16 Canadian writers wish Shelagh Rogers a final farewell to CBC Radio
Miriam Toews, Waubgeshig Rice, David A. Robertson and more share messages for The Next Chapter host
Gregory Scofield
Gregory Scofield says: "How can I express what you've given to Canadians and, in particular, to Canadian writers? I've known you to be a gentle voice that has led us through stories, that has made us sit with our truths and heartaches, with our own histories, both new and old. How can I personally express my gratitude for the space you've created for Indigenous writers? Our songs and stories, our histories and healing? I've sat across from you many times and I've sang. I've sang while you wore my story like a yoke of stars. May these stars and stories always keep you warm. May you walk into new dreams the way you have led us back to our own, back to our own stories, back to ourselves."
Gregory Scofield is a Red River Métis poet, writer, academic and activist. His poetry collections include Love Medicine and One Song and Witness, I Am. He's also the author of the memoir Thunder Through My Veins. In 2016, he received the Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize, a $25,000 award given to an accomplished mid-career poet.
Jen Sookfong Lee
Jen Sookfong Lee says: "It's been 15 years since you started on The Next Chapter and I think it's been 15 years since you first interviewed me. What I will miss most is the deep empathy you always had for the big topics I was trying to tackle in my writing. There is really no one I would rather talk to about books and the ways in which art and culture can connect us all.
"But what I will really miss the most is when I would tell a silly little joke on air and I would make you laugh, because you have the best, most infectious laugh in the whole world. You're the best. You have been the best on the air all this time and I will love you always."
Jen Sookfon Lee is a Vancouver-born novelist and broadcast personality. In 2009, she championed Brian Francis's novel Fruit on Canada Reads. She is also a former The Next Chapter columnist. Lee, along with poet Dina Del Bucchia, hosts the Can't Lit podcast, a monthly audio series about all things CanLit. She is also the author of the novel The Conjoined, the nonfiction book Gentleman of the Shade and the poetry collection The Shadow List.
David A. Robertson
David A. Robertson says: "I just wanted to congratulate you for 15 years as host of The Next Chapter. What a run. I got my first book published about 15 years ago, so you have been there with me literally my entire career. You've always been so supportive of me, as much as you've been supportive of so many writers and artists over the years. And over that time you've become not only my friend, but my family. I just wanted to say that I love you. Congratulations, and I can't wait to see what you do next."
David A. Robertson is a Swampy Cree writer who has published several books across a variety of genres, from pictures books to graphic novels to memoir and fiction. His most recent books are the novel The Theory of Crows, the Misewa Saga YA series, the picture book On the Trapline, which was illustrated by Julie Flett, and the memoir Black Water. His picture book When We Were Alone, which as also illustrated by Flett, won the Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature, illustrated books.
Zetta Elliott
Zetta Elliott says: "I just want to send you so much love and all the best for the next chapter of your career. Forty years is a long time. So many of us are going to miss hearing your voice. I just want to thank you because, as writers, we tend to focus on the words we put on the page. But sometimes our true voices come out when we're in dialogue with someone else. You have a unique gift for helping writers to be their authentic selves when they're on air.
Zetta Elliott is a Canadian American poet, playwright and author currently living in Chicago. She is the author of the popular middle-grade fantasy series Dragons in a Bag and of the poetry books Say Her Name, inspired by the #SayHerName campaign launched by the African American Policy Forum, and A Place Inside of Me, a longform poem of affirmation that won a 2021 Caldecott Honor Book award.
Lorna Crozier
Lorna Crozier says: "I was wishing this day was never going to come, the day you'd leave CBC. But I guess you have as much right to retire and get into new adventures as the rest of us. Nobody has done more for Canadian literature than you have, my friend. You are such an insightful reader and you know how to get books across to anyone in our vast country. I will miss you terribly and you will always be the interviewer I will ask to sit across from me, if I ever get the good fortune to be able to ask such a thing again. Best wishes my friend."
Lorna Crozier, who grew up in Saskatchewan and now lives in B.C., is one of Canada's most beloved and accomplished poets. Her poetry collections include The House the Spirit Builds, God of Shadows and What the Soul Doesn't Want. She is also the author of the memoir Through the Garden, which reflects on her life with her late partner, fellow poet Patrick Lane.
Daniel Heath Justice
Daniel Heath Justice says: "One of my favourite things about your interview style is how fully present you are in that experience and in that conversation. I think listeners can tell that when you laugh and you fill that space with so much warmth and generosity that you are genuinely having fun. And because of that, we're having fun too. I'm going to miss that. I'm going to miss hearing your laugh and having that fun with you over the airwaves every week. I know there's a lot of laughter yet to come and a lot of grand adventures on your horizon. So congratulations, and thanks for all that you've done for the writing and reading communities here in Canada."
Daniel Heath Justice is an American-born Canadian academic and citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He is a professor of First Nations and Indigenous Studies and English at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Badger and Why Indigenous Literatures Matter.
Sylvia Hamilton
Sylvia Hamilton says: "Shelagh, you have a voice and a heart for the ages. You love and adore people, you love and adore books. I love and adore you. With your wit and good humour, you charmed your way into my soul. Thank you."
Sylvia Hamilton is a poet, filmmaker and artist from Nova Scotia. Her poetry collections include And I Alone Escaped to Tell You and Tender.
Kathleen Winter
Kathleen Winter says: "I just want to say thanks for cultivating the Earth of Canadian literature, making readership grow for writers like me and for the writers that I heard of because you interviewed them with your candid, warm, funny, beautiful and deep conversations."
Kathleen Winter is a writer who was born in the U.K. and is now living in Montreal after many years in Newfoundland. She is best known for her debut novel Annabel, which was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor General's Literary Award, the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Amazon First Novel Award. Her other books include the memoir Boundless and the novel Lost in September.
Waubgeshig Rice
Waubgeshig Rice says: "I'm going to miss chatting with you on the air and listening to you interview people on The Next Chapter because you have an uncanny ability to make the microphones, the headphones and the whole studio just melt away thanks to your warmth and kindness. It really feels like I'm listening to you talk to people in a living room, because you have a profound ability just to make those connections for listeners and for your interview subjects. We'll miss you on the air, but we wish you all the best in your own next chapter."
Waubgeshig Rice is an Anishinaabe author and journalist originally from Wasauksing First Nation. He is the author of the short story collection Midnight Sweatlodge and the novels Legacy and Moon of the Crusted Snow . He is also a broadcaster and past host of CBC Radio's Up North. The sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow, titled Moon of the Turning Leaves, is slated for a fall 2023 release.
Ivan Coyote
Ivan Coyote says: "I'm really looking forward to seeing what you're going to do next. And I just want you to know that you're always welcome to come to the Yukon and I'll get a fire going or we'll get a campfire going outside or we'll get a fire going in the barrel stove. Maybe we'll make some hot dogs and sit around and tell stories. Best of luck to you."
For more than 25 years, Ivan Coyote has told their personal story in books and in live performances. The Yukon writer and author has written more than a dozen books, created four short films and released three albums combining storytelling with music, and are known for exploring gender identity and queer liberation in their writing. Their books include Tomboy Survival Guide, Rebent Sinner, Gender Failure, One in Every Crowd and the novel Bow Grip. Coyote won the 2020 Freedom to Read Award, in recognition of their body of work that examines class, gender identity and social justice.
Alexander MacLeod
Alexander MacLeod says: "I'm remembering a long trip we went on once. We were in a big metal car and we were going down a dirt road in Inverness County in Cape Breton. Lots of horror movie cliches were happening. There were scattered headlights and tail lights. Profound questions were being asked. Where the hell are we going? Do we know? All of our worries were unfounded and great happiness met us at the end. I hope the journey of your retirement ends the same way, with lots of adventure and lots of happiness.
"And to push a metaphor, I want to thank you for piloting us, driving us through, keeping us on the road, this big ship of Canadian literature. We all owe you so much. We're so grateful for all you've done for us. On behalf of my family, I want you to know that we'll always be waiting for you at the mailbox, and we'll always have something in a glass to make your day brighter and more enjoyable. Thank you so much for everything you've done for all of us. We love you."
Alexander MacLeod is a short story writer and academic from Cape Breton and raised in Windsor, Ont. MacLeod's debut short story collection Light Lifting was shortlisted for the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Commonwealth Prize. It won the Atlantic Book Award. In 2019, he won an O. Henry Award for his short story Lagomorph. He currently lives in Dartmouth, N.S.
Miriam Toews
Miriam Toews says: "I just want to tell you that I love you and I'll miss you. And I'll really miss our conversations. And would you please come by and visit me so that we can continue the conversation without microphones, but with friendship. All the best to you."
Miriam Toews is the author of seven novels, including Women Talking, Fight Night, All My Puny Sorrows, A Complicated Kindness and The Flying Troutmans. She has won the Governor General's Literary Award the Libris Award for Fiction Book of the Year, the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Writers' Trust Engel Findley Award. Her novel A Complicated Kindness won Canada Reads in 2006. Sarah Polley adapted Women Talking into a film, and Polley won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for it. Toews lives in Toronto.
Michael Crummey
Michael Crummey says: "I just wanted to say thank you to you for being so much a part of the lives of Canadian readers over the last 15 years, and beyond. I wanted to say thanks for being so much a part of the life of the books that I've managed to write. Talking to you about them has been one of the real pleasures for me, being a writer in this country. And I hope, I hope we still get to talk about them. All the best to you."
Michael Crummey is a poet and novelist from Newfoundland and Labrador. His books include the novels Sweetland, Galore and The Innocents, and the poetry collections Passengers and Little Dogs. Two of Crummey's novels have been shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction — Sweetland in 2014 and Galore in 2009. The Innocents was shortlisted for the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the 2019 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction.
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Guy Vanderhaeghe says: "When I heard of your retirement, it made me think of those people who have been in the public eye a great deal and had catch phrases attached to them. For instance, James Brown, known as the hardest working man in show business. Now I know what a hard worker you've always been, but for me, you've always been the woman with the best laughs in the book business. I hope you have many, many more big laughs in the future. And thank you from all writers and readers in Canada."
Guy Vanderhaeghe is a novelist, short story writer and playwright. His debut short story collection, Man Descending, published in 1982, earned him the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction and later Faber Prize in Britain. He would go on to win two more Governor General's Literary Awards: in 1996, for the novel The Englishman's Boy, and in 2015, for the short story collection Daddy Lenin and Other Stories.
Canisia Lubrin
Canisia Lubrin: "They said you were leaving The Next Chapter. I can hardly believe the sentence in my mouth, but here we are. You've been a constant companion in books on the radio. I'm trying to imagine new books coming into this Big Island without your effervescence, ease and beauty. You brought so many people into conversations about books. I cherished the two conversations we've had. I wish you the best retirement. Thank you for everything."
Canisia Lubrin is a writer, editor and teacher. Lubrin is the author of the poetry collections The Dyzgraphxst and Voodoo Hypothesis. Voodoo Hypothesis was longlisted for the Gerald Lambert Award, the Pat Lowther Award and was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Award. The Dyzgraphxst won the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature and was the Canadian winner for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize. In 2021, Lubrin was named a recipient of the 2021 Windham-Campbell Prize.
Sue Goyette
Sue Goyette says: "I wanted to thank you for all those invigorating conversations you've had over the years with writers and how many people you invited to the table and how you enlarged and invigorated that conversation to include everyone. I am so impressed by the space you created for us and for the energy, how you've energized all of us by just being you and asking the right questions.
"I also want to thank you for being such a beacon for me personally. I look to you and to your active listening and to the care you're giving to the future that lies before all of us. You inspire me and you give me courage. I know you're going to be doing amazing things in the future and I can't wait to see what they are. I hope, somehow and in some way, we get to talk again about the things that matter to us. I love you fiercely and I'm wishing you bon courage and great joy."
Sue Goyette is a poet who grew up in Quebec and currently lives in Halifax, where she teaches at Dalhousie University and is the city's poet laureate. Her books include the poetry collections The True Names of Birds, Undone, Outskirts and Ocean and the novel Lures. She won the 2008 CBC Poetry Prize for the titular poem of Outskirts.
