Sruti Islam
Co-Host of Weird Era
Sruti Islam is a reader, and sometimes writer.
She has over five years of experience working in publishing—formerly a book publicist for Drawn and Quarterly, Anteism, and Metatron Press.
She currently runs a book newsletter in partnership with Librairie St-Henri Books: Weird Era, where she also serves as the Events Coordinator.
She is a libra.
Sruti Islam has hosted 59 Episodes.
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Episode 42: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Lillian Fishman
July 7th, 2022 | Season 1 | 44 mins 55 secs
2021books, acts of service, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, lillian fishman, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod
Sruti talks to Lillian Fishman about her favourite book of 2022 (Acts of Service), and how a conversation on Queerness led her to an investigation of Heterosexuality, why desire conflates with our personal politics, and if freedom necessitates radicalism.
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Episode 41: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Naben Ruthnum
June 30th, 2022 | Season 1 | 39 mins 22 secs
2021books, a hero of our time, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, naben ruthnum, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod
Sruti talks to Naben Ruthnum about heterosexual male desire, South East Asian narratives in fiction, and how a kind of self-deprecation can ironically involve a heightened ego.
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Episode 39: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Rollie Pemberton aka Cadence Weapon
June 16th, 2022 | Season 1 | 40 mins 14 secs
2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, cadence weapon, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, rollie pemberton, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod
Sruti talks to Rollie Pemberton about his debut memoir Bedroom Rapper, the 2000s Montreal DIY scene, conscious rap vs gangster rap, what it means when an album is just trash tho, and navigating a Canadian Black identity throughout his career.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Episode 22: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Sophie McCreesh
August 12th, 2021 | Season 1 | 28 mins 36 secs
2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, once more with feeling, sophie mccreesh, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod
Sruti talks to Sophie McCreesh about her debut novel, Once More With Feeling, writing about depression, and how to find hope in the idea of promise.
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Episode 21: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Beth Morgan
August 5th, 2021 | Season 1 | 37 mins 41 secs
2021books, a touch of jen, authors, beth morgan, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod
Sruti sits down with Beth Morgan, author of A Touch of Jen, to discuss magical realism, the pleasure in reading “unlikeable” characters, the concept of judgement, social media, and manifesting.