If you could ask your favourite author one question, what would it be? If that author is Adrian Tomine, your question might be answered in his latest book, Q&A. The cartoonist talks to Mattea Roach about what he’s learned from his readers and why you might want to think twice about becoming a professional cartoonist.

This episode features highlights from interviews with Teresa Wong, Casey McQuiston, Eric Chacour, Jenny Heijun Wills, and Matt Haig.

Music featured in this episode: "Rainy Days and Mondays" written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, performed by Carpenters, from the 1971 self-titled album Carpenters, produced by Jack Daugherty.

This week on Bookends, we revisit Eleanor Wachtel's conversation with Samantha Harvey, the winner of the 2024 Booker Prize. They spoke on Writers & Company in 2015 about Samantha's novel Dear Thief, which was inspired by a Leonard Cohen song. Samantha also explores her interest in themes of aging, why she writes about the unfamiliar, and infusing her work with philosophical questions.

Bryan talks to Mattea about the legacy of the hit comic book series, the inspiration behind some of his most iconic characters, and his nostalgia for Toronto in the early aughts.

The bestselling Maid mystery series has a new festive novella, and Nita Prose joins Mattea Roach onstage for the first Bookends live show.

Charles Burns's latest graphic novel, Final Cut, revolves around a group of teens in the 1970s and draws on his favourite sci-fi and horror movies. Charles joins Mattea Roach to talk about his evolution as an artist and how Final Cut was inspired by his own youth.

The Canadian author's new novel, All You Can Kill, opens with the narrator floating through the sky and landing in an erotic wellness retreat --- and it only gets stranger from there. Pasha speaks with Mattea Roach about the nuances of writing about identity and the joy of a story with no rules.

The Canadian graphic novelist talks with Mattea Roach about life with their late partner, who had an assisted death, and using art to confront grief in Something, Not Nothing