Writing the Coast: BC and Yukon Book Prizes Podcast
Writing the Coast: BC & Yukon Book Prizes podcast
222 episodes
1 week ago
ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
In this episode, host Megan Cole talks to Danny Ramadan. Danny's memoir, Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir, was a finalist for the 2025 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize. In their conversation, Danny talks about truth in memoir. He also talks about writing memoir as art and writing yourself as a character in your own memoir.
For more about Crooked Teeth: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/crooked-teeth/
To view the 2025 BC and Yukon Book Prizes shortlists: bcyukonbookprizes.com/2025/04/10/bc-…sts-announced/
ABOUT DANNY RAMADAN:
Danny Ramadan (he/him) is a Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker, and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, was longlisted for Canada Reads and named a Best Book of the Year by The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. His second novel, The Foghorn Echoes, won a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction and was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Vancouver Book Award. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and currently lives in Vancouver with his husband.
ABOUT MEGAN COLE:
Megan Cole the Interim Executive Director for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com
ABOUT THE PODCAST:
Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the traditional territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.
Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.
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ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
In this episode, host Megan Cole talks to Danny Ramadan. Danny's memoir, Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir, was a finalist for the 2025 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize. In their conversation, Danny talks about truth in memoir. He also talks about writing memoir as art and writing yourself as a character in your own memoir.
For more about Crooked Teeth: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/crooked-teeth/
To view the 2025 BC and Yukon Book Prizes shortlists: bcyukonbookprizes.com/2025/04/10/bc-…sts-announced/
ABOUT DANNY RAMADAN:
Danny Ramadan (he/him) is a Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker, and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, was longlisted for Canada Reads and named a Best Book of the Year by The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. His second novel, The Foghorn Echoes, won a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction and was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Vancouver Book Award. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and currently lives in Vancouver with his husband.
ABOUT MEGAN COLE:
Megan Cole the Interim Executive Director for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com
ABOUT THE PODCAST:
Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the traditional territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.
Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.
S7 E7: Kayla Czaga talks about how she uses objects as portals in her poems
Writing the Coast: BC and Yukon Book Prizes Podcast
31 minutes 1 second
3 months ago
S7 E7: Kayla Czaga talks about how she uses objects as portals in her poems
ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
In this episode, host Megan Cole talks to Kayla Czaga. Kayal is the author of Midway. Midway is a finalist for the 2025 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. In this epiosde, Kayla talks about the challenges of writing grief poems, and the squishiness of time.
To find out more about Midway visit: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/midway/
To view the 2025 BC and Yukon Book Prizes shortlists: bcyukonbookprizes.com/2025/04/10/bc-…sts-announced/
ABOUT KAYLA CZAGA:
Kayla Czaga is the author of two previous poetry collections—For Your Safety Please Hold On (Nightwood Editions, 2014), and Dunk Tank (House of Anansi, 2019). Her work has been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for poetry and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Frequently anthologized in the Best Canadian Poetry in English series, her writing also appears in The Walrus, Grain, Event, The Fiddlehead, and elsewhere. She lives with her wife on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen people, the Songhees and Esquimalt nations.
Publisher's Website
ABOUT MEGAN COLE:
Megan Cole the Interim Executive Director for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com
ABOUT THE PODCAST:
Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the traditional territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.
Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.
Writing the Coast: BC and Yukon Book Prizes Podcast
ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
In this episode, host Megan Cole talks to Danny Ramadan. Danny's memoir, Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir, was a finalist for the 2025 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize. In their conversation, Danny talks about truth in memoir. He also talks about writing memoir as art and writing yourself as a character in your own memoir.
For more about Crooked Teeth: https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/project/crooked-teeth/
To view the 2025 BC and Yukon Book Prizes shortlists: bcyukonbookprizes.com/2025/04/10/bc-…sts-announced/
ABOUT DANNY RAMADAN:
Danny Ramadan (he/him) is a Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker, and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, was longlisted for Canada Reads and named a Best Book of the Year by The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. His second novel, The Foghorn Echoes, won a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction and was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Vancouver Book Award. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and currently lives in Vancouver with his husband.
ABOUT MEGAN COLE:
Megan Cole the Interim Executive Director for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com
ABOUT THE PODCAST:
Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the traditional territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen.
Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.
