FIRST WORDS w/ JC Bouchard

EA Douglas and Nick McKinlay join me to talk about their reading series and open mic, Sophisticated Boom Boom. Run out of The Ossington, Boom Boom started as friends reading whatever they wanted (even if they didn't write it) at the back of a bar. Since then it has turned into a monthly series with a mix of established features, regular open micers, and even a zine. Douglas and McKinlay started the series together and tell me how it all began, the most memorable moments, and what's next for Boom Boom.

For fiction writer Sophie McCreesh, writing is not without its crests and troughs. Maybe mostly troughs. Whether its trying to make characters die, repeated rejections, or finishing a novella despite physical nausea, McCreesh seems to write not as a respite but a compulsion. McCreesh joined me to talk about her recently published flash story, finishing an MFA, and completing her manuscripts no matter what.

I didn't know Mla Chernoff existed until I heard them at a magazine launch in Toronto where they've lived their whole life. Despite early advice to be disciplined and NOUNS AND VERBS, Chernoff didn't have much faith as a writer. I don't know how to describe Chernoff now, or if I really want to, but they join me to talk about depressive apathy, romanticism, Frasier Crane, saying fuck off to the lyrical tradition, and laughs and gags.