Weird Era

Dedicated to asking authors the right questions.

About the show

Hosted by Sruti Islam and Alex Nierenhausen
Theme Songs by Gino Visconti and Michael Jaworski (@mikejaws)
Audio Production by Kyel Loadenthal

Weird Era on social media

Episodes

  • 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 40: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Heather O'Neill

    June 23rd, 2022  |  Season 1  |  37 mins 33 secs
    2021books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, heather o'neill, indiebooks, indiebookstore, interviews, librairiesthenribooks, literature, lshb, montreal, montrealbookstore, mtl, sthenri, weirdera, weirderapod, when we lost our heads

    Alex talks with Montreal legend Heather O'Neill about her newest novel, When We Lost Our Heads. They talk about adult fairy tales, gritty underworlds, literary erotica, and what it means to get revenge.

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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!

  • 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.

  • 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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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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.

  • 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.