Sruti Islam

Episode 57: Weird Era feat. Sarah Blakley-Cartwright

June 28th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  21 mins

2022books, alice sadie celine, authors, bookclub, books, fiction, interviews, literature, montreal, mtl, sarah blakley-cartwright, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti talks to Sarah Blakley-Cartwright about her novel Alice Sadie Celine, how mid-life crises can come for older lesbians, the cons of being overeducated, and what about goodness threatens eroticism.

Episode 55: Weird Era feat. Marta Balcewicz

June 9th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  41 mins 29 secs

author, big shadow, books, bookstagram, fiction, lit, literature, marta balcewicz, weird era, weird era pod, weird era podcast, weirdera, writers

Sruti talks to Marta Balcewicz about her debut novel Big Shadow, how intimacy can tether us to things (and people) we don't actually like, Sarah Schulman novels, why young women seek to feel singular, and much more.

Episode 54: Weird Era feat. Dizz Tate

June 1st, 2023  |  Season 1  |  35 mins 18 secs

author, books, bookstagram, brutes, dizz tate, fiction, lit, literature, weird era, weird era pod, weird era podcast, weirdera, writers

Sruti talks to Dizz Tate about her debut novel Brutes, how girlhood is a religion itself, how humiliating a woman is the only way some men know how to love, and the thread that laces female friendship with both adoration and jealousy.

Episode 52: Weird Era feat. Stephanie LaCava

May 18th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  32 mins 22 secs

Sruti talks to Stephanie LaCava about the ways the , "throb of prying eyes (is) harder to sit with than the pain of a bruised leg," daddy issues, if things can be real without conflict, and so much more.

Episode 51: Weird Era feat. Catherine Lacey

May 11th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  47 mins 56 secs

2023, books, catherine lacey, lit, literary podcast, literature, publishing, weird era, weird era pod

Sruti sits down with Catherine Lacey and talks about merging genres, how to spend a fictional biography describing a person who self-identifies as, "personless," what is something worse that grief wants, the ways in which first wives can look to the partners who follow, and so much more.

Episode 48: Weird Era feat. Colin Winnette

April 12th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  41 mins 58 secs

alex nierenhausen, book podcast, books, bookstagram, colin winnette, literary, literature, reading, sruti islam, users, weird era, weird era podcast

Sruti sits down with @colinwinnette to discuss his latest novel, Users. For a tech novel, they talk at great length about parenting, what an incandescent moment in literature is, and how the novel was inspired by the concept of guilt.

Episode 47: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Sean Thor Conroe

September 8th, 2022  |  Season 1  |  47 mins 22 secs

2022books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, fuccboi, interviews, literature, montreal, sean thor conroe, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti talks to Sean Thor Conroe about the line between mimicry and influence, white fuck boys vs ethnic fuck boys, and if fiction, like fuck boys, can manipulate.

Episode 46: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Justin Ling

August 25th, 2022  |  Season 1  |  43 mins 49 secs

2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, interviews, justinling, literature, montreal, mtl, the village, weirdera, weirderapod

Provide Daphnee with social media one liner

Episode 44: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Elif Batuman

July 28th, 2022  |  Season 1  |  41 mins 33 secs

2022books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, elif batuman, fiction, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod

Sruti sits down with Elif Batuman to talk about what it means to ~feel~ intelligent, to over-intellectualize a crush, the normalized expectations of heterosexuality, how it feels to forefront Immigrant stories in North American canon, and what she thinks about The Idiot developing into film.

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.

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.

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.

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.