Weird Era

Episode 38: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Bud Smith

June 9th, 2022  |  Season 1  |  39 mins 42 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, bud smith, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, teenager, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti talks to Bud Smith about his debut novel Teenager, contemporary manifestations of patriarchy, the difference between America and Americans, and why it's embarrassing to be alive.

Episode 37: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Mayukh Sen

December 3rd, 2021  |  Season 1  |  43 mins 29 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, mayukh sen, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, tastemakers, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti talks to Mayukh Sen about Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America, how our own relationship to immigrant mothers inform an interest in this text, "the food establishment/media", and culinary lexicon—curry is a real word!

Episode 36: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Jo Hamya

November 25th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  38 mins 40 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, jo hamya, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, three rooms, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti talks with Jo Hamya about her debut novel Three Rooms, how to know when a chapter is done, what the American literary domestic is vs the UK’s notion of home, and what Woolf might think about the idea of a 9-5 just to stay alive.

Episode 35: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Claire Vaye Watkins

November 18th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  46 mins 7 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, claire vaye watkins, fiction, i love you but i've chosen darkness, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti talks with Claire Vaye Watkins about why normal might be overrated (given her family's history with the Manson family), the relationship between pleasure and peace—in fact, lots about pleasure seeking, and the independent lives parents occupy before their children come to exist.

Episode 34: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Todd Babiak

November 11th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  46 mins 52 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, the spirits up, todd babiak, weirdera, weirderapod

Alex sits down with Todd to discuss his new novel, The Spirits Up, Charles Dickens, pandemic writing, financial malfeasance, and whether or not babies and animals can ACTUALLY see ghosts.

Episode 33: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Eli Tareq el Bechelany Lynch

November 4th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  42 mins 52 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, eli tareq el bechelany-lynch, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod

Alex and EIi talk about activism in writing, the garbage crisis in Lebanon, queerness and Arabness, and what makes Montreal such an intimate city.

Episode 32: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Brian Evenson

October 28th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  33 mins 17 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, brian evenson, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod

Alex and Brian sit down to talk about his latest collection, The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell, short stories as a format, universe-building, horror writing, and fearing the self.

Episode 31: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Rivka Galchen

October 21st, 2021  |  Season 1  |  44 mins 2 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, everyone knows your mother is a witch, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, rivka galchen, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod

Alex and Rivka sit down to talk about her latest book, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch, philosophy, life and judicial systems in 17th century Germany, and what moody septuagenarians and millennials have in common.

Episode 30: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Helen Chau Bradley

October 8th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  43 mins 5 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, helen chau bradley, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, metonymy press, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, personal attention roleplay, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti chats with Helen Chau Bradley about their latest collection of short stories, Queer morality, what makes for a poised short story ending, and the Montreal arts scene.

Episode 29: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Sruti Islam

October 1st, 2021  |  Season 1  |  48 mins 50 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod

Alex sits down with Sruti to discuss how the Weird Era Literary Arts journal came to be. Fun!

Episode 28: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Natasha Brown

September 23rd, 2021  |  Season 1  |  33 mins 46 secs

2021books, assembly, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, natasha brown, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti talks to Natasha Brown about her debut: Assembly. They think through generational persistence, how to interrogate a reader's presuppositions, and what the weathering hypothesis means to the Black female experience.

Episode 27: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Alexandra Kleeman

September 16th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  50 mins 9 secs

2021books, alexandra kleeman, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, somewhere new under the sun, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod, weirderapodbookstore

Sruti sits down with Alexandra Kleeman to discuss her new book Something New Under the Sun, paying homage to classic California Gold Rush Fiction, cinematic prose, the ways in which climate change is exciting (yes), and if perhaps, we are predisposed to kindness.

Episode 26: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Michael LaPointe

September 9th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  46 mins 8 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, michael lapointe, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, the creep, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti sits down with Michael LaPointe, author of The Creep, to discuss the horror genre, what it means to come to a text from a place of distrust, and the ambition of character construction.

Episode 25: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Alex Manley and Daphné B

September 2nd, 2021  |  Season 1  |  45 mins 40 secs

2021books, alex manley, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, daphne b, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, made-up, maquillee, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti sits down with Alex Manley and Daphné B, to discuss Manley's english translation of Daphné B's Maquillée: Made-Up. We unfold the dynamics of translation, the various gendered readings of the book, and their individual relationship to the text.

Episode 24: LSHB's Weird Era feat. David Demchuk

August 26th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  56 mins 30 secs

David Demchuk sits down with Alex to discuss Red X, the evolution and the future of queer horror, pop culture (this episode is rife with juicy horror references), and historically problematic queer pioneers. Spooky!

Episode 23: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Katie Kitamura

August 19th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  40 mins 45 secs

2021books, a separation, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, intimacies, katie kitamura, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti sits down with Katie Kitamura, addressing her fans as addicts of interiority, thinking through what lies behind the responsibility of bearing witness, and if the quality of art is determined by how well it mimics truth.