What would you do if there was a jellyfish in your eye? And what if it started multiplying, blocking your vision completely? That’s the premise of The Jellyfish, the latest graphic novel by the Montreal artist Boum. The Jellyfish is an allegory for learning to live with a degenerative condition and is based on Boum’s own experience with vision loss. It follows a young person named Odette as they navigate life, work and a budding romance … all while jellyfish start to cloud their vision. Boum tells Mattea about using sea creatures to represent vision loss and how losing an eye has changed the way they make art.

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The winner of the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is the Vancouver poet Jordan Redekop-Jones. Jordan’s winning poem, Mixed Girl as Cosmogonic Myth, was inspired by her experience of becoming a caretaker in her 20s in the midst of reconnecting with her cultures and finding her place in the world. It’s a dreamlike ode to her journey and her mother, who she calls “the strongest, most beautiful woman I know.” Jordan tells Mattea Roach about what draws her to writing, navigating her mother’s illness and what’s next for the emerging poet.

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“You’ve changed” isn’t necessarily something you want to hear … especially when you’re trying to keep a marriage alive. That’s the premise of Ian Williams’ new novel, You’ve Changed. The book follows a couple named Beckett and Princess who are dealing with their mid-life crises in some questionable ways. While Princess turns to plastic surgery, Beckett throws himself into his work and explores a surprising relationship with a man named Gluten. Yes, Gluten. As the couple change in opposite directions, their marriage starts to crumble around them. This week, Ian joins Mattea to talk about doing construction work as research, naming a character after a protein and how he feels about mid-life.

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Would you steal? Would you kill? In Megha Majumdar’s new novel, A Guardian and a Thief, a mother prepares to escape a city in the midst of climate collapse. She’ll do anything for her family … and she’s driven to desperation when their immigration documents are stolen just days before they're set to leave. But is the thief a monster? Or is he merely trying to help his own family? With survival on the line, what would you do to protect the people you love? Megha tells Mattea Roach about writing a fictionalized Kolkata, how the story was inspired by her own immigration journey and the challenge of holding onto your morals when everything falls apart.

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To be a good cult leader, you’ll need some natural charisma and a pathological desire for control … and according to Rob Benvie, it might also help if you're a bit of a buffoon. Rob explores this personality mix in his latest novel, The Damagers. The book follows a 15-year-old girl named Zina in 1950s America. After a tragic event, she becomes entangled in an isolated spiritual commune ... in other words, a cult. At the centre of the story is Zina’s own desire for power, which puts her in a complicated struggle with the cult's magnetic but foolish leader. This week, Rob joins Mattea Roach to talk about why cult stories resonate today and what it means to have a vision for the way we live together.

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Louise Penny is one of the biggest mystery novelists alive today … but it didn’t start out that way. Her latest novel, The Black Wolf, is the 20th in her bestselling Armand Gamache series. So how did Louise go from empty book events to packed concert halls? This week, Bookends brings you on-stage at Toronto’s historic Massey Hall. Joined by nearly 2000 of her fans, Louise told Mattea Roach about her long journey to becoming an author, why she’ll never tire of her characters and how pain has made her a better writer.

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Jane Austen is one of the most enduring novelists of all time. But what do we know about the woman behind the stories? To celebrate Austen’s 250th birthday, we’re revisiting Eleanor Wachtel’s conversation with Carol Shields about her 2001 biography, Jane Austen: A Life. Carol Shields herself was a writer and a lifelong Austen fan, and she talks about how Austen’s stories about marriage, money and family offer insight into who the novelist really was.

• Check out the rest of the Writers & Company archive: https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/writers-company

After releasing her breakout hit My Sister the Serial Killer in 2018, Oyinkan Braithwaite struggled to write under the pressure of high expectations. She worried about being a one-hit wonder … but her new novel, Cursed Daughters, proves otherwise. The book follows three generations of women from a family that is believed to be cursed, dooming them all to remain single forever. To make matters worse, one of the young women looks so much like her deceased aunt that her relatives think she's a reincarnation. It’s a story about family, legacy and how to live freely when your closest loved ones believe your fate is sealed. This week, Oyinkan tells Mattea Roach about how the novel came to be, why she writes complex dynamics between women and what it means to live and work as an artist.

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