Endnote

Juliann speaks with two emerging musicians about the place of emotion in musical composition. First, Matt Jonn Lewis discusses collaborative song writing and Spirit Josh's album On God (2021). Then, Eliza Niemi speaks about crafting an album and her recent Staying Mellow Blows (2022). For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.

Marta, Aïsha, and Meixi discuss Open Water, a 2021 novel by Caleb Azumah Nelson. They focus on the novel's descriptions of beauty, its humanizing attention to the grain of everyday life, and its cultivation of joy.

Juliann speaks with two emerging authors about mixed media writing. First, Alice Graham speaks on the importance of love in one's writing and how to find a writing voice. Then, Maynard McKinnon discusses microfiction and zines. For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.

This year, our Dialogues series focuses on "miracles." In this conversation with UofT philosophy PhD candidate Alexandra Gustafson, Alex discusses the benefits and drawbacks of understanding romantic love as a miracle. Topics of discussion include the relation between love and specificity and the role of literature in the crystallization of love as an affect and event. For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.  

Marta, Aïsha, and Meixi discuss Before the Coffee Gets Cold, a 2015 novel by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. They focus on the story's treatment of time travel and its relation to the slice-of-life genre. For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.

Juliann speaks with Kaitlyn Matthews and Elaine Lee, winners of the Hart House Literary Contest in the prose and poetry categories, respectively, about their prize-winning pieces and contest-writing more broadly. For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.

Marta, Aïsha, and Meixi discuss Toni Morrison's “Recitatif," the story's deconstruction of racial codes in life and literature, and the challenges of the short story form.   For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.

Juliann speaks with André Babyn (UofT English), author of Evie of the Deepthorn (2020, Dundurn), and Ali Pinkney (UofT English), author of a forthcoming novella, about the relationship between writing and memory. For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.

Alex and Madison introduce our new Dialogues theme, “Event.” They focus on the provisional thesis for the series: namely, that literature, as an artistic form for which the demarcation between the possible and the impossible is constitutively uncertain, intervenes decisively in the social processes that establish certain artistic, ethical, and political events as miracles (that is, as occurrences that exceed their causes). For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.

In our first Next Generation episode of our third season, Juliann speaks with Robert McGill (UofT English) about his new book, A Suitable Companion for the End of Your Life (Coach House, 2022), and the joys and challenges of working as an author and critic. For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.

Marta, Aïsha, and Meixi discuss Weike Wang's Chemistry (Text, 2018), focusing on the novel's treatment of the experience of second-generation immigrants, relationships between parents and children, and the search for a vocation. For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.

In the first episode of our third season, Marta, Aïsha, and Meixi discuss mental illness, social satire, and plotting and temporality in Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018). For more from the Hart House Student Literary and Library Committee, visit hhlitandlib.ca.

The third season of Endnote begins on Friday, August 12th! Here's a preview of what's in store.

Alex speaks with Professor Lauren Gillingham (uOttawa English) about nineteenth-century novelists' engagements with fashion as they relate to her forthcoming book, Fashionable Fictions and the Currency of the Nineteenth-Century British Novel (Cambridge UP). Key topics of conversation include nineteenth-century conceptions of time and history, fashion and class mobility, and two key novels—Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Dickens's Bleak House. You can find the transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Sabryna speaks with Anvesh Jain about his debut poetry collection, Pilgrim to No Country (Frontenac Press, 2022), focusing on his explorations of immigrant experience, diaspora, and home-making. You can find the book list and transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Alex offers a short introduction to investigative journalism—in particular, its beginnings in the 19th century. After a sketch of English journalistic history through the 1850s, he examines Dickens's “On Duty with Inspector Field” (1851) and Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor (1861–62), two early examples of investigative journalism, focusing on these journalists' intermingling of fictional and non-fictional reportage and their negotiation of disparate professional discourses. You can find the book list for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Subhi Jha, one of L&L's equity and diversity officers, considers temporality and the absurd in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot; then, Jacky Yu, L&L's first-year representative, discusses the critique of “superhero morality” articulated in Alan Moore's Watchmen. You can find the transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Sabryna speaks with Mina Ivosev, winner of the Hart House Literary Contest in the prose category, about her prize-winning short story, “Birth by Landscape.” You can find the book list and transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Alex speaks with Professor Garry Leonard (UofT English) about several Hollywood films, including It's a Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night, and Pretty Woman, as they relate to his current book project, Six Ways of Looking at Modernity: Cinematic Genre and the Structure of Modern Subjectivity. Key topics of discussion include the relationship between cinema and modernism, the structure of cinematic genre, and the representation of the capitalist market and professionalisation in the Hollywood romance. You can find the book list and transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

On our special, holiday edition of Book Club, Aayu Pandey, one of L&L's equity and diversity officers, considers dystopia and the interrelation of life and death in Kurt Vonnegut's “2 B R 0 2 B”; then, Meixi and Marta discuss labour, poverty, and capitalism in George Saunders's “Sea Oak.” For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Alex speaks with Professors Simon Stern (UofT Law/English) and Adam Hammond (UofT English) about the detective fiction of Arthur Conan Doyle as it relates to their ongoing project, “The Birth of the Modern Detective Story, 1890–1920.” Key topics of discussion include the rise of the modern “inferential attitude,” the role of probability in detectives' reasoning about the crowd, and the “magic” of Sherlock Holmes. You can find the book list and transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Alex speaks with Professor Daniel Wright of UofT English about two key popular romances, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Anthony Trollope's Can You Forgive Her?, in the context of his book, Bad Logic: Reasoning About Desire in the Victorian Novel (2018). Key topics of discussion include the relationship between the realist and romance modes, the tenuous power of language to articulate desire, and popular romance novels' myriad imagings of the crowd and the public. You can find the book list and transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Farah Ghafoor, winner of the Hart House Literary Contest in the poetry category, speaks about her prize-winning poem, “Self Portrait with Polar Bears,” and her poetry on climate change. You can find the book list and transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Vikram Nijhawan, L&L's writer's co-op coordinator, discusses metafictionality and the inextricable relation between fact and fantasy in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: Dream Country; then, Alexander Lynch, L&L's podcast coordinator, examines representations of gender and of empire in James Joyce's “The Dead.” For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Ryanne Kap, a UofT alumna, speaks with Sabryna on the art of personal poetry. You can find the book list and transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Alex introduces our new Dialogues theme, “Pop”—that is, popular literary and para-literary writing—c. 1850–1950. He discusses the main issues and questions we'll consider; our genre selection; the social, economic, and political contexts of popular writing in this period; and some of our tentative theses. For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

On our first Next Generation episode of Season 2, Antonia Facciponte, a creative writing master's student at UofT and the author of To Make a Bridge (Black Moss Press, 2021), speaks on her recent collection and the process of literary creation. You can find the book list and transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Matthew Lee, one of L&L's co-chairs, discusses family and agency in Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude; then, Hannah Koschanow, one of our literary contest coordinators, speaks on grief and community in Angeline Boulley's Firekeeper's Daughter. You can find the transcript for this episode at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

In the first episode of our new season, Emily Hurmizi, one of L&L's co-chairs, considers embodiment and trauma in Shauna Singh Baldwin's What The Body Remembers; then, Helia Karami, L&L's community outreach coordinator, speaks on memory and mortality in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. You can find the transcript for this episode at www.hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Endnote Season Two is premiering on Friday, August 13th! Here's a quick overview of what's in store.

For our season finale, Alex draws together our Currents and Next Generation episodes from this season, highlighting both through-lines and tensions, to consider some of what we’ve learned from our exploration of the present and future of literature and literary affairs over the past year. For the transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Tahmeed Shafiq, a student writer and journalist, joins Marta to discuss a story and poem of his, his creative influences, and fantasy literature. For the full text of Tahmeed's short story, "Love and Marriage in the Hexasun Lands," visit lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/love-and-marriage-in-the-hexasun-lands. The book list and transcript for this episode can be found at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Liam Bryant, a student poet, joins Marta, our new staff member, to discuss poems on love, religion, and the natural world.  For the full text of his poems, as well as the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Stephanie Chrismon, an Afrofuturist writer and scholar-educator, joins Alex to offer an introduction to Afrofuturism and some of its key writers, works, and thematic concerns. For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote. To register for or learn more about Exploring Black & Indigenous Futurisms 2021, an exciting upcoming panel from the Black Futures program at Hart House, visit harthouse.ca/events/exploring-black-indigenous-futurisms-2021.

Rick Remender, a comic book writer, artist, and animator who has worked at Marvel, Image Comics, and Electronic Arts, among others, joins Vikram, our writers’ co-op coordinator, to talk about his creative journey and inspirations. For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Marta Anielska, a student writer, editor, and reporter, joins Alex to talk about their short story, “Figments of My Imagination,” as well as their literary influences and creative involvements. For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Allyson, one of Lit and Lib’s literary contest coordinators, joins Alex to offer her holiday book recommendations. For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Emily Nacol, professor of political science at UofT, and Kevin Chong, author and professor of creative writing at UBC, join Alex to discuss classic and contemporary works of plague literature. For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote. To learn more about Lit and Lib's upcoming events, visit hhlitandlib.ca/events.

For the first episode in our Currents series, Professor Smaro Kamboureli of UofT English joins Alex to discuss some of the key authors and issues in Canadian multicultural literatures. For our Canlits recommendations and the transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Dania, Lit and Lib’s Equity and Diversity Officer, joins Alex to discuss her fall reading week book recommendations. For the notes, book list, and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Grace Ma, a student poet and environmental activist, joins Alex to discuss a selection of her poems, environmentalism, and her literary influences. For the full text of Grace's poems and the episode's book list and transcript, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Dania Kassim and Emily Hurmizi, Lit and Lib’s equity and diversity officer and co-chair, respectively, join Alex to discuss equity, diversity, and inclusion in literary affairs and what Lit and Lib is doing to support these principles in our programming this year.  For the book list, transcript, and links for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

In this episode, Veronica Spada, winner of the Hart House Review’s literary contest in the prose category, joins Alex to discuss her prize-winning short story, her inspirations, and her writing process. For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote. If you’re a UofT student, be sure to attend Lit and Lib’s student journalism workshop on September 22nd and check out the writing workshops we’re hosting in October and later in the year—visit hhlitandlib.ca to learn more!

In this episode, Lily and Vikram, Lit and Lib’s communications coordinator and writers’ co-op lead, respectively, join Alex to discuss their favourite books and top summer reads! For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit our website at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote. If you’re a UofT student, be sure to attend Lit and Lib’s literary fair on September 18th and student journalism workshop on September 22nd—visit hhlitandlib.ca/events to learn more!

In this episode, Aline and Allison, HHLLC’s secretary and treasurer, respectively, join Alex to offer their summer reading recommendations. For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit our website at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote. If you’re a UofT student, be sure to attend Lit and Lib’s literary fair on September 18th—visit hhlitandlib.ca/events to learn more!

In our first episode of the new year, HHLLC co-chairs Emily Hurmizi and Matthew Lee join Alexander to offer their summer reading recommendations! For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit our website at hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Explore the world of literature from the comfort of your seat with the Endnote Podcast! Starting August 7th, join Alex Lynch and the Hart House Literary and Library Committee as they talk about the big ideas in literature with UofT professors and Canadian authors, showcase emerging authors from around the Hart House community, and chat about the books they love.