knew him very well. Only met him twice in six years. Anyhow, I went in for my tri-annual (once every three) check-up the other day. The nurse was pleasant. Told me he'd been working in the same clinic for 30 years. Adventurous, I thought. Then a student comes in. Also pleasant. Bit bland, but hey, I thought, it takes years to spice up character. Finally the resident/doctor arrives. Must've been in her...
2023-01-1037 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeBill Samuel on William and Christina FoyleLifted from Bill Samuel's website: Itinerant one-time chartered accountant who has lived in Denmark, East Africa, the Gulf (Arabian/Persian, not Texan) and the Caribbean with shorter stints in Eastern Europe and various rather nice small islands. Born in England into a family with an international outlook, an interest in people and a feeling for the cultural side of life. William Foyle, one of the greatest booksellers, and book collectors, of the twentieth century was his grandfather. Bill inherited a passion for books and his life has largely been shaped by those he read as a child, which gave him a des...
2020-09-221h 14
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeJohn Freeman on Lit Hub, Editing, & Interviewing AuthorsJohn Freeman is an American writer and a literary critic. He was the editor of Granta from 2009 to 2013, and is a former president of the National Book Critics Circle. His writing has appeared in more than 200 English-language publications around the world and he currently edits a series of anthologies of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry entitled Freeman's, published in partnership with Grove/Atlantic and The New School. Reason enough, I figured, to want to talk to him about the role of the editor. His second book, a collection of his interviews with major contemporary writers titled How to Read a Novelist, wa...
2020-09-131h 19
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeAre Libraries ripping off Publishers and Authors? Ken Whyte thinks soKenneth White is the founder of Sutherland House Books. He is the former editor-in-chief of Saturday Night Magazine, the founding editor of The National Post, and the former editor and publisher of Maclean’s magazine. He was president of Rogers Publishing, Canada’s largest magazine company, and the founding president of Next Issue Canada (now Texture), in partnership with Conde Nast, Meredith, Hearst, and Time Inc. Mr. Whyte is the author of The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst (2008, Random House), In 2017, he published Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times (Knopf), a finalist for the National...
2020-09-0656 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeIs Canadian Publishing Racist? Jael Richardson thinks soJael Richardson is the author of The Stone Thrower: A Daughter’s Lesson, a Father’s Life, a memoir exploring her relationship with her father, CFL quarterback Chuck Ealey. It was adapted into a children’s book in 2016. Richardson is a book columnist and guest host on CBC’s q. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and lives in Brampton, Ontario where she founded and serves as the Artistic Director for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD). Her debut novel, Gutter Child, is coming out in January 2021 with HarperCollins Canada. Jael's recent tw...
2020-08-291h 19
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealePierre Assouline on Gaston Gallimard, the great French publisherPierre Assouline is a French writer and journalist. He was born in Casablanca, Morocco and has published several novels. He has written biographies of, among others, the legendary photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson; Hergé, the creator of The Adventures of Tintin; Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, the art dealer, and Georges Simenon, the detective novelist and creator of Inspector Maigret. As a journalist, Assouline has worked for some of France's leading publications, including Lire and Le Nouvel Observateur. He also publishes a popular blog, “La république des livres.” A number of his biographies have been translated into English including the one we talk about here, Gas...
2020-08-2347 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeMaylis Besserie on the story of her Goncourt Prize-winning First NovelAfter graduating from university in 2005 Maylis Besserie began teaching documentary production at the Institute of Communications and Media in Paris, and joined France Culture as a radio producer and host. In February 2020 she published her first novel, Le Tiers Temps (Gallimard). It evokes the last days of Samuel Beckett in a Parisian retirement home. The protagonist, while describing his responses to daily life in the home, also experiences a dream-like reality as he tries to recall the people and places that marked his life. On May 11, 2020 it won the Goncourt Prize for first novel. We met...
2020-08-1542 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeJohn Oakes on Grove Press Publisher Barney Rosset'Barnet Lee "Barney" Rosset, Jr. (1922 – 2012) was owner of the Grove Press publishing house and publisher and editor-in-chief at the Evergreen Review. He led a successful legal battle to publish the uncensored version of D. H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, and later was the American publisher of Henry Miller's controversial novel Tropic of Cancer. The right to publish and distribute Miller's novel in the United States was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1964, in a landmark ruling for free speech and the First Amendment.' Under Rosset Grove introduced American readers to European avant-garde literature and...
2020-08-1056 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeChair Jacques Shore on launching Library & Archives Canada's new FoundationJacques Shore is a partner in Gowling WLG's Ottawa office, a member of the firm's Advocacy Group, and past leader of the firm's Government Affairs Group. He has acted as lead negotiator on many business and government-related initiatives and has worked actively on behalf of the federal government of Canada and provincial governments on a broad range of legal and public policy matters, including cultural policy. Actively involved in the community, Jacques is a past chair of Carleton University's board of governors and its executive committee and served as a board governor for thirteen years. In addition he served as chair of...
2020-08-0256 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeRichard Nash on the Business of Literature, Part lRichard Nash is a coach, strategist, and serial entrepreneur. He led partnerships and content at the culture discovery start-up Small Demons and the new media app Byliner. Previously he ran independent publishers Soft Skull (not Skill) Press and Red Lemonade where he published Maggie Nelson, Lynne Tillman, Vanessa Veselka’s Zazen, Alain Mabanckou, and many others, for which work he was awarded the Association of American Publishers’ Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing in 2005. In 2010 the Utne Reader named him one of 50 Visionaries Changing Your World and in 2013 the Frankfurt Book Fair picked him as one of the Five Most...
2020-07-2740 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeDavid Frum on Donald Trump eating CrocodilesDavid Frum is a senior editor at The Atlantic. From 2014 through 2017, he served as chairman of the board of trustees of the leading UK center-right think tank, Policy Exchange. In 2001-2002, he served as speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush; in 2007-2008, as senior adviser to the Rudy Giuliani presidential campaigns. Frum is the author of ten books, most recently Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy (the putative topic of our conversation). The memoir of his service in the George W. Bush administration, The Right Man, was a New York Times bestseller, as was his 2018 b...
2020-07-2047 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealePeter Florence on Hay Festival's huge 2020 on-line successPeter Florence is a British festival director, notable for founding the Hay Festival with his parents, Norman and Rhoda Florence. FYI the first festival was financed with winnings from a poker game. Peter was educated at Ipswich School, Jesus College, Cambridge, and the University of Paris and has an MA in Modern and Medieval Literatures. He holds honorary doctorates from four universities. He has replicated the success of Hay in numerous cities around the world, launching similar festivals in Mantua, Segovia, the Alhambra Palace, Cartagena, Nairobi, Zacatecas, Thiruvananthapuram, Dhaka, Xalapa, Belfast and Paraty. He is the co-editor of the O...
2020-07-1657 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeMark Bourrie on his book Bushrunner: The Adventures of Pierre RadissonMark Bourrie is a Canadian lawyer, blogger, journalist, author, historian, and lecturer. His work has appeared in many Canadian magazines and newspapers. In 2020, his book Bushrunner: The Adventures of Pierre Radisson, won the final RBC Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction. Known widely as the namesake of ships and hotel chains, Pierre-Esprit Radisson is perhaps best described, writes Mark, as “an eager hustler with no known scruples.” "Kidnapped by Mohawk warriors at the age of fifteen, Radisson assimilated and was adopted by a powerful family, only to escape to New York City after less than a year. After being recaptured, he defecte...
2020-07-131h 10
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeIan Wilson on Arthur Doughty & his monumental publishing achievementIan Wilson was chief Librarian and Archivist of Canada from 2004 to 2009. Prior to this as National Archivist, with Roch Carrier the then National Librarian, he developed and led the process to merge the National Archives and National Library into a unified institution. "His distinguished career has included archival and information management, university teaching and government service." In addition, he has published extensively on history, archives, heritage, and information management and has lectured both in Canada and abroad. "Born in Montreal, Quebec, he attended the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean and obtained a master's degree from Queen's University in 1974. He began...
2020-07-061h 11
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeLarry Grobel on interviewing authors for Playboy (and Podcasts)Larry Grobel is the author of more than 25 books - including Conversations with Capote (which received a PEN Special Achievement award), and Talking with Michener. He has been a freelance writer for more than 40 years, having written for the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and Movieline and many other publications. He is also a renowned interviewer, having conducted and written numerous iconic Playboy magazine interviews over the years. The magazine called him “the interviewer’s interviewer” after his interview with Marlon Brando for its 25th anniversary issue. We met via Zoom to talk about his superb...
2020-06-291h 33
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeJonathan Rose on Reading, Oprah, Playboy, Cancel Culture & Much MoreJonathan Rose is the William R. Kenan Professor of History at Drew University. His fields of study are British history, intellectual history and the history of the book. He was the founding president of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing, and has served as the president of the Northeast Victorian Studies Association. His book, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, won the Jacques Barzun Prize , the Longman History Book of the Year Prize and the British Council Prize. Other books include The Literary Churchill, A Companion to the History of the Book, and B...
2020-06-241h 14
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeReni Eddo-Lodge on how to eliminate Systemic Racism Reni Eddo-Lodge, is a London based, award winning author and journalist. Her writing focuses on feminism and exposing structural racism. She's the author of the Jhalak Prize winning, bestselling Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, published by Bloomsbury, and host of a podcast series called About Race. Why I'm no Longer Talking topped a public poll of twenty books shortlisted in 2018 by the UK Booksellers Association as the most influential book written by a woman We met at the Blue Met Literary Festival in Montreal (she was here to accept the Wor...
2020-06-1647 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeLeslie Weir on a brand new Library & Archives CanadaLeslie Weir was the University Librarian at the University of Ottawa from 2003 to 2018. She became Librarian and Archivist of Canada in August, 2019. Ms. Weir is the first woman to hold this position since the National Library of Canada and the National Archives of Canada were merged to form Library and Archives Canada in 2004. She was born and raised in Montreal, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Canadian History from Concordia University in 1976 and a Masters in Library Science from McGill University in 1979. She joined the University of Ottawa in 1992. During her tenure as University Librarian, she founded the...
2020-06-1547 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeDavid Schurman on Bloomsday CelebrationsOf course Dublin is where the biggest Bloomsday Festival takes place each on June 16th, with celebrations set in many of the "original sites" sited in James Joyce's novel Ulysses. But did you know that the second biggest celebration in the world takes place every year in Montreal? It's grown quickly over the past four or five years, and is now a five-day affair. Dave Schurman is the president of the Festival Bloomsday Montreal. Along with his wife Judith and a team of enthusiastic volunteers, they've created "a celebration of the words and wit of Joyce, and...
2020-06-1236 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealePaul Litt on 20th Century Canadian Book Publishing PolicyPaul Litt is a historian of public life in late twentieth-century Canada. His research explores the cultural workings of modern Canadian mass democracy focusing on the media, the politics of image, tourism, the politicization of identities, and nationalism. He is currently a Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. We met in his office to talk about 20th century Canadian government book publishing policy, specifically about Canadian cultural identity and nationalism, literature, copyright, new versus old media, documentary film, broadcasting, the Massey Commission, high versus mass culture, university funding, text books, the National Library, the Canada Council, Ryerson Pr...
2020-06-081h 07
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeMichael Dirda on what to read and collectMichael Dirda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post Book World and the author of the memoir “An Open Book” and of four collections of essays: “Readings,” “Bound to Please,” “Book by Book” and “Classics for Pleasure.” Dirda was born in Lorain, Ohio, graduated with highest honors in English from Oberlin College, and received a Ph.D. in comparative literature (medieval studies and European romanticism) from Cornell University. We met in Washington D.C., pre-Covid, to discuss specifically Michael's book Readings, and more generally the books he thinks are worth reading and collecting.
2020-06-011h 23
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeMitchell Kaplan on successful bookselling and turning books into filmsMiami native Mitchell Kaplan is the owner/founder of Books & Books, one of the premier independent bookstore groups in the United States, and a respected leader in the book business. Along with Eduardo J. Padrón, president of Miami-Dade College (MDC), he co-founded The Miami Book Fair (MBF), the largest event of its kind in the United States, in 1984. He hosts the Literary Life with Mitchell Kaplan podcast and is a partner in the book-to-film optioning business The Mazur/Kaplan Company (greatest claim to fame? The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society). I met with Mitch in...
2020-05-2446 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeMadeleine Thien on her novel CertaintyThis is one of the very earliest Biblio File interviews. Please excuse the audio. (Listening to it - I'm embarrassed to learn that I wasn't able to read all of Certainty before conducting the interview - despite not having had much time to prepare [This would never happen today - well, except in the case of Eimear McBride's A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing, but that's another story] ). Madeleine Thien was born in Vancouver. She is the author of the story collection Simple Recipes (2001), and three novels, Certainty (2006); Dogs at the Perimeter (2011), shortlisted for Berlin’s Inter...
2020-05-2144 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeSydney Smith on writing & illustrating children's booksSydney Smith was born in rural Nova Scotia and started drawing at an early age. Since graduating from NSCAD University, he has illustrated numerous children’s books, including the highly acclaimed wordless picture book Sidewalk Flowers, conceived by Jon Arno Lawson. It won a Governor General’s Award, among many other honours, and was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book. Sydney is also the illustrator of Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, for which he was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal, and which won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Prize. Small in...
2020-05-1849 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeBlake Gopnik on his big, beautiful, new biography of Andy WarholBlake Gopnik is an American/Canadian art critic who has lived in New York City since 2011 writing about art for Newsweek, the Daily Beast, The New York Times and others. From 2000 to 2010 he was chief art critic at The Washington Post, prior to which he was arts editor and critic for the Globe and Mail in Toronto. He has a doctorate in art history from Oxford University, and has written on aesthetic topics ranging from design to food, fashion to beer. He is the author of Warhol, a big new biography of the American Pop artist Andy Warhol ( Ecco, 2020...
2020-05-111h 08
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeDon Gillmor on his memoir To the River, and what it's like to lose a brother to suicideDon Gillmor is an award-winning Canadian novelist, journalist and children's book author. His new book To the River (2018) explores his brother’s suicide. It won the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction and was a CBC Best Books of 2019. His novel Long Change (2015) examines the world of oil through the life and loves of one man. Mount Pleasant (2013) is a darkly comic meditation on privilege and debt set in contemporary Toronto, and his first novel, the critically acclaimed Kanata (2009), dealt with the whole sweep of Canadian history. He is also the author of a two-volume history of C...
2020-05-0650 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeHelene Atwan on the Beacon Press and its social justice mission"Helene Atwan is the Director of Beacon Press, an independent non-profit book publisher founded in 1854. She began her publishing career in 1976 at Random House in New York as an assistant editor in their College Division, before moving to Alfred A. Knopf in 1977 as a publicity associate. She then joined The Viking Press in 1979 as the associate director of publicity. In 1981, she moved to Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where she began as the director of publicity. She also became a vice president of the house in 1987 and the associate publisher in 1991. In 1993, she joined the Pocket Books division of Simon & S...
2020-05-0449 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeDavid Gilmour and I gush over Truman Capote's MojaveDavid Gilmour is a Canadian novelist and former television journalist and film critic. Born in London, Ontario, Gilmour later moved to Toronto for schooling. He is a graduate of Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto. In 1980 he became managing editor of the Toronto International Film Festival, a post he held for four years. In 1986 he joined CBC Television as a film critic for The Journal, eventually becoming host of the program's Friday night arts and entertainment show. In 1990, he began hosting Gilmour on the Arts, an arts show series on CBC Newsworld. In 1997 he left the CBC to concen...
2020-04-261h 02
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealePaul Wright on publishing great book history booksPaul Wright was Editor of the UMass Press from 1988 to 2006. He was Executive Editor of the Book Series, “Studies in Print Culture and the History of the Book,” from 1994–2006. From 1985 to 1988 he was Assistant to the Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston. Prior to that he served as a Free-Lance Editor and Writer, from 1981–1985. Before that he worked as Acquisitions Editor for several Boston-based academic publishers. We met at his home in South Boston to discuss how he built UMass's line of Book History books, along with his own scholarly work in the field.
2020-04-2051 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeStephanie Burt on poetry and being transStephanie Burt is a literary critic and poet who is Professor of English at Harvard University and a transgender activist. The New York Times has called her "one of the most influential poetry critics of [her] generation". Burt grew up near Washington, D.C. She has published four collections of poetry and many works of literary criticism. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The Believer, and The Boston Review. Her book Randall Jarrell and His Age reevaluates Jarrell's importance as a poet. The...
2020-04-1352 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeSimon Beattie on his phenomenally successful We Love Endpapers FB group, & moreSimon Beattie is a British antiquarian bookseller, literary translator and composer. He was the first British bookseller to be featured in Fine Books & Collections Magazine's series Bright Young Things. Beattie was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and the University of Exeter, where he took a double first in German and Russian (1997) and subsequently studied for an MA in Lexicography (1998), which he passed with Distinction. Whilst at Exeter, Beattie also held a choral scholarship at Exeter Cathedral. After a brief period freelancing in the publishing business Beattie joined the London antiquarian booksellers Bernard Quaritch Ltd in 1998. In January 2010 he...
2020-04-0651 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeWhy visit the Osborne Collection in Toronto?The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books contains more than 80,000 items. The nucleus of the collection, which has a cut-off date of 1910, was donated to the Toronto Public Library in 1946 by a British librarian from Derbyshire, Edgar Osborne. Unable to get any English libraries to meet his conditions - to properly house his books, describe them and publish a catalogue - he settled on Toronto, largely because he was so impressed by its Children's librarian Lillian H. Smith who he'd met during a visit to the library with his wife in 1934. I met with Librarian Jennifer Yan i...
2020-04-0123 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeRobert Darnton on why Book History is so ExcitingRobert Darnton is Harvard University's Carl H. Pforzheimer Professor, Emeritus and University Librarian, Emeritus He was educated at Harvard and Oxford (where he was a Rhodes scholar). After a brief stint as a reporter for The New York Times, he became a junior fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard. He taught at Princeton from 1968 until 2007 when he came to fill the roles mentioned above. Among his honors are a MacArthur Prize Fellowship, a National Book Critics Circle Award, election to the French Legion of Honor, the National Humanities Medal, and the Del Duca World Prize in...
2020-03-3055 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeJessie Amaolo on Toronto's Arthur Conan Doyle CollectionJessie Amaolo is a librarian at the Toronto Public Library responsible for their world-class Arthur Conan Doyle collection. Not surprisingly, much of the collection is devoted to Doyle's most famous character, Sherlock Holmes. But Conan Doyle wrote much more than just the Sherlock Holmes stories. He also wrote extensively on spiritualism, true crime, history, and current events. The collection is accessed through the Marilyn & Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre on the 5th floor of the Library, near Bloor and Yonge streets in Toronto, which is where we met to discuss why the literary tourist should visit here.
2020-03-2528 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeHUP Director George Andreou on how to Read, Write, Edit & Publish George Andreou was appointed director of the Harvard University Press (HUP) in September, 2017 replacing William P. Sisler who had been in the position for some 27 years. Born in New York, Andreou spent much of his early childhood in Greece. He graduated from Harvard College in 1987 with a degree in English literature and languages. Prior to coming to Harvard he was senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf where he founded Vintage Español, an imprint created to publish books in Spanish for the U.S. market. Over the years he edited the works of many im...
2020-03-231h 00
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeDavid Emblidge on four famed American BookstoresDavid Emblidge spent his childhood in Buffalo, New York and "on the sunny beaches of Ontario’s Lake Erie." After university he worked at the Associated Press as a reporter covering everything from the "disappearance of rural doctors to hog futures, and one murder." Before entering the publishing trade as a second career he spent ten rewarding years as a professor following on degrees in English (Univ. of Virginia) and American Studies (Univ. of Minnesota). He worked in publishing for nearly twenty-five years – as acquisitions editor, book packager, publishing consultant, editor in chief, and publisher. The ho...
2020-03-1556 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeGreg Gibson on nautical books and the lure of the uniqueGreg Gibson is the author of four books, including Gone Boy: A Walkabout about the murder of his eighteen-year-old son Galen. After receiving his BA from Swathmore College in 1967, Greg enlisted in the United States navy and worked as a shipfitter until 1971. After his discharge in 1971 he moved to Gloucester, Mass. and worked in a variety of manual jobs until 1976 when he opened Ten Pound Book Company and began his career as an antiquarian book dealer, specializing in nautical books. This is what we met to discuss at The Boston Antiquarian Book Fair. We tackle Moby Dick, ya...
2020-03-0837 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeHeather O'Donnell on the joys of buying, selling and collecting book"Heather O'Donnell grew up in the library stacks and bookstore aisles of suburban Delaware. In 1989, she moved to New York City, where she studied English at Columbia, and held down a series of bookish jobs on the side: working the cash register at the Strand, shelving photobooks in the Avery Library, sifting the slush pile at Grand Street. While writing her doctoral dissertation in the Yale English department, Heather worked as a curatorial assistant at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. In 2004 she left academia to pursue the rare book trade full-time. For seven years, she worked as a...
2020-02-291h 09
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeMatthew Budman on his book, Book Collecting NowMatthew Budman lives in Manhattan with his wife, political theorist Cristina Beltrán, and all the books they can squeeze into their apartment. Budman is the author of Instant Expert: Collecting Books (House of Collectibles), which sold nearly 10,000 copies, and Book Collecting Now: The Value of Print in a Digital Age, published in 2019. It's an engaging guide to building a book collection and celebrates the young, diverse collectors revitalizing what he calls “the world’s greatest pastime.” Among other things, the book examines fundamentals like: identifying first editions, how to get the best deals, understanding the value of auto...
2020-02-2454 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeBruce Crawford on the Grolier Club, book collecting and Charles DickensFounded in 1884, the Grolier Club is America’s oldest and largest society for bibliophiles and enthusiasts in the graphic arts. Named after Jean Grolier (1489/90-1565), the collector renowned for sharing his library with friends, the Club’s objective is to promote “the study, collecting, and appreciation of books and works on paper.” Through the efforts more than eight hundred members the Club pursues this mission through its library, its public exhibitions and lectures, and its long and distinguished series of publications. I met with Bruce Crawford, the club’s current president (and a collector of Charles Dickens and other...
2020-02-1739 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeJerry Kelly on some of the all-time great type and book designersJerry Kelly is a calligrapher, book and type designer. His work has been honored many times - his designs have been selected more than thirty times for the AIGA “Fifty Books of the Year.” In 2015 he was presented with the Goudy Award from The Rochester Institute of Technology. Kelly has served as Chairman of the American Printing History Association, and President of The Typophiles. He is an active member of several committees at The Grolier Club. He has written many articles and several books on calligraphy and typography, including The Noblest Roman: The Centaur Types (co-authored with Misha...
2020-02-1059 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeSarah McNally & Jeff Deutsch with all you need to know about BooksellingMcNally Jackson Books is an independent bookstore based in New York City owned and operated by Sarah McNally, a former editor at Basic Books and the daughter of Holly and Paul McNally, founders of McNally Robinson Booksellers based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Sarah opened her first of seven stores in 2004 as a branch of McNally Robinson. In August 2008 she established McNally Jackson as an independent company. In October 2019 she met me. We consorted in the basement of her flagship store. Two thirds of the way through our conversation we were jointed by Jeff Deutsch, Director of C...
2020-02-0359 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeChip Kidd on designing dust jackets and book identitiesChip Kidd is an American graphic designer best known for his book covers. Based in New York City, Kidd is arguably the most famous dust jacket designers in the world. He has been credited by many as having spawned "a revolution in the art of America book packaging,” despite having no recognizable style. In fact, he says that “A signature look is crippling… [because] the simplest and most effective solutions aren’t dictated by style.” It has been said by many that the history of book design can be split into two eras: before Kidd and after. He we...
2020-01-2751 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealePeter Koch on his career and the craft of fine press printingBay Area letterpress printer, designer, and publisher Peter Rutledge Koch is recognized as one of the most accomplished printers and typographic designers of his generation. Here he is in his own words: "For the past thirty-two years I have cultivated a cross-media dialogue between art, philosophy and literature. I have conducted my business as a fine-art printer as a means of creating and transmitting my own ideas about language and form, both by creating my own work and by designing and directing collaborative publishing projects with others. In pursuit of my art, I am deeply committed to t...
2020-01-2047 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeAnn Kirkland on Literary Tourism, Travel and ToursClassical Pursuits is a cultural and educational travel company based in Toronto, Canada, specializing in small group literary travel and learning vacations. It provides adventures for the mind and travel for the soul - to places like Hemingway's Paris, Joyce's Dublin, Dante Alighieri's Italy, and Flannery O’Connor’s Savannah and the Andalusia family farm in Georgia. It offers both scheduled small group tours and private educational group travel planning for existing groups. Ann Kirkland is the president and founder of the company. I caught up with her at Toronto Pursuits, an annual gathering where over 100 people from...
2020-01-1811 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeSteven Heller with a Brief History of the American Book JacketSteven Heller wears many hats and has written and/or published many books (190+ to date). For 33 years he was an art director at the New York Times, originally on the OpEd Page and for almost 30 of those years with the New York Times Book Review. Currently, he is co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author Department, Special Consultant to the President of SVA for New Programs, and writes the Visuals column for the New York Times Book Review. We met at his office in New York to talk about Jackets Required: An Illustrated History of the American Bo...
2020-01-1653 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeCharlotte Gray on Robert Caro, and writing biography and historyCharlotte Gray is one of Canada’s best-known writers, and author of ten acclaimed books of literary non-fiction. Born in Sheffield, England, and educated at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, she began her writing career in England as a magazine editor and newspaper columnist. After coming to Canada in 1979, she worked as a political commentator, book reviewer and magazine columnist before she turned to biography and popular history. She's been a judge for several of Canada's most prestigious literary awards, including the Giller and Cundall Prizes; has five honorary doctorates and how won numerous aw...
2020-01-121h 04
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeMarc Côté with a candid survey of Canadian Book Publishing, past and presentMarc Côté is the publisher of Cormorant Books, "a literary house noted for the discovery and development of Canadian writing talent and the publishing of Québécois fiction translated into English." He has won Canada's Libris Award for Editor of the Year twice and Cormorant has won the Libris Award for Small Presses three times. At Cormorant, Marc has acquired and edited many award-nominated books. Prior to taking over at Cormorant in 2001, Marc cut a wide swath through the halls of Canada's book publishing industry, holding positions, many of them short lived, at, among other place...
2020-01-071h 56
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeSerge Loubier on the business of printing booksSerge Loubier is President and CEO of Marquis Book Printing, "Canada’s number one monochrome book printer," founded in 1937. As Serge puts it: "Along with my love of book printing and manufacturing and all the technology that goes into it is a passion for the end result. Literature as an art form is about contributing to culture, challenging assumptions and fueling our desire to learn. I appreciate the value of every book that we produce and take great pride in upholding the very highest standards of excellence for our customers." We met at his Montreal offices to ta...
2019-12-301h 10
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeSheila Fischman on translation and translating great Quebec writers into EnglishSheila Fischman is a renowned Canadian translator who specializes in translating works of contemporary Quebec literature into English. Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan she was brought up in Ontario, and holds an M.A. from the University of Toronto. She is a former editor of the Montreal Star's book section, as well as a columnist for The Globe and Mail and the Montreal Gazette and a broadcaster for CBC Radio. She's also a founding member of the Literary Translators' Association of Canada and has translated more than 200 Quebec works into English, including novels by such noted authors...
2019-12-231h 09
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeJanet Friskney on The New Canadian Library: The Ross-McClelland Years, 1952-1978A specialist in Canadian publishing history, Janet B. Friskney, is the author of New Canadian Library: The Ross-McClelland Years, 1952-1978 (published by the University of Toronto Press). Her publication credits include articles on the Methodist Book and Publishing House of Toronto, nineteenth-century Bible and tract society activity in Canada, and the history of publishing for the blind in Canada. She served as Associate Editor to Volume 3 of the History of the Book in Canada, and edited and introduced Thirty Years of Storytelling: Selected Short Fiction by Ethelwyn Wetherald. We met at Carleton University to discuss the history a...
2019-12-131h 26
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeChester Gryski on collecting Canadian Fine Press PrintingChester Gryski holds a B. A. (Hons) in Political Science and Economics from the University of Toronto and a J. D. from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1976. He has acted for MPAC and its predecessor assessing authorities since 1976. In those 40 years, he has dealt with all types of properties and all issues with a particular emphasis on industrial properties and contaminated lands. Outside of his legal practice he is an ex officio Director of the Alcuin Society of Canada and a renowned collector of Canadian fine press...
2019-12-091h 14
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeDaniel Woolf on Collecting Elizabethan HistoriesDaniel Woolf is a British/Canadian historian. He served as the 20th Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario from September, 2009 to June, 2019, when he returned to teaching and research. He was previously Professor, Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He studied history at Queen's and Oxford Universities, and is the author of many books, including The Oxford History of Historical Writing, (general editor), 5 vols, (Oxford University Press, 2011–12) and most recently, A Concise History of History, (Cambridge University pres...
2019-12-051h 12
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeJohn Ivison on his biography of Justin TrudeauJohn Ivison is a Scottish Canadian journalist who is Ottawa Bureau Chief for the National Post. Raised in Dumfries, Scotland, he worked as a reporter for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh and as deputy business editor of Scotland on Sunday. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, McMaster University and the University of Western Ontario, where he earned a masters degree in Journalism. He moved to Canada in 1998 as part of the team that launched the National Post, and has covered provincial politics in Ontario and federal politics in Ottawa since 2003. He appears as a pane...
2019-12-011h 05
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeNew Editor Meghan O'Rourke on what's ahead for the Yale ReviewThis past summer Meghan O’Rourke was appointed editor of The Yale Review. In an award citation the Whiting Foundation praised her “far-reaching and ambitious” work, and noted that her “voice stands out for its power and originality.” She is the author of the memoir The Long Goodbye (2011) and the poetry collections Once (2011), Halflife (2007), and Sun In Days (2017), which The New York Times named one of the 10 Best Poetry Books of the year. Her essays and poems have appeared in magazines such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and Poetry. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Radclif...
2019-12-0119 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeLinda Morra on the Margaret Laurence - Jack McClelland LettersLinda Morra is a Professor at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec where she teaches Canadian, American, and Indigenous literatures. She served as the 2016-2017 Craig Dobbin Chair of Canadian Studies at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, and previously was awarded a Sproul Fellowship from Canadian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She has won several notable research and teaching awards and has served as President of the Quebec Writers’ Federation. As if this isn't enough, she also sits on the advisory boards of Guernica Press, Canadian Literature, and Studies in Canadian Literature. We me...
2019-11-241h 05
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeSandra Campbell on Lorne Pierce, one of Canada's greatest publishers Sandra Campbell, a graduate of Carleton and Ottawa Universities, specializes in Canadian and Caribbean (Bermuda) women’s writing, in particular for the period 1880-1940. She has a particular interest in women’s autobiography as well as gender, and the publishing industry. Professor Campbell has taught at Carleton, the University of Ottawa and McGill University, and as a Visiting Lecturer at Bermuda College. She is the author of numerous articles and co-editor of three anthologies of short fiction by Canadian women writers. We met a her home in Kingston, Ontario to talk about Both Hands, her biography of one o...
2019-11-211h 05
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeMichel Gauthier on collecting photography booksMichel Gauthier has enjoyed a distinguished career in the field of festival events, tourism and recreation. He was instrumental in coordinating the participation of HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands in the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the Canadian Tulip Festival, an organization that he managed from 1992 - 2005. This flagship event draws millions of visitors from all over the world each spring to Canada’s capital city. From 1984-1988 he was Executive Director of Winterlude, another of Ottawa's popular festivals. Over the years he has also been active in many national and international associations. He is currently Executive Director of th...
2019-11-211h 02
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeScott deWolfe and Frank Wood on buying & selling used, antiquarian books"In 1989, Scott deWolfe began selling Shaker books, ephemera, photographs and manuscripts. Frank Wood had been selling used and rare books since the 1970s. Both worked for the Sabbathday Shaker Community in Maine. When the two realized they would make good business partners, they started doing shows together in 1990. Two years later, during a snow storm on April Fool's Day, the doors to De Wolfe & Wood opened for the first time." I met with the two of them at their store in Alfred, Maine to take up the story from here.
2019-11-1559 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeRay Clemens & Diane Ducharme on Thomas Phillipps, one of the world's greatest book collectorsEarlier this year the Beinecke Library hosted an exhibition entitled Bibliomania; or Book Madness: A Bibliographical Romance. It takes its name from the history of “arrant book-lovers” written by Thomas Frognall Dibdin. "It follows these lovers of the book through four case studies, observing the powerful and often unexpected relationships of books with their readers, owners, authors, collectors, and creators." "Every Book in the World! explores the passionate collecting and printing history of the legendary nineteenth-century bibliomaniac Thomas Phillipps, whose vast collection of manuscripts and early printed books filled an English country house and required more than a cent...
2019-11-1053 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeInterviewing Guru John Sawatsky on how to interview an authorJohn Sawatsky is a Canadian author, journalist and interviewing consultant. Born in Winkler, Manitoba, he attended Simon Fraser University in the late 1960s graduating in political science. He started his career as an investigative reporter in the 1970s. While working as Ottawa correspondent for the Vancouver Sun he published a series of articles on misdeeds of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for which he received the 1976 Michener Award. He left daily journalism in 1979 to write books, among them a biography of Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney published 1991. In 1982, Sawatsky began teaching classes in investigative...
2019-11-041h 04
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeLaura Claridge dishes on Blanche & Alfred KnopfLaura Claridge has written books ranging from feminist theory to biography and popular culture, most recently the story of an American icon, Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners, for which she received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. This project also received the J. Anthony Lukas Prize for a Work in Progress, administered by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Born in Clearwater, Florida, Laura received her Ph.D. in British Romanticism and Literary Theory from the University of Maryland in 1986. She ta...
2019-11-0147 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeBarabara Slate on How to Do a Graphic NovelBarabara Slate is "an artist, cartoonist, graphic novelist, comic book creator, and writer. She is one of the few female artists who has created, written, and drawn comics for both DC and Marvel Comics." In 1986 Barbara created 'Angel Love' for DC Comics, an adult-themed series for teenagers. In an exhibition review, The New York Times described her art as "emphatically of our time with its narrative of passion, gun violence, and female assertiveness." Her textbook, You Can Do a Graphic Novel, was first published in 2010 by Penguin. Barbara recently updated it, so I took the opportunity to intervi...
2019-10-2954 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeNew CEO James Daunt on what's next for Barnes & NobleJames Daunt is the founder of the Daunt Books chain, and since May 2011 has been managing director of the bookshop chain Waterstones. In June 2019, he became the CEO of the US bookstore chain Barnes & Noble, acquired by Waterstones's parent, Elliott Advisors for $683m. We met last year in London to discuss Waterstones's impressive turn-around. We met last week in a small room (with apologies for the loud-ish air ventilation system) in the basement of the Union Square branch of Barnes & Noble in New York to talk about what's next for Barnes & Noble (The green room was occupied by Mal...
2019-10-2034 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeLeslie Hurtig & Jan Walter on Patriotic Canadian Publisher Mel HurtigLeslie Hurtig was born into a house of books and has had a long, successful career in Canada’s book industry. She has worked for some of Canada’s best bookstores, acted as a sales representative and publicist for some of North America’s great publishers, and worked as a foreign rights and contracts manager at Raincoast Books. Leslie sat on the Board of Directors for the Vancouver Writers Fest before taking on her "dream job" position as Artistic Director. Jan Walter has spent her life around books: selling, editing, publishing, promoting. She began as a bookseller at Mel...
2019-10-141h 01
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeFamed Cardiologist Bruce Fye on Collecting Medical History BooksBruce Fye is an American retired cardiologist, medical historian, writer, bibliophile and philanthropist. He is emeritus professor of medicine and the history of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, and was the founding director of the institution’s W. Bruce Fye Center for the History of Medicine, named by the Clinic in his honour as a result of his philanthropy. In addition to building up a large collection of books, offprints, and autographs relating to the history of cardiology, and to Sir William Osler during his lifetime, Fye has been a collector of prints and engravings relating to medicine an...
2019-10-101h 31
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeChristopher Lyons on Sir William Osler, Book CollectorChristopher Lyons, is the head librarian of rare books and special collections at McGill University's McLennan Library. He was formerly in charge of McGill’s Osler Library which holds the collection of it’s founder, Sir William Osler (1849–1919). A major figure in modern medical history, Osler is "well known as a scientific researcher, a great medical pedagogue, a humanist, and an advocate for a patient-centered approach to medicine." "Born in Ontario and educated at McGill University...where he taught from 1874 until 1884 before leaving to join the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and then to become on...
2019-10-051h 01
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeBruce & Vicki Heyman on Justin Trudeau, the Arts, and the Canada-U.S. RelationshipAmbassador Bruce Heyman is an American businessman and served as United States Ambassador to Canada under Barack Obama from 2014 until 2017. He appears regularly on CBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg, CTV, CNBC, and other media outlets as an expert on trade and bilateral issues. Bruce lives in Chicago with his wife and co-author Vicki Heyman who was an American cultural envoy in Canada, leading cross-border conversations and programs related to the arts, social innovation and youth engagement. She is on the board of the Council for Canadian American Relations, Chicago Media Project, and the international advisory board of C2 Montreal. Vicki li...
2019-10-031h 04
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeBob Rae on What's Happened to PoliticsBob Rae is senior counsel with the law firm Olthuis, Kleer Townshend and teaches public policy and governance at the University of Toronto. He was the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and was the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2011 to 2013. He was previously leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party and the 21st Premier of Ontario, from 1990 until 1995. Between 1978 and 2013, he was elected 11 times to federal and provincial parliaments. Mr. Rae is currently Canada's special envoy to Myanmar. He has written five books, the most recent of which, What's Happened to Politics? was published i...
2019-09-291h 05
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeRicardo Cayuela on Books & Reading, Publishing & Bookstores in MexicoRicardo Cayuela is a writer, essayist, and founding editor of Letras Libres ("The New Yorker of Mexico"). In 2013 he was appointed Director General of Publications by the Mexican government. Today he is the president of Random House-Mondadori-Alfaguara and Editorial Director of Penguin Random House México. We met at the Blue Met Literary Festival in Montreal to talk about, among other things, Mexico's efforts to promote reading and books; bookstores in Mexico City, fine press books; violence against journalists; his book The Mexico that Hurts, Octavio Paz, and Malcolm Lowry.
2019-09-2648 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeJody Wilson Raybould on telling the truth and keeping promisesJody Wilson-Raybould, also known by her initials JWR and by her Kwak’wala name Puglaas, is a Canadian politician and the Independent Member of Parliament for the riding of Vancouver Granville. She served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General in the cabinet of Justin Trudeau from 2015 until January 2019 and then as Minister of Veterans Affairs of Canada from January 14, 2019, until resigning on February 12, 2019. Before entering federal politics, she was a provincial Crown Prosecutor in Vancouver, a Treaty Commissioner and Regional Chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations. Wilson-Raybould studied at the University of Victoria and later at the University of Br...
2019-09-2259 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeCory Doctorow on Copyright and Writing Science Fiction Cory Doctorow is an activist, science fiction author and co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is also a special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He favours liberalising copyright laws and is a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books, the most recent of which is called Radicalizing, four SF novellas "connected by social, technological, and economic visions of today and what America could be in the near, near future." I met with Cory in Ottawa after he'd appeared at the Ottawa International Writers Festival. W...
2019-09-0250 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeClaudia Pineiro on the difference between writing crime novels and screenplays Claudia Piñeiro is an Argentine novelist and television scriptwriter best known for writing literary crime novels, most of which are best sellers in Latin America. She was born in Buenos Aires and has won numerous literary prizes including the German LiBeraturpreis for Elena Sabe and the Clarin Prize for fiction for Thursday Night Widows. Four of her novels have been translated into English by Bitter Lemon Press, all of which have been adapted into feature films. We met at The Blue Met Literary Festival (Claudia was awarded the 2019 Premio Azul, Blue Met’s Spanish-language prize...
2019-08-2645 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeAlberto Manguel on Packing My Library and Politics Born in Buenos Aires in 1948, Alberto Manguel grew up in Tel-Aviv, where his father served as the first Argentinian ambassador to Israel. At sixteen, while working at the Pygmalion bookshop in Buenos Aires, he was asked by the blind Jorge Luis Borges to read aloud to him at his home. Manguel left Argentina for Europe before the horrors of the 'disappeared' began, and just after the events of May 1968. During the 1970s he lived a peripatetic life in France, England, Italy, and Tahiti, reviewing, translating, editing, and always reading. In the 1980s he moved to Toronto where he l...
2019-08-161h 13
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeDavid Moscrop on how to make wise voting decisions during political elections David Moscrop is a political theorist and SSHRC postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Communication at the University of Ottawa. He studies democratic deliberation, political decision-making, and digital media, and is a contributing columnist for the Washington Post, and a writer for Maclean's Magazine He also provides regular political commentary for television and radio. His first book Too Dumb for Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones was published by Goose Lane Editions in March 2019. We met at the University of Ottawa to discuss his book, ju...
2019-08-111h 06
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeMark Abley on why poet Duncan Campbell Scott's reputation is in tatters Although E.K. Brown, a highly admired literary critic, once called poet and bureaucrat Duncan Campbell Scott "one of the chief masters of Canadian literature," Scott's reputation today lies in tatters. Mark Abley in his fascinating biography Conversations with a Dead Man, The Legacy of Duncan Campbell Scott, explains why. I met with him at his home in Point Claire near Montreal - where the ghost of Scott appeared. We talk, among others things, about boarding schools, Canada's residential school system, "genocide," the Department of Indian Affairs, Sir John A. MacDonald, forms of biog...
2019-08-051h 05
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeCharles Foran on Mordecai Richler Mordecai: The Life and Times has been called the ‘award-winningest’ book in Canadian literary history. I met with its author Charles Foran to talk about its subject Mordecai Richler. The guts, aggression, honesty and pride of the man - a man who did things, who wrote to stimulate conversation, and argument, who was socially engaged, who asked hard, uncomfortable questions. We also discuss Richler’s similarities to Pierre Trudeau. His taking on a whole movement over Quebec’s sign laws; his desire to write the best novel ever written, least one book that would last; about Montreal, its tens...
2019-07-2935 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeA Conversation about the top Literary Things to do in Buenos Aires Kit Maude is a Spanish-to-English translator. He received a bachelor’s degree in Comparative American Studies from the University of Warwick. In 2009 he moved to Buenos Aires where he currently lives. His translations have been featured in Granta, the Literary Review, the Short Story Project, and other publications. We met at the Falena bookstore/wine bar in the Chacarita neighbourhood of Buenos Aires to talk literary tourism over a glass. Here's our conversation (the bookstore we reference that was once a performing arts theater, then a cinema, is called El Ateneo Grand Splendid).
2019-07-2237 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeSharp talk from Jonathan Rose on the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing Jonathan Rose is the William R. Kenan Professor of History at Drew University in Madison, NJ. His fields of study are British history, intellectual history and the history of the book (in which he happens to be a giant). His books include The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes and The Literary Churchill: Author, Reader, Actor both of which won important prizes. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Cambridge and Princeton University and he reviews books for the The Times Literary Supplement and the Daily Telegraph. Most important viz our purposes: he was the foun...
2019-07-1931 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeAna Maria Cabanellas on the Pleasures and Perils of Publishing in Argentina Ana María Cabanellas began her career as a lawyer, after which she joined the family-owned publishing company Editorial Heliasta as a partner. In 1979, she became President of Editorial Claridad which specializes in legal dictionaries, as well as fiction, philosophy and history. In 2006, Ms Cabanellas founded UnaLuna, which publishes children’s books. Over the years she has been extremely active in industry associations. For example, she is currently Vice- president of CADRA (Centro de Administración de Derechos Reprográficos Asociación Civil), Argentina’s RRO, and Chair of the Latin American and Caribbean...
2019-07-151h 19
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeNigel Roby on The Bookseller magazineThe Bookseller is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. In 2010 it was acquired from Nielsen by its then Managing Director, Nigel Roby, who is now Chief Executive, Owner and Publisher of the new, expanded entity. I met with Nigel at The Bookseller's offices across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament, in London. Among other things we talk about the history and purpose of The Bookseller and its related enterprises; telling the trade about new books, informing rivals about their competitors' releases; quasi-catalogues; the Blitz; libraries under pressure; Waterstones; Mr. B's, Toppings and high st...
2019-01-2845 min
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastNigel Roby on The Bookseller magazineThe Bookseller is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. In 2010 it was acquired from Nielsen by its then Managing Director, Nigel Roby, who is now Chief Executive, Owner and Publisher of the new, expanded entity. I met with Nigel at The Bookseller's offices across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament, in London. Among other things we talk about the history and purpose of The Bookseller and its related enterprises; telling the trade about new books, informing rivals about their competitors' releases; quasi-catalogues; the Blitz; libraries under pressure; Waterstones; Mr. B's, Toppings and high st...
2019-01-2845 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeKeith Fiels on the American Library AssociationI was in Chicago and met with Keith Michael Fiels, Executive Director of the American Library Association. According to The ALA Constitution the purpose of ALA is “…to promote library service and librarianship.” Stated mission is “To provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.” In 1998 the ALA Council voted commitment to five Key Action Areas as guiding principles for directing the Association’s energies and resources: Diversity, Equity of Access, Education and Continuous Learning, Intellectual F...
2009-02-1958 min
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastKeith Fiels on the American Library AssociationI was in Chicago and met with Keith Michael Fiels, Executive Director of the American Library Association. According to The ALA Constitution the purpose of ALA is “…to promote library service and librarianship.” Stated mission is “To provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.” In 1998 the ALA Council voted commitment to five Key Action Areas as guiding principles for directing the Association’s energies and resources: Diversity, Equity of Access, Education and Continuous Learning, Intellectual F...
2009-02-1958 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeAmitav Ghosh on his novel Sea of PoppiesAMITAV GHOSH is one of India’s best-known writers. His books include The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, The Glass Palace, Incendiary Circumstances and The Hungry Tide. Born in Calcutta in 1956 Ghosh studied in Dehra Dun, New Delhi, Alexandria and Oxford. His first job was at the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi. He earned a doctorate at Oxford before he wrote his first novel, which was published in 1986. He is married to the writer, Deborah Baker, and has two children, Lila and Nayan. He divides his time between Kolkata, Goa and Brooklyn. We met recently at...
2008-12-1021 min
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastAmitav Ghosh on his novel Sea of PoppiesAMITAV GHOSH is one of India’s best-known writers. His books include The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, The Glass Palace, Incendiary Circumstances and The Hungry Tide. Born in Calcutta in 1956 Ghosh studied in Dehra Dun, New Delhi, Alexandria and Oxford. His first job was at the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi. He earned a doctorate at Oxford before he wrote his first novel, which was published in 1986. He is married to the writer, Deborah Baker, and has two children, Lila and Nayan. He divides his time between Kolkata, Goa and Brooklyn. We met recently at...
2008-12-1021 min
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastWhat Makes Vampires so Appealing? with Patricia McCarthyPatricia K. Macarthy is author of The Crimson Series, three books, to date, about vampires. We talk here about what makes Vampires so appealing to so many people, about their being symbolic of man’s desire for supremacy, women’s desire to be consumed, about the fringe elements of society, the attraction of eternal youth and immortality, confidence, the perfect villian whose weapon is seduction, alpha males, power, the lack of conscience, film, Halloween, the draw of fantasy, the defiance of death and the preciousness of time. During our conversation reference is made to poems by Byron and...
2008-10-1028 minThe Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeWhat Makes Vampires so Appealing? with Patricia McCarthyPatricia K. Macarthy is author of The Crimson Series, three books, to date, about vampires. We talk here about what makes Vampires so appealing to so many people, about their being symbolic of man’s desire for supremacy, women’s desire to be consumed, about the fringe elements of society, the attraction of eternal youth and immortality, confidence, the perfect villian whose weapon is seduction, alpha males, power, the lack of conscience, film, Halloween, the draw of fantasy, the defiance of death and the preciousness of time. During our conversation reference is made to poems by Byron and...
2008-10-1028 min
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastAndrew O'Hagan on Determination, Memoir, Israel, Martin Amis, Islam and Coloured DoorsAndrew O’Hagan’s most recent novel, Be Near Me, has just won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It is the story of an English priest who takes over a small Scottish parish in a post-industrial town by the sea; a story of art and politics, love and faith, and the way we live now, which pretty well summarizes the conversation we had this past weekend at The Blue Met International Literary Festival in Montreal. More specifically we talked about tragedy, escape, the determination not to be determined, fathers, the blurred boundaries between fiction, memoir and journ...
2008-05-1447 min
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastC. S. Richardson on Book DesignC.S. Richardson is an accomplished book designer who has worked in publishing for over twenty years. He is a multiple time recipient of the Alcuin Award (Canada’s highest honour for excellence in book design) and a frequent lecturer on publishing, design and communications. A rare bird indeed, he recently published his first novel The End of the Alphabet, and is currently at work on his second. We talk here about C.S. Lewis, the role of the book designer, the award winning Bedside Book of Birds, ‘thumbage,’ how the best book design is invisible, the best d...
2007-04-1935 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeC. S. Richardson on Book DesignC.S. Richardson is an accomplished book designer who has worked in publishing for over twenty years. He is a multiple time recipient of the Alcuin Award (Canada’s highest honour for excellence in book design) and a frequent lecturer on publishing, design and communications. A rare bird indeed, he recently published his first novel The End of the Alphabet, and is currently at work on his second. We talk here about C.S. Lewis, the role of the book designer, the award winning Bedside Book of Birds, ‘thumbage,’ how the best book design is invisible, the best d...
2007-04-1935 min
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastOttawa Librarian Barbara ClubbBarbara Clubb is City Librarian and CEO of the Ottawa Public Library, past president of the Canadian Library Association, a member of the International Relations Committee of the ALA/Public Library Association; a director for the Canadian Writers Foundation and Monthly Book Reviewer for CBC Ottawa Radio One. In this fascinating, wide ranging conversation we talk about the role of a city librarian now, at the turn of the 21 century; about library as place…where loitering is okay; accessibility, prescriptive versus reflective provision of information; the move from education to recreation and culture; Harry Potter in plastic; do...
2007-04-1852 minThe Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeOttawa Librarian Barbara ClubbBarbara Clubb is City Librarian and CEO of the Ottawa Public Library, past president of the Canadian Library Association, a member of the International Relations Committee of the ALA/Public Library Association; a director for the Canadian Writers Foundation and Monthly Book Reviewer for CBC Ottawa Radio One. In this fascinating, wide ranging conversation we talk about the role of a city librarian now, at the turn of the 21 century; about library as place…where loitering is okay; accessibility, prescriptive versus reflective provision of information; the move from education to recreation and culture; Harry Potter in plastic; do...
2007-04-1852 min
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastNeil Wilson on Founding the Ottawa International Writers FestivalNeil Wilson is a former journalist/broadcaster, future publisher, current long-distance runner and Founding Director of the Ottawa International Writers Festival. We talk about his love of Irish literature and poetry, his founding of the Festival in 1997, what motivates him to do what he does, and this Spring’s impressive, Beckett-backed line-up which goes on stage April 17, 2006. Copyright © 2006 by Nigel Beale This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebibliofile.substack.com/subscribe
2006-04-1621 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeNeil Wilson, founder Ottawa International Writers Festival #6Neil Wilson is a former journalist/broadcaster, future publisher, current long-distance runner and founding director of the Ottawa International Writers Festival, considered "one of Canada's greatest literary festivals." We talk about his love of Irish literature and poetry, his founding of the Festival in 1997, what motivates him to do what he does, and this Spring’s impressive, Beckett-backed line-up which goes on stage April 17, 2006. We met at my apartment in Ottawa. Copyright © 2006 by Nigel Beale
2006-04-1621 min
Nigel Beale's Biblio File PodcastLexicographer Jonathon Green talks SlangRap as rebellion, slang as hipness, and jargon as obfuscatory exclusionary pretense. These are topics discussed during my interview with world-renowned slang lexicographer Jonathon Green last month in his office in London, England. And bloody invigorating it was too. We talk about why penises are funny and beat out vaginas, why slang is negative and misogynist and how it carries a kind of inventive cleverness seldom found in the harmless drudgery of every day language. We talk too about Samuel Johnson’s political bias, Eric Partridge’s connection with my relative Paul Beale, Jonathon’s insistence on austere objectivity, and th...
2006-04-1227 min
The Biblio File hosted by Nigel BealeLexicographer Jonathon Green talks Slang #3Rap as rebellion, slang as hipness, and jargon as obfuscatory exclusionary pretense. These are topics discussed during my interview with world-renowned slang lexicographer Jonathon Green last month at his home office in London, England. And bloody invigorating it was too. We talk about why penises are funny and beat out vaginas, why slang is negative and misogynist and how it carries a kind of inventive cleverness seldom found in the harmless drudgery of every day language. We talk too about Samuel Johnson’s political bias, Eric Partridge’s connection to my relative Paul Beale, Jonathon’s insistence on aus...
2006-04-1227 min