New documentary series celebrating Canadian literature to air on CBC Gem

Writing the Land, a documentary series celebrating Canada and its literature, is coming to CBC Gem.

The series features 12 Canadian writers from different backgrounds and showcases the deep diversity of contemporary literature in Canada, including Esi Edugyan, Joshua Whitehead and Madeleine Thien.

Writing the Land is directed by Stephanie Weimar and filmed throughout four seasons, which gives the documentary a range of complex textures, colours and emotions.

Weimar is a director and story editor born in Germany who immigrated to Canada in 2003.Shehas directed several documentaries anddocumentary series, includingMy Brother's Vows,Watchers of the North,Equator A New World Viewand the interactive documentaryPolar Sea 360. She is also the creative producer ofArctic Secretsand the story editor ofthe CBCdocumentaryThere's No Place Like This Place. Anyplace.

The series consists of four parts: Light, Rock, Trees and Water. Each episode runs for 30 minutes.

You can stream Writing the Land for free on CBC Gem.

The first two episodes will be broadcast CBC on on Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. ET and the second two episodes will bebroadcast on Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. ET.

You can meet the 12 writers featured in the series below!

Eden Robinson

Eden Robinson is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations in Northern B.C. She is the author of Monkey Beachand the Trickster trilogy:Son of a Trickster, Return of the Trickster andTrickster Drift.Monkey Beachwas nominated for the 2000 Giller Prize. In 2017,Robinson received the Writers' Trust Fellowship, a $50,000 prize that supports mid-career authors.Son of a Tricksterwas championed by actor Kaniehtiio Hornon Canada Reads 2020.

• Eden Robinson on breaking up with her bestselling Trickster trilogy

"When I was growing up, we would sit around the kitchen table after supper and have coffee and cigarettes and just tell stories; many of them were Wee'git stories," said Robinson in an interview with CBC Books.

Kaniehtiio Horn & Eden Robinson discuss Son of a Trickster

5 years ago

Duration 5:18

Letterkenny actress Kaniehtiio Horn will defend Eden Robinson's novel Son of a Trickster on Canada Reads 2020. Ahead of the debates, the actor and author chatted about what really lies at the heart of the award-winning supernatural novel.

Catherine Hernandez

Catherine Hernandez is a Canadian writer, author and playwright. She is from Toronto and of mixed Filipino, Chinese, Spanish and Indian descent. Her debut novel, Scarborough, tells the multi-voiced story of a Toronto neighbourhood that refuses to fall apart in the face of poverty and crime. She is also the author of theCrosshairsand the picture book I Promise, which was illustrated bySyrus Marcus Ware.

• How Catherine Hernandez opens her heart to find the stories she should tell

"In Scarborough, you are constantly surrounded by characters. Every day there is somebody who wants to tell you their story," Hernandez commented on how her neighbourhood inspired her book in an interview with CBC Books.

Why I Write: Catherine Hernandez

6 years ago

Duration 3:22

In this CBC Books video series, Catherine Hernandez explains why todays Canadian writers need to be aware of anti-oppression and decolonization in order to be successful.

Aviaq Johnston

Aviaq Johnston is an Inuk writer from Igloolik, Nunavut. Her debut novel, Those Who Run in the Sky, won the Indigenous Voices Award for most significant work of prose in English by an emerging Indigenous writer in 2018. Her other works include the short story collectionTarnikuluk, the YA novelThose Who Dwell Below and the picture book What's My Superpower?

• Why author Aviaq Johnston's stories are rooted in the Arctic

"My stories are rooted in the natural world of the Arctic, which in itself is a spiritual place. When you are surrounded by ice and snow for most of your life, you learn to appreciate the strength of the land, animalsand people. My stories try to reflect that," she said in an interview with CBC Books.

The Next Chapter16:08Madeleine Thien on "Do Not Say We Have Nothing"

Madeleine Thien on her latest novel, which is long-listed for the Man Booker Prize.

Madeleine Thien

Madeleine Thien is a Canadian novelist. Her novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General'sLiteraryAward for fiction in 2016. Her other books include novels Certainty, Dogs at the Perimeter and children's book The Chinese Violin.

• Madeleine Thien is worried that it's all just a little bit of history repeating

"As a novelist, you are invested in every single word. Writing novels is about the act of listening even more than the act of speaking," she said in aninterview with The Next Chapter.

17:18Katherena Vermette on The Strangers

Katherena Vermette talks to Shelagh Rogers about her latest novel, The Strangers.

Katherena Vermette

Katherena Vermette is a Mtis writer from Treaty One territory, the heart of the Mtis nation, Winnipeg. Her first book, North End Love Songs, won the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry. She is also the author of novels The Break and The Strangers.

• Katherena Vermette's novel The Strangers is an intergenerational story about anger, pain and survival

"There are so many things about being an Indigenous person in this world that fills me with rage. There is joy too... There's lots of love. I am so proud of who I am and where I come from. But there are so many injustices in this world," Vermette saidin an interview with The Next Chapter.

11:41TNC columnist Catherine Leroux on French/English translations

TNC columnist Catherine Lerouxx reveals her top picks for new French/English translations out now.

Catherine Leroux

Catherine Leroux is a writer, translator and journalist from Rosemre, Que., who is now based in Montreal. She is the author of her debut novel La marche en fort and short story collection Le mur mitoyen, which won the Prix France-Qubec in 2014. The English edition,The Party Wall, won the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award for translation and was shortlisted for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

• Catherine Leroux on the literary value of loose ends

"Reading my work translated was a very strange feeling. It feels like it's your work but not your work at the same time. You feel like you just walked into your house but all the furniture has been moved and some of the walls were painted different colours. It's still yours, but there's something different about it," Lerouxsaid in an interview with CBC Books.

The Next Chapter15:482021 Canada Reads: Joshua Whitehead on Jonny Appleseed

We revisit Shelagh's interview with Joshua Whitehead on his book Jonny Appleseed. The novel is a 2021 Canada Reads selection.

Esi Edugyan

Esi Edugyan is a writer who was born in Calgary and is now based in Victoria. She has won theScotiabank Giller Prize twice: in 2011 for Half-Blood Blues and in 2018 for Washington Black. Edugyan is delivering the 2021 Massey Lectures this fall. The talk isbased on her nonfiction bookOut of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling.

• Esi Edugyan on making history and inspiring a new generation of Black writers

"My writing is the commitment, given who I am and where I am from. We cannot help but write through the lens of who we are. Confronting the world as a Black woman is my particular reality, one that informs my work in both obvious and subtle ways," she said in an interview withCBC Books.

South Asian creators, critics weigh in on the importance of thoughtful representation

3 years ago

Duration 3:02

Bilal Baig, Uzma Jalaluddin and Amil Niazi spoke with CBC News about increased media visibility for South Asian Canadians and why off-screen representation is crucial in film and television.

Joshua Whitehead

Jonny Appleseed, Joshua Whitehead is a two-spirit, Oji-nhiyaw Indigiqueer scholar and writer from Peguis First Nation. He is the author of the novel Jonny Appleseed, which won Canada Reads 2021, when it was defended by actor Devery Jacobs. He also wrote the poetry collection full-metal indigiqueer and edited the anthology Love after the End.

• Joshua Whitehead reflects on music and the surprising connection he made with a neighbour while in isolation

"What gives me brazen hope is the sheer shifting of gravitational forces in this industry we call CanLit in that queer, BIPOC, and trans narratives have made space, taken space for themselves in this machination as a legitimate and powerful force of oration beyond simply pulp or genre work works that span generations, young and elder, intersections, space and place, and most importantly, voice," he said in aninterview withCBC Arts.

Michael Winter's Labrador visit

9 years ago

Duration 2:46

Michael Winter's Labrador visit

Uzma Jalaluddin

Uzma Jalaluddin is a teacher, parenting columnist and author based in Ontario. She was born in Toronto to parents who immigrated from India. Her debut novel, Ayesha At Last, is set in a close-knit Toronto Muslim community. She is also the author of Hana Khan Carries On, which is being adapted into film by Mindy Kaling and Amazon Studios.

• Uzma Jalaluddin on Hana Khan Carries On

"I love the classic rom-coms. One of the really popular tropes is 'enemies to lovers,' and I'm a sucker for that trope. I love it so much," she said in an interview with The Next Chapter.

A mantra for the misgendered: Storyteller Ivan Coyote offers some 'armour' for trans kids

4 years ago

Duration 5:11

Watch the prolific Coyote's moving performance from our virtual special Queer Pride Inside.

Michael Winter

Michael Winter was born in England but grew up in Newfoundland. The province serves as a backdrop for his five novels, one nonfiction book and three collections of short stories. Winter won the CBC Short Story Prize in 2004. He's the author of Minister Without Portfolio, The Death of Donna Whalen and Into the Blizzard.Minister Without Portfoliowas defended by wrestler Adam "Edge" Copeland on Canada Reads 2016.

• 5 books that inspired Michael Winter to become a writer

"I was interested in adults who hadtried at being adults oncewhen theygot to be 20 and 30,but then theygot to be 35 andtheattempt at progress through adulthood metsome kind of failure. What do you do then? What do you do when you're in yourmid-30sand you're asked to try again?," he said to The Next Chapter about writing Minister Without Portfolio.

Ivan Coyote

Ivan Coyote is the author of 11 books, the creator of four short films and has released three albums that combine storytelling with music. Having performed across the world over the last 20 years, Coyote has become an audience favourite at storytelling, writer's, film, poetry and folk music festivals. Their titles include the memoir Tomboy Survival Guide, collaborative book Gender Failure, YA collection One in Every Crowd, novel Bow Grip and the latest Care Of.

• Ivan Coyote's book Care Of is a thoughtful collection of pandemic correspondence

"It's about how stories and those experiences as we live them in our lives, connect us to other people. Especially when someone reaches out to me with their grief. How is that not going to resonate and rattle my own similar loss in my chest?"they said during aninterview with The Next Chapter.

Edem Awumey

Edem Awumey was born in Togo and immigrated to Gatineau, Que. in 2005. His debut novel Port-Mlo won the Grand prix littraire d'Afrique noire. His other novels include Dirty Feet and Descent into Night, which won the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for translation.