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No BS Newshour Episode #409Lock Him UpMike Duggan said he cleaned up the poisoned demo holes.Then tell me why does a woman sit up late worrying about her four babies falling into a contaminated quagmire of mud and garbage 8-feet deep? Right next to her house.Mike Duggan doesn't belong in the Governor's office - he belongs in a jump suit.And where was the media this whole time?Hiding in a dirt hole.Now that it's safe to come out, watch the reporters bamboozle you into thinking they care.They don't.We do. The woman. Her babies. Tommy Hearns. Rose Burd. You matter. Power to the People.NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Christine Estima about her novel, Letters to Kafka (House of Anansi, 2025). A sweeping, tragic romance and feminist adventure about translator and resistance fighter Milena Jesenská's torrid love affair with Franz Kafka. In 1919, Milena Jesenská, a clever and spirited twenty-three-year-old, is trapped in an unhappy marriage to literary critic Ernst Pollak. Since Pollak is unable to support the pair in Vienna's post-war economy, Jesenská must supplement their income by working as a translator. Having previously met her compatriot Franz Kafka in the literary salons of Prague, she writes to him to ask for permission to translate his story “The Stoker” from German to Czech, becoming Kafka's first translator. The letter launches an intense and increasingly passionate correspondence. Jesenská is captivated by Kafka's energy, intensity, and burning ambition to write. Kafka is fascinated by Jesenská's wit, rebellious spirit, and intelligence. Jesenská and Kafka meet twice for lovers' trysts, but can such an intense connection endure beyond a fleeting affair? In her remarkable debut novel, Christine Estima weaves little-known facts and fiction into a rich tapestry, powerfully portraying the struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of wife, lover, and intellectual. CHRISTINE ESTIMA is an Arab woman of mixed ethnicity (Lebanese, Syrian, and Portuguese) and the author of the short story collection The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society. She has written for the New York Times, The Walrus, VICE, the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Maisonneuve, the Toronto Star, and the CBC. Her story “Your Hands Are Blessed” was included in Best Canadian Stories 2023. She was shortlisted for the 2018 Allan Slaight Prize for Journalism and a finalist for the 2023 Lee Smith Novel Prize. Christine has a master's degree from York University and lives in Toronto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Conor Mc Donnell about his long poem, What We Know So Far Is...(Wolsak & Wynn, 2025). The Irish word for shadow, “scáth,” is also our word for shelter. In a powerful long poem that captures the disquiet of our age with cinematic language and imagery, Conor Mc Donnell's What We Know So Far Is … harkens back to the previous century in its daring. Drawing from his Irish heritage, his experience as a pediatrician and many other sources, Mc Donnell has created a work that echoes the scope of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land and Hart Crane's The Bridge. Both ecstatic and challenging, the lines of the poem are filled with allusions and references, with biology shading into history into cultures both ancient and contemporary, where words are predators and “memes disseminate cultural-genes.” Through it all runs Mc Donnell's fascination with language, ever shifting, beguiling, mutating, virus-like. In these questioning, DNA-like lines, Mc Donnell shows us how to unmake and remake our understanding of the world. Dr. Conor Mc Donnell is a poet and physician at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. He is the author of two collections of poems (most recently, This Insistent List) and three chapbooks. His poetry has appeared in various Canadian and international publications as well as noted medical journals such as JAMA and CMAJ. He is an associate professor at the University of Toronto and editor in chief of Case Repertory, a Narrative-Based Medicine Lab publication that seeks to engage and promote the voice of the patient in collaboration with their health-carers. He is a frequently invited international lecturer on pediatric perioperative care, error prevention and opioid stewardship, and he is current vice-president of the Canadian Pediatric Anesthesia Society. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
No BS Newshour Episode #408LOCKED OUT(4:32) EXCLUSIVE: GM closes Renaissance Center forever.Public not told. Public not wanted.Dan Gilbert's latest real estate scam. (48:47) PLUS- Who's got custody of Tommy Hearns? The Hitman heads to probate. The strange true story of the champ.NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with K.R. Wilson about his novel, Stan on Guard (Guernica Editions, 2026). Ishtanu (call him Stan) is a Hittite immortal keeping his head down in Toronto and recounting some of his experiences. Tróán is an immortal Trojan princess who thought she'd killed Stan in post-war Berlin but who now knows he survived. Yes, technically Stan can die. He has just managed not to for 3200 years. As their stories braid together toward a final reckoning they take us through, among other things, a subversive retelling of the Odysseus story, the resistance of pagan Lithuania against Papal crusaders, the decline of Friedrich Nietzsche in a German clinic, the arts scene in belle epoque Paris, and the descent of Europe into the horrors of the Great War. Strap in. Stan On Guard is the follow-up to K. R. Wilson's tragical-comical-historical novel Call Me Stan: A Tragedy in Three Millennia, which was long-listed for the 2022 Leacock Medal for Humour. K. R. Wilson's novel An Idea About My Dead Uncle won the inaugural Guernica Prize in 2018, and his novel Call Me Stan was long-listed for the 2022 Leacock Medal. His work has appeared in various literary journals and the flash fiction anthology This Will Only Take a Minute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with K.R. Wilson about his novel, Stan on Guard (Guernica Editions, 2026). Ishtanu (call him Stan) is a Hittite immortal keeping his head down in Toronto and recounting some of his experiences. Tróán is an immortal Trojan princess who thought she'd killed Stan in post-war Berlin but who now knows he survived. Yes, technically Stan can die. He has just managed not to for 3200 years. As their stories braid together toward a final reckoning they take us through, among other things, a subversive retelling of the Odysseus story, the resistance of pagan Lithuania against Papal crusaders, the decline of Friedrich Nietzsche in a German clinic, the arts scene in belle epoque Paris, and the descent of Europe into the horrors of the Great War. Strap in. Stan On Guard is the follow-up to K. R. Wilson's tragical-comical-historical novel Call Me Stan: A Tragedy in Three Millennia, which was long-listed for the 2022 Leacock Medal for Humour. K. R. Wilson's novel An Idea About My Dead Uncle won the inaugural Guernica Prize in 2018, and his novel Call Me Stan was long-listed for the 2022 Leacock Medal. His work has appeared in various literary journals and the flash fiction anthology This Will Only Take a Minute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Brit Griffin about her novel, The Haunting of Modesto O'Brien (Latitude 46, 2025). A gothic tale from deep within the boreal forest… Violence and greed have intruded into a wild and remote land. It's 1907, and silver fever has drawn thousands of men into a fledgling mining camp in the heart of the wilderness. Modesto O'Brien, fortune-teller and detective, is there too - but he isn't looking for riches. He's seeking revenge. O'Brien soon finds himself entangled with the mysterious Nail sisters, Lucy and Lily. On the run from their past and headed for trouble, Lily turns to O'Brien when Lucy goes missing. But what should have been a straightforward case of kidnapping pulls O'Brien into a world of ancient myths, magic, and male violence. As he searches for Lucy, O'Brien fears that dark forces are emerging from the ravaged landscape. Mesmerized by a nightmarish creature stalking the wilderness, and haunted by his past, O'Brien struggles to maintain his grip on reality as he faces hard choices about loyalty, sacrifice, and revenge. Brit Griffin is the author of the climate-fiction Wintermen trilogy (Latitude 46) and has written essays, musings, and articles for various publications. Griffin spent many years as a researcher for the Timiskaming First Nation, an Algonquin community in northern Quebec. She lives in Cobalt, northern Ontario, where she is the mother of three grown daughters. These days, she divides her time between writing and caring for her unruly yard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Brit Griffin about her novel, The Haunting of Modesto O'Brien (Latitude 46, 2025). A gothic tale from deep within the boreal forest… Violence and greed have intruded into a wild and remote land. It's 1907, and silver fever has drawn thousands of men into a fledgling mining camp in the heart of the wilderness. Modesto O'Brien, fortune-teller and detective, is there too - but he isn't looking for riches. He's seeking revenge. O'Brien soon finds himself entangled with the mysterious Nail sisters, Lucy and Lily. On the run from their past and headed for trouble, Lily turns to O'Brien when Lucy goes missing. But what should have been a straightforward case of kidnapping pulls O'Brien into a world of ancient myths, magic, and male violence. As he searches for Lucy, O'Brien fears that dark forces are emerging from the ravaged landscape. Mesmerized by a nightmarish creature stalking the wilderness, and haunted by his past, O'Brien struggles to maintain his grip on reality as he faces hard choices about loyalty, sacrifice, and revenge. Brit Griffin is the author of the climate-fiction Wintermen trilogy (Latitude 46) and has written essays, musings, and articles for various publications. Griffin spent many years as a researcher for the Timiskaming First Nation, an Algonquin community in northern Quebec. She lives in Cobalt, northern Ontario, where she is the mother of three grown daughters. These days, she divides her time between writing and caring for her unruly yard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
No BS Newshour Episode #407Was it Murder? (0:04) Whitmer Gang faked nursing home documents and hid it in an ornate scheme to mislead the public. (10:18) The data reveals massive cover-up.(27:54) Crime Boss Mike Duggan. How he destroyed the Detroit Public Schools.(32:48) Traci Kornak's web of abuse. How Dana Nessel allowed her to feast on an old woman.(35:53) Lightweight Slotkin runs away from reporter's question about her funding of the Iran terror regime.(41:57) The Iran global play. Adolph Mongo- ex-marine, reporter and political hitman offers his world view.(49:23) “A Front Row Seat,” Mongo's new memoir about Kwame, Coleman, and that lynching ad.NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with acclaimed author Lindsay Wong about her novel, Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies (Penguin Random House Canada, 2026). A woman signs her life away in the ancient Chinese tradition of corpse marriage in this wickedly hilarious novel about class, ambition, and the burden of being an impoverished model minority.Poor, vicious Locinda Lo is a nobody with a powerful witch for a grandmother and an undead corpse-kid-sister as her only friend. A broke MFA dropout living in Vancouver with six roommates and zero job prospects, she's buried so deep in debt she might as well be six feet under—and her family is in danger of being buried along with her.Desperate to escape her financial woes and save her grandmother and sister, Locinda signs a contract with a nefarious company, Joyful Coffin & Co. Matchmaking Services, to be auctioned off as a corpse bride to the highest bidder. Next thing she knows, she's being smuggled underground into the damp caves where her training coffin awaits.As Locinda prepares for a rich, dying dearly beloved to claim her as his bride-to-be in the Afterlife, her past becomes twisted with that of her grandmother, Baozhai. A feared and revered Villain Hitter, or witchy curse-monger, Baozhai's legacy stretches from 1920s China to the Battle of Hong Kong in the 40s to New York City thereafter. Across the generational divide, one thing becomes achingly clear to them both: you can't outrun your ghosts.Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies is a daring, genre-bending meditation on life, death, and the murderous cost of living in between. It lays bare the societal and cultural expectations placed on Chinese women and the devastating price of enduring them. This chilling masterclass in fiction cements Lindsay Wong as one of the most provocative Canadian horror writers of our time. Lindsay Wong is the author of the critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling memoir The Woo-Woo, which was a finalist for Canada Reads 2019. She has written a YA novel entitled My Summer of Love and Misfortune. Wong holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Winnipeg. Follow her on Twitter @LindsayMWong, Instagram @Lindsaywong.M, or visit www.lindsaywongwriter.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with acclaimed author Lindsay Wong about her novel, Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies (Penguin Random House Canada, 2026). A woman signs her life away in the ancient Chinese tradition of corpse marriage in this wickedly hilarious novel about class, ambition, and the burden of being an impoverished model minority.Poor, vicious Locinda Lo is a nobody with a powerful witch for a grandmother and an undead corpse-kid-sister as her only friend. A broke MFA dropout living in Vancouver with six roommates and zero job prospects, she's buried so deep in debt she might as well be six feet under—and her family is in danger of being buried along with her.Desperate to escape her financial woes and save her grandmother and sister, Locinda signs a contract with a nefarious company, Joyful Coffin & Co. Matchmaking Services, to be auctioned off as a corpse bride to the highest bidder. Next thing she knows, she's being smuggled underground into the damp caves where her training coffin awaits.As Locinda prepares for a rich, dying dearly beloved to claim her as his bride-to-be in the Afterlife, her past becomes twisted with that of her grandmother, Baozhai. A feared and revered Villain Hitter, or witchy curse-monger, Baozhai's legacy stretches from 1920s China to the Battle of Hong Kong in the 40s to New York City thereafter. Across the generational divide, one thing becomes achingly clear to them both: you can't outrun your ghosts.Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies is a daring, genre-bending meditation on life, death, and the murderous cost of living in between. It lays bare the societal and cultural expectations placed on Chinese women and the devastating price of enduring them. This chilling masterclass in fiction cements Lindsay Wong as one of the most provocative Canadian horror writers of our time. Lindsay Wong is the author of the critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling memoir The Woo-Woo, which was a finalist for Canada Reads 2019. She has written a YA novel entitled My Summer of Love and Misfortune. Wong holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Winnipeg. Follow her on Twitter @LindsayMWong, Instagram @Lindsaywong.M, or visit www.lindsaywongwriter.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with acclaimed Calgary, Alberta poet David Martin about is new collection, nightstead (Palimpsest Press, 2026). In his most personal collection to date, award-winning poet David Martin elegizes his younger brother who died by suicide at the age of twenty-three. With a mixture of childhood recollections and anguished moments nightstead produces a complex memorial while pushing against the utmost limits of memory's power. Dislocating experiments juxtapose with searingly direct verse to make this book a haunting poetic memoir that will remain with readers long after they put it down. David Martin has published three previous collections of poetry: Tar Swan (NeWest Press, 2018), Kink Bands (NeWest Press, 2023), and Limited Verse (University of Calgary Press, 2024). He lives in Calgary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with acclaimed Calgary, Alberta poet David Martin about is new collection, nightstead (Palimpsest Press, 2026). In his most personal collection to date, award-winning poet David Martin elegizes his younger brother who died by suicide at the age of twenty-three. With a mixture of childhood recollections and anguished moments nightstead produces a complex memorial while pushing against the utmost limits of memory's power. Dislocating experiments juxtapose with searingly direct verse to make this book a haunting poetic memoir that will remain with readers long after they put it down. David Martin has published three previous collections of poetry: Tar Swan (NeWest Press, 2018), Kink Bands (NeWest Press, 2023), and Limited Verse (University of Calgary Press, 2024). He lives in Calgary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/poetry
Lisa & Rusell take a trip back to 27 February 2016 - a time of travel warnings to South East Asian destinations and broken NBA records. NBN was in the pipeline dn Elton John peformed a free concert at Old Tower Records with Lady Gaga as a special guest. Join the guys for a trip down a memory lane. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
No BS Newshour Episode #406Cartel WarsCanada is the next cartel frontier.Destination: USAWith the Southern border locked down and Jalisco boss “El Mencho” eliminated, Mexican drug production has migrated to Canada.Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Chicago are now main smuggling and distribution points.Can we expect turf battles on the Northern border?(25:13) Pancho Ortiz, founder of The Cartel Chronicles explains.(1:26) PLUS- Alleged embezzler and former Democratic treasurer Traci Kornak changes clothes.NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
How Taiwan rose to global prominence in high tech manufacturing, from computer maker to the world's leading chip manufacturer. How did Taiwan, a former Japanese colony and the last fortress of the defeated Chinese Nationalists, ascend to such heights in high-tech manufacturing? In Island Tinkerers: Innovation and Transformation in the Making of Taiwan's Computing Industry (MIT Press, 2024), Honghong Tinn tells the critical history of how hobbyists and enthusiasts in Taiwan, including engineers, technologists, technocrats, computer users, and engineers-turned-entrepreneurs, helped transform the country with their hands-on engagement with computers. Rather than engaging in wholesale imitation of US sources, she explains, these technologists tinkered with imported computing technology and experimented with manufacturing their own versions, resulting in their own brand of successful innovation. Defying the stereotype of “the West innovates, and the East imitates,” Tinn tells the story of Taiwanese technologists' efforts over the past six decades. Beginning in the 1960s, they grappled with the “black-boxed” computers that were newly available through international technical-aid programs. Shortly after, multinational corporations that outsourced transistor and integrated circuit assembly overseas began employing Taiwanese engineers and factory workers. Island tinkerers developed strategies to adapt, modify, assemble, and work with computers in an inventive manner. It was through this creative and ingenious tinkering with computers that they were able to gain a better understanding of the technology, opening the door to future manufacturing endeavors that now include Acer, Foxconn, Asus, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Honghong Tinn is Assistant Professor in the Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Li-Ping Chen is a visiting scholar in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. Li-Ping's NBN episodes on Taiwan Studies are supported by the Chun and Jane Chiu Family Foundation Taiwan Studies Program at Oregon State University. Relevant Links: Open Access for Island Tinkerers here Island Tinkerers' Book Talk with Honghong Tinn here Chinese language translation of Island Tinkerers 科技造浪者: 一部奇蹟般的台灣科技產業史,揭開全球都想知道的人脈網絡 here Fly up with Love (1978) here “Labour and (De)Industrialisation in East Asia” in Gateway To Global China Podcast here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
How Taiwan rose to global prominence in high tech manufacturing, from computer maker to the world's leading chip manufacturer. How did Taiwan, a former Japanese colony and the last fortress of the defeated Chinese Nationalists, ascend to such heights in high-tech manufacturing? In Island Tinkerers: Innovation and Transformation in the Making of Taiwan's Computing Industry (MIT Press, 2024), Honghong Tinn tells the critical history of how hobbyists and enthusiasts in Taiwan, including engineers, technologists, technocrats, computer users, and engineers-turned-entrepreneurs, helped transform the country with their hands-on engagement with computers. Rather than engaging in wholesale imitation of US sources, she explains, these technologists tinkered with imported computing technology and experimented with manufacturing their own versions, resulting in their own brand of successful innovation. Defying the stereotype of “the West innovates, and the East imitates,” Tinn tells the story of Taiwanese technologists' efforts over the past six decades. Beginning in the 1960s, they grappled with the “black-boxed” computers that were newly available through international technical-aid programs. Shortly after, multinational corporations that outsourced transistor and integrated circuit assembly overseas began employing Taiwanese engineers and factory workers. Island tinkerers developed strategies to adapt, modify, assemble, and work with computers in an inventive manner. It was through this creative and ingenious tinkering with computers that they were able to gain a better understanding of the technology, opening the door to future manufacturing endeavors that now include Acer, Foxconn, Asus, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Honghong Tinn is Assistant Professor in the Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Li-Ping Chen is a visiting scholar in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. Li-Ping's NBN episodes on Taiwan Studies are supported by the Chun and Jane Chiu Family Foundation Taiwan Studies Program at Oregon State University. Relevant Links: Open Access for Island Tinkerers here Island Tinkerers' Book Talk with Honghong Tinn here Chinese language translation of Island Tinkerers 科技造浪者: 一部奇蹟般的台灣科技產業史,揭開全球都想知道的人脈網絡 here Fly up with Love (1978) here “Labour and (De)Industrialisation in East Asia” in Gateway To Global China Podcast here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies
How Taiwan rose to global prominence in high tech manufacturing, from computer maker to the world's leading chip manufacturer. How did Taiwan, a former Japanese colony and the last fortress of the defeated Chinese Nationalists, ascend to such heights in high-tech manufacturing? In Island Tinkerers: Innovation and Transformation in the Making of Taiwan's Computing Industry (MIT Press, 2024), Honghong Tinn tells the critical history of how hobbyists and enthusiasts in Taiwan, including engineers, technologists, technocrats, computer users, and engineers-turned-entrepreneurs, helped transform the country with their hands-on engagement with computers. Rather than engaging in wholesale imitation of US sources, she explains, these technologists tinkered with imported computing technology and experimented with manufacturing their own versions, resulting in their own brand of successful innovation. Defying the stereotype of “the West innovates, and the East imitates,” Tinn tells the story of Taiwanese technologists' efforts over the past six decades. Beginning in the 1960s, they grappled with the “black-boxed” computers that were newly available through international technical-aid programs. Shortly after, multinational corporations that outsourced transistor and integrated circuit assembly overseas began employing Taiwanese engineers and factory workers. Island tinkerers developed strategies to adapt, modify, assemble, and work with computers in an inventive manner. It was through this creative and ingenious tinkering with computers that they were able to gain a better understanding of the technology, opening the door to future manufacturing endeavors that now include Acer, Foxconn, Asus, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Honghong Tinn is Assistant Professor in the Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Li-Ping Chen is a visiting scholar in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. Li-Ping's NBN episodes on Taiwan Studies are supported by the Chun and Jane Chiu Family Foundation Taiwan Studies Program at Oregon State University. Relevant Links: Open Access for Island Tinkerers here Island Tinkerers' Book Talk with Honghong Tinn here Chinese language translation of Island Tinkerers 科技造浪者: 一部奇蹟般的台灣科技產業史,揭開全球都想知道的人脈網絡 here Fly up with Love (1978) here “Labour and (De)Industrialisation in East Asia” in Gateway To Global China Podcast here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society
How Taiwan rose to global prominence in high tech manufacturing, from computer maker to the world's leading chip manufacturer. How did Taiwan, a former Japanese colony and the last fortress of the defeated Chinese Nationalists, ascend to such heights in high-tech manufacturing? In Island Tinkerers: Innovation and Transformation in the Making of Taiwan's Computing Industry (MIT Press, 2024), Honghong Tinn tells the critical history of how hobbyists and enthusiasts in Taiwan, including engineers, technologists, technocrats, computer users, and engineers-turned-entrepreneurs, helped transform the country with their hands-on engagement with computers. Rather than engaging in wholesale imitation of US sources, she explains, these technologists tinkered with imported computing technology and experimented with manufacturing their own versions, resulting in their own brand of successful innovation. Defying the stereotype of “the West innovates, and the East imitates,” Tinn tells the story of Taiwanese technologists' efforts over the past six decades. Beginning in the 1960s, they grappled with the “black-boxed” computers that were newly available through international technical-aid programs. Shortly after, multinational corporations that outsourced transistor and integrated circuit assembly overseas began employing Taiwanese engineers and factory workers. Island tinkerers developed strategies to adapt, modify, assemble, and work with computers in an inventive manner. It was through this creative and ingenious tinkering with computers that they were able to gain a better understanding of the technology, opening the door to future manufacturing endeavors that now include Acer, Foxconn, Asus, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Honghong Tinn is Assistant Professor in the Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Li-Ping Chen is a visiting scholar in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. Li-Ping's NBN episodes on Taiwan Studies are supported by the Chun and Jane Chiu Family Foundation Taiwan Studies Program at Oregon State University. Relevant Links: Open Access for Island Tinkerers here Island Tinkerers' Book Talk with Honghong Tinn here Chinese language translation of Island Tinkerers 科技造浪者: 一部奇蹟般的台灣科技產業史,揭開全球都想知道的人脈網絡 here Fly up with Love (1978) here “Labour and (De)Industrialisation in East Asia” in Gateway To Global China Podcast here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/technology
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with author KJ Aiello about their book, The Monster and the Mirror: Mental Illness, Magic, and the Stories We Tell (ECW Press, 2024). Revelatory memoir and cultural criticism that connects popular fantasy and our perceptions of mental illness to offer an empathetic path to compassionate care Growing up, K.J. Aiello was fascinated by magical stories of dragons, wizards, and fantasy, where monsters were not what they seemed and anything was possible. These books and films were both a balm and an escape, a safe space where Aiello's struggle with mental illness transformed from a burden into a strength that could win battles and vanquish villains. A unique blend of memoir, research, and cultural criticism, The Monster and the Mirror charts Aiello's life as they try to understand their own mental illness using The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and other stories as both guides to heroism and agency and cautionary tales of how mental illness is easily stereotyped as bad and violent. Aiello questions who is allowed to be “mad” versus “sane,” “good” versus “evil,” and “weak” versus “strong,” and who is allowed to tell their own stories. The Monster and the Mirror explores our perceptions of mental illness in a way that is challenging and tender, empathetic and knowledgeable, and offers a path to deeper understanding and compassionate care. K.J. Aiello is a mentally ill, award-winning writer based in Toronto, ON. Their work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, The Walrus, and This Magazine. They are still waiting for their very own dragon. Sadly, this has not happened, so their cats will have to suffice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with author KJ Aiello about their book, The Monster and the Mirror: Mental Illness, Magic, and the Stories We Tell (ECW Press, 2024). Revelatory memoir and cultural criticism that connects popular fantasy and our perceptions of mental illness to offer an empathetic path to compassionate care Growing up, K.J. Aiello was fascinated by magical stories of dragons, wizards, and fantasy, where monsters were not what they seemed and anything was possible. These books and films were both a balm and an escape, a safe space where Aiello's struggle with mental illness transformed from a burden into a strength that could win battles and vanquish villains. A unique blend of memoir, research, and cultural criticism, The Monster and the Mirror charts Aiello's life as they try to understand their own mental illness using The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and other stories as both guides to heroism and agency and cautionary tales of how mental illness is easily stereotyped as bad and violent. Aiello questions who is allowed to be “mad” versus “sane,” “good” versus “evil,” and “weak” versus “strong,” and who is allowed to tell their own stories. The Monster and the Mirror explores our perceptions of mental illness in a way that is challenging and tender, empathetic and knowledgeable, and offers a path to deeper understanding and compassionate care. K.J. Aiello is a mentally ill, award-winning writer based in Toronto, ON. Their work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, The Walrus, and This Magazine. They are still waiting for their very own dragon. Sadly, this has not happened, so their cats will have to suffice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
No BS Newshour Episode #405The Truth Has ArrivedWhy is the guy handling Mike Duggan's dark money slush fund in the EPSTEIN files????We've got the files!I finally got the goods on nursing home deaths —10,000 unredacted nursing home documents on a thumb drive. As promised.We're building an AI program to dig through the treasure trove of documents. What really happened to grandpa? And I'm amending my lawsuit against Nessel and Whitmer. They sent me 600 just blank pages.The cover-up is coming to an end.We've been saying it for years, and now the chickens—or rather, the toxic dirt—is coming home to roost. Former Mayor Mike Duggan doesn't belong on the campaign trail, he belongs in prison.It's a human catastrophe on the scale of Flint.PLUS- Gov. Whitmer & AOC show they have no business on the world stage. NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Toronto poet Guy Elston about his debut poetry collection, The Character Actor Convention (Gordon Hill Press/Porcupine's Quill, 2025). A pumpkin writes a letter to his father. A sheep recalls a revolution, and love. Hydrogen pens a tell-all expos of Oxygen. The Stick Insect Orders His Tomb. Napoleon counts waves and cheats at cards. A sunflower seeks answers - why sun? A crow considers children in this cruel, spiky world. And allthe while, character actors gather for the endless convention... Guy Elston's debut poetry collection, The Character Actor Convention, is a curious smorgasbord of personas, new voices and (un)natural perspectives. Through impossible encounters and strange viewpoints an insistent, ever-shifting 'I' questions its relation to reality, and itself. Wist, wit, obsession and irony rise like tides, are forgotten, and start fresh. Authenticity is always just round the corner. The Character Actor Convention is not urgent, timely or topical. It's something else. Guy Elston was born and raised in Oxford, UK. After various jobs, journeys and other lifetimes he surfaced in Toronto in 2020. He has an MA in History from the University of Amsterdam. Since moving to Canada his poetry has been published by The Malahat Review, Canadian Literature, Event, The Literary Review of Canada, Vallum, The Antigonish Review and other journals. His chapbook Automatic Sleep Mode was published by Anstruther Press in 2023. His debut full-length collection, The Character Actor Convention, is forthcoming from The Porcupine's Quill in 2025. Guy lives in Toronto and can be found at poetry events. He's a member of the Meet the Presses collective and is a first reader for Untethered magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Toronto poet Guy Elston about his debut poetry collection, The Character Actor Convention (Gordon Hill Press/Porcupine's Quill, 2025). A pumpkin writes a letter to his father. A sheep recalls a revolution, and love. Hydrogen pens a tell-all expos of Oxygen. The Stick Insect Orders His Tomb. Napoleon counts waves and cheats at cards. A sunflower seeks answers - why sun? A crow considers children in this cruel, spiky world. And allthe while, character actors gather for the endless convention... Guy Elston's debut poetry collection, The Character Actor Convention, is a curious smorgasbord of personas, new voices and (un)natural perspectives. Through impossible encounters and strange viewpoints an insistent, ever-shifting 'I' questions its relation to reality, and itself. Wist, wit, obsession and irony rise like tides, are forgotten, and start fresh. Authenticity is always just round the corner. The Character Actor Convention is not urgent, timely or topical. It's something else. Guy Elston was born and raised in Oxford, UK. After various jobs, journeys and other lifetimes he surfaced in Toronto in 2020. He has an MA in History from the University of Amsterdam. Since moving to Canada his poetry has been published by The Malahat Review, Canadian Literature, Event, The Literary Review of Canada, Vallum, The Antigonish Review and other journals. His chapbook Automatic Sleep Mode was published by Anstruther Press in 2023. His debut full-length collection, The Character Actor Convention, is forthcoming from The Porcupine's Quill in 2025. Guy lives in Toronto and can be found at poetry events. He's a member of the Meet the Presses collective and is a first reader for Untethered magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/poetry
Host Jun Wei Lee speaks with Hélène Landemore about her book, Politics Without Politicians: The Case for Citizen Rule (Penguin, 2026). An acclaimed political theorist, Professor Landemore has spent her career trying to understand the advantages of democracy, what makes it function, and how to make it work better. In her most recent book, Landemore puts forward a radical proposal. Democracy doesn't need politicians: ordinary people can govern much better. In this NBN episode, Landemore analyzes how a lottery system designed to select everyday people to govern—not as career politicians but as temporary stewards of the common good. Drawing from ancient Athenian practices of democracy and her firsthand experience in contemporary citizens' assemblies, Landemore explains that when regular citizens come together to make important political decisions, they make better decisions, develop meaningful bonds of community, and even convince experts that self-governing assemblies are viable ways of doing politics. This is not a book about what's wrong—it's a manifesto for what's possible. If you've ever felt powerless, Politics Without Politicians will show you how “We the People” take back democracy. Hélène Landemore is a political theorist and the Damon Wells '58 Professor of Political Science at Yale University. Jun Wei Lee is a 4th-year undergraduate student of History and Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He works on the international legal regulation of migrant labor in the nineteenth-century British Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Host Jun Wei Lee speaks with Hélène Landemore about her book, Politics Without Politicians: The Case for Citizen Rule (Penguin, 2026). An acclaimed political theorist, Professor Landemore has spent her career trying to understand the advantages of democracy, what makes it function, and how to make it work better. In her most recent book, Landemore puts forward a radical proposal. Democracy doesn't need politicians: ordinary people can govern much better. In this NBN episode, Landemore analyzes how a lottery system designed to select everyday people to govern—not as career politicians but as temporary stewards of the common good. Drawing from ancient Athenian practices of democracy and her firsthand experience in contemporary citizens' assemblies, Landemore explains that when regular citizens come together to make important political decisions, they make better decisions, develop meaningful bonds of community, and even convince experts that self-governing assemblies are viable ways of doing politics. This is not a book about what's wrong—it's a manifesto for what's possible. If you've ever felt powerless, Politics Without Politicians will show you how “We the People” take back democracy. Hélène Landemore is a political theorist and the Damon Wells '58 Professor of Political Science at Yale University. Jun Wei Lee is a 4th-year undergraduate student of History and Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He works on the international legal regulation of migrant labor in the nineteenth-century British Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics
No BS Newshour Episode #404Nursing Home Holocaust(0:04) You'll never guess how many died in Michigan's nursing homes and you may never know.Total redaction on nursing home documents.(3:52) The latest on the Whitmer/Nessel cover-up.(34:13) Nancy Guthrie Missing. Another elderly woman abused by the media.(45:29) You heard it here first. From the Michigan Enjoyer's Nostradamus file: Trump calls Canada's bridge bluff. Make a trade deal or take off, eh?NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery interviews Michael Mirolla about his fascinating novel, How About This…? (At Bay Press, 2025). It's a little after the middle of the 21st century. Loving couple Elspeth and Marybeth are both shocked and excited when a stroller with identical twins is left on their back deck with a recorded message that warns them not to try to return the babies or they could face arrest for kidnapping. Using false starts, footnotes, direct approaches to the reader, lists, questions about who the author(s) might be, and even a dose of self-criticism, the story unwinds from that point as El and Mar work hard to create a family under the circumstances. This becomes even more difficult when they discover the babies come with unusual features that perhaps might explain why they were left in the first place. And it all takes place in a disintegrating world that may leave humans incapable of telling their own stories. Michael Mirolla's publications include a novella, The Last News Vendor, winner of the 2020 Hamilton Literary Award for fiction, as well as three Bressani Prizes: the novel Berlin (2010); the poetry collection The House on 14th Avenue (2014); and the short story collection Lessons in Relationship Dyads (2016). His latest poetry collection, At the End of the World, was short-listed for the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award. In the fall of 2019, Michael served a three- month writer's residency at Vancouver's Historic Joy Kogawa House, during which time he finished the first draft of a novel, The Second Law of Thermodynamics. A symposium on Michael's writing was held in Toronto on May 25, 2023. In September of 2023, Michael took part in a writers' residency in Olot, Catalonia where he completed the latest draft of his novella, How About This …? In the summer of 2024, Michael will take part in a one-month writers' residency in Barcelona where he hopes to tackle a new draft of The Second Law. When not busy writing, Michael helps run Guernica Editions, a Canadian independent literary publishing house. Born in Italy and raised in Montreal, Michael now makes his home outside the town of Gananoque in the Thousand Islands area of Ontario. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery interviews Michael Mirolla about his fascinating novel, How About This…? (At Bay Press, 2025). It's a little after the middle of the 21st century. Loving couple Elspeth and Marybeth are both shocked and excited when a stroller with identical twins is left on their back deck with a recorded message that warns them not to try to return the babies or they could face arrest for kidnapping. Using false starts, footnotes, direct approaches to the reader, lists, questions about who the author(s) might be, and even a dose of self-criticism, the story unwinds from that point as El and Mar work hard to create a family under the circumstances. This becomes even more difficult when they discover the babies come with unusual features that perhaps might explain why they were left in the first place. And it all takes place in a disintegrating world that may leave humans incapable of telling their own stories. Michael Mirolla's publications include a novella, The Last News Vendor, winner of the 2020 Hamilton Literary Award for fiction, as well as three Bressani Prizes: the novel Berlin (2010); the poetry collection The House on 14th Avenue (2014); and the short story collection Lessons in Relationship Dyads (2016). His latest poetry collection, At the End of the World, was short-listed for the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award. In the fall of 2019, Michael served a three- month writer's residency at Vancouver's Historic Joy Kogawa House, during which time he finished the first draft of a novel, The Second Law of Thermodynamics. A symposium on Michael's writing was held in Toronto on May 25, 2023. In September of 2023, Michael took part in a writers' residency in Olot, Catalonia where he completed the latest draft of his novella, How About This …? In the summer of 2024, Michael will take part in a one-month writers' residency in Barcelona where he hopes to tackle a new draft of The Second Law. When not busy writing, Michael helps run Guernica Editions, a Canadian independent literary publishing house. Born in Italy and raised in Montreal, Michael now makes his home outside the town of Gananoque in the Thousand Islands area of Ontario. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with poet Khashayar "Kess" Mohammadi about his new poetry collection, The Book of Interruptions. In The Book of Interruptions (Buckrider Books, 2025) Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi has brought together a collection of poems written with scalpel-like precision. Infused with “pre-emptive violence” these poems mark the intersection of war, immigration, sexuality and history, with lines often placed at the crossroads of Perso-Islamic and Western thought. Moving between an Iran that is marked with “tulips from the martyr's blood” and Toronto, a city that is always screaming but where the author is a “ghost, anecdotal,” Mohammadi writes unflinchingly of the reality that faces them and others like them who straddle two worlds. But within this fierce collection there is also room for art, and for pleasure, and for words that invite us all with “gentle patterns of light against light against light.” Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi (they/them) is a queer, Iranian-born, Toronto-based poet, writer and translator. They are the winner of the 2021 Vallum Poetry Award and the author of nine chapbooks of poetry. The Book of Interruptions is their fifth poetry book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with poet Khashayar "Kess" Mohammadi about their new poetry collection, The Book of Interruptions. In The Book of Interruptions (Buckrider Books, 2025) Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi has brought together a collection of poems written with scalpel-like precision. Infused with “pre-emptive violence” these poems mark the intersection of war, immigration, sexuality and history, with lines often placed at the crossroads of Perso-Islamic and Western thought. Moving between an Iran that is marked with “tulips from the martyr's blood” and Toronto, a city that is always screaming but where the author is a “ghost, anecdotal,” Mohammadi writes unflinchingly of the reality that faces them and others like them who straddle two worlds. But within this fierce collection there is also room for art, and for pleasure, and for words that invite us all with “gentle patterns of light against light against light.” Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi (they/them) is a queer, Iranian-born, Toronto-based poet, writer and translator. They are the winner of the 2021 Vallum Poetry Award and the author of nine chapbooks of poetry. The Book of Interruptions is their fifth poetry book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/poetry
No BS Newshour Episode #403Who Paid for the Coat?OUTRAGEOUS! The Democrats' treasurer sneaked in for arraignment for embezzlement of an old woman. The old woman's family left out in the cold.Are there more stunts being employed to cover for the politically untouchable? Well, Traci Kornak's being touched now. Joe LeBlanc was the original whistleblower in this outrageous tragedy.Nursing Home Joe walks us through the cover up. He reported the abuse and was fired from his job.Attorney General Dana Nessel and her cronies bent over backwards to avoid him, not contact him or ask anybody for his cell phone number.NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
In this NBN episode, award-winning and celebrated author Farzana Doctor interviews Hollay Ghadery about her novel, The Unravelling of Ou (Palimpsest Press, 2026). Moving on is hard. Even harder when it's from a make-believe friend—someone, or in this instance, some thing—who's been your strongest source of support. On what should be one of the happiest days ever, the day her granddaughter is born, Minoo is faced with a terrible choice: make a clean break from her constant companion, a sock puppet named Ecology Paul, or lose her daughter and granddaughter, and maybe all of the people she loves. On an emotional drive home from the hospital, Ecology Paul shares the story of how Minoo got to this point, recalling Minoo's early teenage pregnancy in Iran, her exile to Canada, her questions about her sexuality, and how a ragtag sock puppet came to her when she desperately needed to be seen. Full of imagination, whimsy and heart, The Unravelling of Ou follows Minoo's struggles to justify the puppet's existence and untangle herself from her dependence on it, and reconnect with the people she loves. About Hollay Ghadery: Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, (Guernica Editions 2021) won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. She is the author of Rebellion Box (Radiant Press, 2023) and Widow Fantasies (Gordon Hill Press, 2024). She is a host on The New Books Network and HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM, and the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay here. The Unraveling of Ou, is her debut novel. About Farzana Doctor: Farzana Doctor is a writer, activist, and Registered Social Worker/Psychotherapist. Her ancestry is Indian, and she was born in Zambia while her family was based there for five years, before immigrating to Canada in 1971. Learn more here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, award-winning and celebrated author Farzana Doctor interviews Hollay Ghadery about her novel, The Unravelling of Ou (Palimpsest Press, 2026). Moving on is hard. Even harder when it's from a make-believe friend—someone, or in this instance, some thing—who's been your strongest source of support. On what should be one of the happiest days ever, the day her granddaughter is born, Minoo is faced with a terrible choice: make a clean break from her constant companion, a sock puppet named Ecology Paul, or lose her daughter and granddaughter, and maybe all of the people she loves. On an emotional drive home from the hospital, Ecology Paul shares the story of how Minoo got to this point, recalling Minoo's early teenage pregnancy in Iran, her exile to Canada, her questions about her sexuality, and how a ragtag sock puppet came to her when she desperately needed to be seen. Full of imagination, whimsy and heart, The Unravelling of Ou follows Minoo's struggles to justify the puppet's existence and untangle herself from her dependence on it, and reconnect with the people she loves. About Hollay Ghadery: Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, (Guernica Editions 2021) won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. She is the author of Rebellion Box (Radiant Press, 2023) and Widow Fantasies (Gordon Hill Press, 2024). She is a host on The New Books Network and HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM, and the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay here. The Unraveling of Ou, is her debut novel. About Farzana Doctor: Farzana Doctor is a writer, activist, and Registered Social Worker/Psychotherapist. Her ancestry is Indian, and she was born in Zambia while her family was based there for five years, before immigrating to Canada in 1971. Learn more here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Sunny Dhillon about his book, Hide & Sikh: Letters from a Life in Brown Skin (Wolsak & Wynn, 2025). In 2018, Sunny Dhillon resigned as a journalist with the Globe and Mail. His blog post announcing his departure went unexpectedly viral. It was a decision that had been long brewing and Dhillon posted the piece with the hope that it would lead to “meaningful reflection on the lack of diversity in Canadian journalism and the problems therein.” But he was not optimistic. In this sharply funny memoir, shaped as a series of letters to his daughter, Dhillon explains why he was not hopeful. From his earliest memories, his experience of being Canadian was shaped by race, and as a child he'd often found himself confused by what he should do when the fact he was “different” was raised. His first reaction was to hide – from his skin colour, from his native tongue and even from his name. Until he realized he didn't feel the need to hide anymore, that he didn't want to hide anymore. With warmth, honesty and lots of humour, Dhillon shares his journey so that his daughter will not have to struggle through the lessons he took too long to learn, so that she will know who she is and be proud. Sunny Dhillon is a former news reporter whose viral essay “Journalism While Brown and When to Walk Away” highlighted the significant challenges that journalists of colour can face. Sunny worked as a print reporter for ten years. He has also appeared on television and radio and has spoken at conferences. He is passionate about racial justice and continues to write on that theme. He holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of British Columbia. He and his young family now live in Ontario, where Sunny attends law school. This is his first book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Sunny Dhillon about his book, Hide & Sikh: Letters from a Life in Brown Skin (Wolsak & Wynn, 2025). In 2018, Sunny Dhillon resigned as a journalist with the Globe and Mail. His blog post announcing his departure went unexpectedly viral. It was a decision that had been long brewing and Dhillon posted the piece with the hope that it would lead to “meaningful reflection on the lack of diversity in Canadian journalism and the problems therein.” But he was not optimistic. In this sharply funny memoir, shaped as a series of letters to his daughter, Dhillon explains why he was not hopeful. From his earliest memories, his experience of being Canadian was shaped by race, and as a child he'd often found himself confused by what he should do when the fact he was “different” was raised. His first reaction was to hide – from his skin colour, from his native tongue and even from his name. Until he realized he didn't feel the need to hide anymore, that he didn't want to hide anymore. With warmth, honesty and lots of humour, Dhillon shares his journey so that his daughter will not have to struggle through the lessons he took too long to learn, so that she will know who she is and be proud. Sunny Dhillon is a former news reporter whose viral essay “Journalism While Brown and When to Walk Away” highlighted the significant challenges that journalists of colour can face. Sunny worked as a print reporter for ten years. He has also appeared on television and radio and has spoken at conferences. He is passionate about racial justice and continues to write on that theme. He holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of British Columbia. He and his young family now live in Ontario, where Sunny attends law school. This is his first book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Sunny Dhillon about his book, Hide & Sikh: Letters from a Life in Brown Skin (Wolsak & Wynn, 2025). In 2018, Sunny Dhillon resigned as a journalist with the Globe and Mail. His blog post announcing his departure went unexpectedly viral. It was a decision that had been long brewing and Dhillon posted the piece with the hope that it would lead to “meaningful reflection on the lack of diversity in Canadian journalism and the problems therein.” But he was not optimistic. In this sharply funny memoir, shaped as a series of letters to his daughter, Dhillon explains why he was not hopeful. From his earliest memories, his experience of being Canadian was shaped by race, and as a child he'd often found himself confused by what he should do when the fact he was “different” was raised. His first reaction was to hide – from his skin colour, from his native tongue and even from his name. Until he realized he didn't feel the need to hide anymore, that he didn't want to hide anymore. With warmth, honesty and lots of humour, Dhillon shares his journey so that his daughter will not have to struggle through the lessons he took too long to learn, so that she will know who she is and be proud. Sunny Dhillon is a former news reporter whose viral essay “Journalism While Brown and When to Walk Away” highlighted the significant challenges that journalists of colour can face. Sunny worked as a print reporter for ten years. He has also appeared on television and radio and has spoken at conferences. He is passionate about racial justice and continues to write on that theme. He holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of British Columbia. He and his young family now live in Ontario, where Sunny attends law school. This is his first book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with poet Margo LaPierre about her poetry collection, Ajar (Guernica Editions, 2025). The poems in Ajar navigate the physical and psychological dangers of womanhood through the flattening lens of mood disorder. Psychosis isn't the opposite of reality—it's another perceptual system. If neurotypical thought measures the world in centimetres, this collection measures it in inches, gallons, amperes. Ajar celebrates radical recovery from gendered violence and psychotic paradigm shifts, approaching madness through prismatic inquiry. As time converges within us, we find new ways to heal and grow. From the emergency room to the pharmacy to the fertility clinic to the dis/comfort of home and memory, this collection humanizes bipolar psychosis.Note: These poems depict suicidality and some of the violences that worsen the risk. In Canada and the US, the suicide crisis helpline is 988 and it's available 24/7. Margo LaPierre is a writer and freelance literary editor. With multi-genre work published in The Ex-Puritan, CV2, Room, PRISM, and Arc, among others, she has won national awards for her poetry, fiction, and editing. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. Ajar is her second poetry collection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with poet Margo LaPierre about her poetry collection, Ajar (Guernica Editions, 2025). The poems in Ajar navigate the physical and psychological dangers of womanhood through the flattening lens of mood disorder. Psychosis isn't the opposite of reality—it's another perceptual system. If neurotypical thought measures the world in centimetres, this collection measures it in inches, gallons, amperes. Ajar celebrates radical recovery from gendered violence and psychotic paradigm shifts, approaching madness through prismatic inquiry. As time converges within us, we find new ways to heal and grow. From the emergency room to the pharmacy to the fertility clinic to the dis/comfort of home and memory, this collection humanizes bipolar psychosis.Note: These poems depict suicidality and some of the violences that worsen the risk. In Canada and the US, the suicide crisis helpline is 988 and it's available 24/7. Margo LaPierre is a writer and freelance literary editor. With multi-genre work published in The Ex-Puritan, CV2, Room, PRISM, and Arc, among others, she has won national awards for her poetry, fiction, and editing. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. Ajar is her second poetry collection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/poetry
No BS Newshour Episode #402One Down, One to GoBREAKING: Traci Kornak, the former treasurer of the Michigan Democrat Party, member of Dana Nessel's Attorney General transition team, and a wine buddy to Democrats like Governor Gretchen Whitmer, has been charged with multiple felonies for abusing and stealing from a brain-damaged elderly woman, the late Rose Burd.Kornak was charged with two counts of embezzlement of a vulnerable adult and one count of false pretenses.→ AG Nessel, had every opportunity to stop Kornak. Instead, she aided and abetted the bilking and abuse of the old woman.Nessel, quite likely, will face impeachment charges.New legislation to protect the elderly is making its way through Capitol Hill.Jay DeBoyer, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, joins us.NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
Richard Lucas hosts a compelling discussion with celebrated British entrepreneur and author David Cleevely. In this insightful podcast, Richard and David dive into Cleevely's book, 'Serendipity: It Doesn't Happen by Accident,' exploring how environments can be engineered to foster luck. Richard guides the conversation as David explains the puzzle that inspired the book: why significant entrepreneurial ventures repeatedly emerge from seemingly chance encounters in hubs like Cambridge. They discuss the characteristics, systems, and culture—including the crucial role of values of generosity and kindness—that enhance the likelihood of serendipitous, high-impact collaborations. David Cleevely's book, 'Serendipity: It Doesn't Happen by Accident,' explores the idea that environments can be engineered to foster luck, leading to entrepreneurial success through serendipitous, high-impact collaborations. LinksHis book 'Serendipity: It Doesn't Happen by Accident” is available here and from all major booksellers,David Cleevely CBE FREng, FIET is the Chairman of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. He is the founder of telecoms consultancy Analysys (acquired by Datatec International in 2004). co-founded the web based antibody company Abcam (ABC.L) with Jonathan Milner and was Chairman until November 2009 which was acquired by Danaher for US$5.7 billion in 2023. He has co-founded several other companies and is Chairman of two of them..He has been active in promoting Cambridge. He was a prime mover behind Cambridge Network, co-founder of Cambridge Wireless, co-founder and Chairman of Cambridge Angels, Founding Director of the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge and Vice Chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Commission. Other policy work has included membership of the IET Communications Policy Panel, the Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board and the Enterprise Committee and the National Engineering Policy Group at the Royal Academy of Engineering. From 2001 to 2008, he was a member of the Ministry of Defence Board overseeing information systems and services (DES-ISS, formerly the Defence Communications Services Agency). In addition to Raspberry Pi, his charitable work includes the Cambridge Science Centre, which he helped set up and fund in 2013 and continues as Chair. Richard Lucas, the host of this NBN channel, is founder of CAMentrepreneurs—a network supporting entrepreneurship globally among Cambridge University Alumni and others through locally led chapters. CAMentrepreneurs - Peter Cowley legacy Books and articles mentioned in the podcast Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by James H. Fowler PhD (Author), Nicholas A. Christakis The Strength of Weak Ties Mark S. Granovetter Gov. Pritzker Commencement Address: Kindness is intelligence Cambridge Angels Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadert speaks with Kamloops, BC author Katie Welch about her novel, Ladder to Heaven (Wolsak & Wynn, 2025). In 2045 an earthquake ravages the Pacific Coast of North America and the world shifts. Suddenly people and animals can understand each other, while the chaos of climate change combines with the destruction of the earthquake in terrifying ways. Inland, where she should be safe, Del Samara finds her life spiralling out of control. Struggling with addiction and with her ranch in ashes around her, Del decides her family would be better off without her. Leaving her daughters behind, she retreats to her father's fishing cabin with her dog, Manx. When she emerges three years later, she finds the world since the earthquake has become a very different place and she begins a dangerous journey to Vancouver Island to find her family and, perhaps, find peace. Katie Welch lives in Kamloops and on Cortes Island, BC. Her debut novel, Mad Honey, was nominated for the 2023 OLA Evergreen Prize. She is a two-time alumnus of the Banff Centre and was a finalist for the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize. Find her online here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadert speaks with Kamloops, BC author Katie Welch about her novel, Ladder to Heaven (Wolsak & Wynn, 2025). In 2045 an earthquake ravages the Pacific Coast of North America and the world shifts. Suddenly people and animals can understand each other, while the chaos of climate change combines with the destruction of the earthquake in terrifying ways. Inland, where she should be safe, Del Samara finds her life spiralling out of control. Struggling with addiction and with her ranch in ashes around her, Del decides her family would be better off without her. Leaving her daughters behind, she retreats to her father's fishing cabin with her dog, Manx. When she emerges three years later, she finds the world since the earthquake has become a very different place and she begins a dangerous journey to Vancouver Island to find her family and, perhaps, find peace. Katie Welch lives in Kamloops and on Cortes Island, BC. Her debut novel, Mad Honey, was nominated for the 2023 OLA Evergreen Prize. She is a two-time alumnus of the Banff Centre and was a finalist for the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize. Find her online here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
No BS Newshour Episode #401Media: May Cause Heartache, Hysteria & NauseaMainstream News is NOT independent. (0:04) How the press, the politicians and the pollsters conspire to manipulate.Which paper goes down first - The Detroit Free Press or the Detroit News?(24:06) City Hall puts out a press release. They've fixed Detroit's Dirt scandal. How this is not true says the demo contractor Mr. XAnd then there are the good reporters. (46:09) Tresa Baldas (Free Press) on Karen McDonald's Crumbly Case scandal.(53:35) Ross Jones (WXYZ) and George Hunter (Detroit News) exposé on the ex-con Detroit Police commissioner.Social Media is not the new media. Look no further than (57:30) Don Lemon and (1:02:18) Benny Johnson. NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Bänoo Zan and Cy Strom about their anthology, Woman Life Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution (Guernica Editions, 2025). This international anthology marks a world-historical moment: the first ever feminist revolution. The slogan chanted by the demonstrators in Iran is Woman, Life, Freedom, and it encompasses hopes and ideals for all people everywhere. This anthology echoes that cry. The poems here might be reflections on the present moment, denunciations of injustice, examinations of the poet's own conscience, laments for the fallen, bitter curses, prayers, celebrations of life, and visions of a better future. Bänoo and Cy aim to raise awareness of the women's revolution in Iran and show the world that this cause is alive and will not be put down. About the editors: Bänoo Zan is a poet, translator, essayist, and poetry curator, with numerous published pieces and three books. Songs of Exile was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Letters to My Father was published in 2017. She is the founder of Shab-e She'r (Poetry Night), Canada's most diverse and brave poetry reading and open mic series (inception: 2012). Shab-e She'r bridges the gap between communities of poets from different ethnicities, nationalities, religions (or lack thereof), ages, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, poetic styles, voices, and visions. Bänoo calls herself a war correspondent in verse. Others describe her as a political, metaphysical, and spiritual poet. Cy Strom works as an editor. He holds MA and MPhil degrees in early modern European history and has published in academic and other areas, including the visual arts. He edits in different genres and sometimes languages, and has had a role in developing professional editorial standards and educational materials. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
No BS Newshour Episode #400Skanks, Skunks & ScumbagsWe are now the most listened to hour of news in Michigan.Why? High Impact. All Original.(13:18) What an Ash-Hole- Traci Kornak, the beleaguered and bedraggled former treasurer of the Michigan Democratic Party, keeps digging herself deeper.(20:22) Run for the Border- Issam Bazzi was swept up by ICE last July and deported back to Venezuela. Now DHS sources tell me Bazzi has hit on their radar again. (30:55) Kwame Accounting- Kilpatrick is long gone, but the Detroit Police Department still uses his accounting practices.(0:14) Detroit's Oldest Family Business is done- Dittrich Furs is closing its door. NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
No BS Newshour Episode #399It's Tuesday - They're Going Down(5:41) Traci Kornak, former treasurer of the Michigan Democratic Party, HAULED into probate court this week suspected of embezzling from a brain-damaged elderly woman.She's the 1st to go. AG Dana Nessel is NEXT.(0:28) Gov. Whitmer and Nessel knew about the allegations. AND they allowed her to continue as treasurer of the STATE Democratic Party.(22:32) MI Gubernatorial candidate, State Sen. Aric Nesbitt, commits to END Michigan's Rotten Nursing Home System.(26:48) He also vows to audit the state childcare systems and unemployment insurance, citing billions of dollars in alleged fraud.(45:43) PLUS- Why the United States needs to control Venezuela's oil. It's all about ChinaNBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
No BS Newshour Episode #398Nasty New Year(0:04) “It's a lawsuit!”An extra special present for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.(3:52) We're going all the way to the Supreme Court Dana.(7:03) Meet Phil, my pitbull lawyer.(26:47) The presser: Fake Mike Duggan saying what the real Mike Duggan is thinking on his way out of the Manoogian Mansion.NBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
No BS Newshour Episode #397Charged with Contempt!I always knew Dana Nessel was contemptible and now it's official.Attorney General Dana Nessel was held in contempt of the House of Representatives after she blew-off a subpoena compelling her to explain her role in the financial abuse of an elderly and incapacitated woman.The old woman was ripped off of thousands of dollars. Nessel didn't care. In fact, she covered for her friend.PLUS- We found Tommy Hitman Hearns. Buy our Made In Detroit merch hereNBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group
No BS Newshour Episode #396Missing: Hitman HearnsLegendary Detroit boxer Tommy ‘Hitman' Hearns lost his estate to the taxman. He is also missing.His daughter is demanding he be produced immediately. Mario Willis murdered Detroit firefighter Walt Harris in 2008 in an arson-for-profit scheme. Now he's trying to get out of prison. So why hasn't anyone wanted to talk to the prosecutor that put him behind bars? We do. That prosecutor, Bob Stevens, joins us today.Buy our Made In Detroit merch hereNBN on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshourNBN on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-bs-newshour-with-charlie-leduff/id1754976617NBN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qMLWg6goiLQCRom8QNndCLike NBN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeDuffCharlieFollow to NBN on Twitter : https://x.com/charlieleduff Sponsored by American Coney Island, Pinnacle Wealth Strategies, and XG Service Group