20 Best Canadian Literature Podcasts of 2022

April 4, 2022

Are you wanting to learn more about canadian literature? Well you’ve come to the right place. This is a curated list of the best canadian literature podcasts of 2022.

We have selected these podcasts for a variety of reasons, but they are all well worth a listen. We tried to select a variety of podcasts across the spectrum from hosts with a wide breadth of experience.

Best Canadian Literature Podcasts 2022

With thanks to ListenNotes, Crunchbase, SemRush and Ahrefs for providing the data to create and rank these podcasts.

The SpokenWeb Podcast

  • Publisher: SpokenWeb
  • Total Episodes: 56

Stories about how literature sounds. SpokenWeb is a monthly podcast that shares stories from the audio archives of Canadian literary history. Drawing on Canadian literary archival recordings from across Canada, episodes are snapshots of Canadian literary history and contemporary responses to it, including interviews, panel discussions, lectures, readings, and audio essays.

Discover Library and Archives Canada

  • Publisher: Library and Archives Canada
  • Total Episodes: 72

The Discover Library and Archives Canada podcast is where Canadian history, literature and culture await you. Each month, we will showcase treasures from our vaults, guide you through our many services and introduce you to the people who acquire, safeguard and make known Canada’s documentary heritage.

Endnote

  • Publisher: Hart House Literary and Library Committee
  • Total Episodes: 33

Every other Friday, join Alexander Lynch, Sabryna Ekstein, Marta Anielska, Meixi Zhang, and the Hart House Literary and Library Committee (HHLLC) as they talk about the big ideas in literature with University of Toronto professors and Canadian authors, showcase emerging authors from around the Hart House community, and chat about the books they love. We also feature recordings from HHLLC panels and workshops. Whether you’re a casual reader or a devoted bibliophile, this is the podcast for you!

The Artsy Raven Podcast about Writing and Publishing with host JF Garrard

  • Publisher: JF Garrard
  • Total Episodes: 29

Writing a book can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. JF Garrard (writer, editor and publisher) interviews authors, editors, agents, publishers and other art industry professionals about what inspires them to create and what led to their success. Writers on the podcast will showcase their work by reading from their book. For more details about the Artsy Raven club visit: https://jfgarrard.com/artsyraven/ The Artsy Raven is on Feed Spot’s list of Top 60 Literature Podcasts & Top 10 Canadian Literature Podcasts on the web.

Essays and Literary Studies by Stephen Leacock (1869 – 1944)

  • Publisher: LibriVox
  • Total Episodes: 18

A collection of wry looks at literature, education, and other social phenomena by Canadian humourist and economics professor, Stephen Leacock. (Summary by TriciaG)

MacroMicroCosm Literary Reviews

  • Publisher: macromicrocosm lit journal
  • Total Episodes: 27

Reviews of novels, poetry, non-fiction & graphic novels with a distinctly geek-driven Canadian focus. The vocal version of MacroMicroCosm Literary & Art Journal (ISSN 2368-979/X) features articles and reviews, discussions, author interviews and the philosophy of literature.We tend to highlight sci-fi, spec fic & magic realism, and love poetry for its’ experimentalism and edge.

Jesuits in North America in the 17th Century, The by Francis Parkman, Jr. (1823 – 1893)

  • Publisher: LibriVox
  • Total Episodes: 80

Parkman has been hailed as one of America’s first great historians and as a master of narrative history. Numerous translations have spread the books around the world. The American writer and literary critic Edmund Wilson (1895-1972) in his book “O Canada” (1965), described Parkman’s France and England in North America in these terms: “The clarity, the momentum and the color of the first volumes of Parkman’s narrative are among the most brilliant achievements of the writing of history as an art.” Parkman’s biases, particularly his attitudes about nationality, race, and especially Native Americans, has generated criticism. The Canadian historian W. J. Eccles harshly criticized what he perceived as Parkman’s bias against France and Roman Catholic policies, as well as what he considered Parkman’s misuse of French language sources. However, Parkman’s most severe detractor was the American historian Francis Jennings, an outspoken and controversial critic of the European colonization of North America, who went so far as to characterize Parkman’s work as “fiction” and Parkman himself as a “liar”. Unlike Jennings and Eccles, many modern historians have found much to praise in Parkman’s work even while recognizing his limitations. Calling Jennings’ critique “vitriolic and unfair,” the historian Robert S. Allen has said that Parkman’s history of France and England in North America “remains a rich mixture of history and literature which few contemporary scholars can hope to emulate”. The historian Michael N. McConnell, while acknowledging the historical errors and racial prejudice in Parkman’s book The Conspiracy of Pontiac, has said: “…it would be easy to dismiss Pontiac as a curious perhaps embarrassing artifact of another time and place. Yet Parkman’s work represents a pioneering effort; in several ways he anticipated the kind of frontier history now taken for granted…. Parkman’s masterful and evocative use of language remains his most enduring and instructive legacy.” (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline) Part 1: Pioneers of France in the New World Part 2: The Jesuits in North America in the 17th Century Part 4: The Old Régime in Canada Part 5: Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV Part 6: Montcalm and Wolfe Part 7: A Half Century of Conflict

Humour of the North by Various and Lawrence J. Burpee (1873 – 1946)

  • Publisher: LibriVox
  • Total Episodes: 18

Some day an enterprising editor may find time to glean from the whole field of Canadian literature a representative collection of wit and humour. . . . The present little collection obviously makes no such ambitious claim. It embraces, however, what are believed to be representative examples of the work of some of our better-known writers, many of which will no doubt be quite familiar to Canadian readers, but perhaps none the less welcome on that account. (Summary from the Introduction)

Hi from Canada

  • Publisher: Victoria Butenko, Ben Rabishaw, Daniel Davicken-Kalmar
  • Total Episodes: 2

A fun podcast for English learners by Victoria, a non-native speaker, and her Canadian friends, Ben and Dan, who are all certified English teachers. Each episode we discuss a new topic and share some useful words and phrases. Learn about Canadian culture, listen how we talk about everything from literature to raccoons and improve your English listening and fluency. This is not just a language podcast – it is a real talk to motivate you to speak English more often! Follow us on instagram.com/hifromcanadapodcast to find more fun and useful materials! Music by joshstackhouse.com

Afternoon in July, An by Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon (1829 – 1879)

  • Publisher: LibriVox
  • Total Episodes: 28

LibriVox volunteers bring you 14 recordings of An Afternoon in July by Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for July 7, 2013.Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon, born Rosanna Eleanor Mullins, was a Canadian writer and poet. She was “one of the first English-Canadian writers to depict French Canada in a way that earned the praise of, and resulted in her novels being read by, both anglophone and francophone Canadians.”Leprohon’s novels were popular in both English and French Canada in the late 19th-century, and were still being reprinted in French in the mid-1920s. They gradually went out of fashion in the early 20th-century, as literary styles changed.”Since 1970, however,”says the Dictionary of Literary Biography, “the life and works of Rosanna Eleanor Mullins Leprohon have been frequently noted and increasingly praised by critics and scholars of both English-and French-Canadian literature, and new editions of her works have been published.” (Summary by Wikipedia)

Train Dogs, The by E. Pauline Johnson (1861 – 1913)

  • Publisher: LibriVox
  • Total Episodes: 36

LibriVox volunteers bring you 18 recordings of The Train Dogs by E. Pauline Johnson. This was the Weekly Poetry project for February 6th, 2011.Emily Pauline Johnson (Mohawk: Tekahionwake –pronounced: dageh-eeon-wageh, literally: ‘double-life’)(10 March 1861 – 7 March 1913), commonly known as E. Pauline Johnson or just Pauline Johnson, was a Canadian writer and performer popular in the late 19th century. Johnson was notable for her poems and performances that celebrated her First Nations heritage; she also had half English ancestry. One such poem is the frequently anthologized “The Song My Paddle Sings”. Her poetry was published in Canada, the United States and Great Britain. Johnson was one of a generation of widely read writers who began to define a Canadian literature.

Podcast – writereads

  • Publisher:
  • Total Episodes: 33

A Canadian book club podcast that will change the world of literature forever

Laugh and Learn with Ethan and Jordan

  • Publisher: Jordan Moore and Ethan Gillingham
  • Total Episodes: 2

Laugh and Learn features two elementary school teachers from rural Manitoba. Whether it’s digging deep into some Canadian history, reviewing children’s literature or debating something else in the education world, the only thing we promise you in each episode is a good time.

Cry From An Indian Wife, A by E. Pauline Johnson (1861 – 1913)

  • Publisher: LibriVox
  • Total Episodes: 26

LibriVox volunteers bring you 13 recordings of A Cry From an Indian Wife by E. Pauline Johnson,. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for January 29, 2012.In 1892 the opportunity of a lifetime came to this young versifier, when Frank Yeigh, the president of the Young Liberals’ Club, of Toronto, conceived the idea of having an evening of Canadian literature, at which all available Canadian authors should be guests and read from their own works.Among the authors present on this occasion was Pauline Johnson, who contributed to the programme one of her compositions, entitled “A Cry from an Indian Wife”; and when she recited without text this much-discussed poem, which shows the Indian’s side of the North-West Rebellion, she was greeted with tremendous applause from an audience which represented the best of Toronto’s art, literature and culture. She was the only one on the programme who received an encore, and to this she replied with one of her favourite canoeing poems.The following morning the entire press of Toronto asked why this young writer was not on the platform as a professional reader; while two of the dailies even contained editorials on the subject, inquiring why she had never published a volume of her poems, and insisted so strongly that the public should hear more of her, that Mr. Frank Yeigh arranged for her to give an entire evening in Association Hall within two weeks from the date of her first appearance. It was for this first recital that she wrote the poem by which she is best known, “The Song my Paddle Sings.”( Summary from the Biographical Sketch included in Flint And Feather, collected verse by E. Pauline Johnson )

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock (1869 – 1944)

  • Publisher: LibriVox
  • Total Episodes: 26

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is a sequence of stories by Stephen Leacock, first published in 1912. It is generally considered to be one of the most enduring classics of Canadian humorous literature. The fictional setting for these stories is Mariposa, a small town on the shore of Lake Wissanotti. Although drawn from his experiences in Orillia, Ontario, Leacock writes in the introduction:“Mariposa is not a real town. On the contrary, it is about seventy or eighty of them. You may find them all the way from Lake Superior to the sea, with the same square streets and the same maple trees and the same churches and hotels.”This work has remained popular for its universal appeal. Many of the characters, though modelled on townspeople of Orillia, are small town archetypes. Their shortcomings and weaknesses are presented in a humorous but affectionate way. Often, the narrator greatly exaggerates the importance of the events in Mariposa compared to the rest of the world. For example, when there is a country-wide election, “the town of Mariposa, was, of course, the storm centre and focus point of the whole turmoil.” (Summary from Wikipedia)

A Puta da Leitura: Book Reviews

  • Publisher: Rádio Antecâmara / Julia Albani
  • Total Episodes: 1

A PUTA DA LEITURA. Books, Talks, Radio and Drinks. Concerned with publishing in architecture and curious about diverse perspectives taking shape of a book, a magazine or a newspaper, A PUTA DA LEITURA emerges as a pop-up book store, organised by Antecâmara Radio and Gallery, and curated by Julia Albani. A PUTA DA LEITURA: BOOK REVIEWS is a podcast of audio book reviews, that were produced for and discussed during the TALKS. Julia Albani is Lisbon-based curator, critic and communication strategist, specialized in inspiring and facilitating exchange between individuals and institutions within the fields of humanizing architecture and urbanism. She has studied Art and Architectural History, Philosophy and Literature in Dresden, Bologna, Barcelona and Berlin. She has been Managing Director at the Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel (2007-2009), Co-Curator of the Portuguese representation at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2010, Head of the curatorial department at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale (2009-2012), and was Co-Director of BUREAU N in Berlin, Basel and Lisbon (2012-2016). In 2016, she joined the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) as Associate Director, Communications, and, since September 2018, leads the CCA’s international relations.

King Arthur and His Knights by Maude L. Radford

  • Publisher: Loyal Books
  • Total Episodes: 21

Published in 1903, King Arthur and His Knights by Maude L. Radford is an easy to read version of the Arthurian legends, made simple and interesting for children. Maude Lavinia Radford Warren was a Canadian born American who taught literature and composition at the University of Chicago between 1893-1907. Following the success of some of her books, she left teaching to take up writing as a full time career. She also served as a war correspondent for the New York Times magazine during WWI and contributed several remarkable features on the role of women in the conflict. Some of the books she wrote for adults like The White Flame of France are non-fiction accounts of her wartime experiences in Europe. Some of her other novels like Barbara’s Marriages deal with social issues of the day. The book begins with the traditional childhood invocation so beloved of children all over the world, “Once upon a time…” and opens with the miraculous incident through which young Arthur realizes that he is the heir to the throne and the rightful owner of the fabulous sword, Excalibur. The rest of the chapters deal with several well known stories connected with the legend of Camelot. How each one of the famous Knights of the Round Table arrives at Camelot, Arthur’s marriage to Guinevere, the quest for the Holy Grail and finally, Arthur’s poignant death at the hands of the evil Sir Mordred on the lake isle of Avalon and the final return of Excalibur to the depths of the lake are all dramatically presented. King Arthur and His Knights is indeed a captivating read for children and makes a great read-aloud book for bedtime. For older children, it may perhaps spur them on to further research into this blend of fact and fiction, legend and myth, history and fable. The charming illustrations by Walter J. Enright add to the book’s appeal for children. Maude L Radford wrote several other books for young readers, among them Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Mother Hubbard’s Wonderful Cupboard, Mother Goose and Her Friends, Peter-Peter, Adventures in the Old Woman’s Shoe and many more, making her one of the best loved writers of children’s books in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Though most of her works are forgotten today, her books are sure to capture childhood imagination and are told in a simple, easy to grasp style.

The Artis with Ivy Reiss

  • Publisher: ThatChannel Studios
  • Total Episodes: 2

Ivy Reiss is the founding publisher and editor-in-chief of The Artis magazine and host and producer of the new show, The Artis with Ivy Reiss, which interviews 905 & GTA artists, hosts, and personalities on compelling topics related to art & culture.

The Artis is the only Art & Culture magazine focused on the 905 area code and we are also the only ones with a unique focus on the 45+ age demographic.
The works published in The Artis is unique because those published with us have one thing in common: A lifelong passion for their art.
Unshakable dedication and passion often produce one result: quality.
The Artis unites the written word with visuals and illustrates that art has something for everyone.
Art and literature are a testament to our society’s cultural voice; the 905 area code is one of the most open, diverse, and unique places in Canada and the world.
We at The Artis magazine are bringing the 905 to the GTA and beyond because we know what the greater art scene is missing.
The Artis publishes poetry, prose, essays, opinion-editorials, original visual art, artist profile interviews, and more from both established and emerging Canadian artists.

The Big Idea

  • Publisher: RTHK.HK
  • Total Episodes: 170

Our presenters Douglas Kerr, Vanessa Collingridge and guests explore the history, meaning and significance of ideas in contemporary society. ********************************************************************************* The whole series of the Big idea is available in our podcast station   Podcast: Weekly update and available after its broadcast.  ********************************************************************************* Douglas Kerr Douglas Kerr is Professor in the School of English at the University of Hong Kong, where he teaches courses in literature and rhetoric. He has lived in Hong Kong since 1979. He was born and brought up in Scotland, but went to Cambridge University in 1969 to read Modern Languages and English, and then moved on to the University of Warwick, where he studied English and French literary responses to the First World War, leaving with a PhD in Comparative Literature. During this time, a penurious year working in the French National Library in Paris gave him a taste for living some distance from home. He satisfied this taste by moving to Hong Kong, and has been here ever since. A continuing scholarly interest in the literature of the Great War eventually produced a book on the English war poet Wilfred Owen, and this was published by Oxford University Press in 1993. This was followed by George Orwell, published by Northcote House in their Writers and their Work series. Living first in colonial and then in postcolonial Hong Kong, it is no surprise that he became deeply interested in the way Asia (or the East, or the Orient) was experienced by foreigners, and this became the subject of his next book, Eastern Figures: Orient and Empire in British Writing, published by Hong Kong University Press in 2008. Like many others, Douglas had first encountered the Sherlock Holmes stories as a child, but it was a lot later that he began working on their author, Arthur Conan Doyle. Though he is best known for his detective fiction, Conan Doyle was a prolific writer in all sorts of genres and subjects, and an important figure in the cultural history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Douglas's book Conan Doyle: Writing, Profession and Practice, to be published by Oxford University Press in 2013, is a “cultural biography” of Conan Doyle and a study of all his writing. Douglas is a regular book reviewer for the South China Morning Post, and was on the Board of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival for five years; he still acts as an Advisor to the Festival. Though Hong Kong is a small place and he has been a resident here for more than thirty years, like other professors he still has a tendency to get lost. Vanessa Collingridge Vanessa graduated from Oxford University in 1990 with a first class honours degree in Geography and started working in television, quickly moving into the field of science, environment and history which remain her passion both on and off screen. Since then, she has been a regular face on all the major UK TV channels (BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5), along with Discovery and The Learning Channel (USA) and The History Channel (worldwide). In Spring 2007, she took over the chair of the long-running weekly series Making History, the flagship history series for BBC Radio 4. Her 4x1hr documentary series, Captain Cook – Obsession and Discovery (2007-8) based on her best-selling book, has now won five major international awards including a Canadian “Gemini” (“Oscar”) for Best History Programme, Australia’s prestigious National Culture Award and the Sydney Morning Herald Readers’ Award for Best History Programme. The series has so far been screened in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, North & South America, North Africa and most of Europe. A former columnist for the Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman and BBC History magazine, she writes a monthly column for BBC Who Do You Think You Are magazine along with features for the national newspapers, particularly the Daily Mail, Scotsman and Sunday Herald. A reviewer for The Literary Review, her own books include Captain Cook (2002), Boudica (2005) and The Story of Australia (2008) plus multiple chapters for Thames & Hudson’s Seventy Greatest Journeys in History and The Greatest Explorers in History (2010). Vanessa is currently researching her PhD on the history of cartography of the Great Southern Continent (Antarctica), based at Glasgow University and Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute. She lectures on science, history, geography, presentation skills and the media across the UK, including at Cambridge, Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, the RGS and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. She is a Fellow of the RGS and RSGS and co-founder & host of Glasgow’s Café Scientifique to stimulate debate between the scientific community and the general public. She is a regular speaker at Book Festivals including Edinburgh International Book Festival, Cheltenham and Christchurch (New Zealand). She is director of her own production company, Monster Media Productions, which makes radio and television programmes for broadcast and corporate clients; the company also provides a range of training for media and presentation skills. She moved to Hong Kong in November 2010 with her husband and four young sons from where she continues to write and broadcast, and research her PhD.

word

  • Publisher: word
  • Total Episodes: 3

Word is a project that focuses on race in Canada. The podcast features range from current topics to invited guests sharing their own experiences. Word is recorded on a semi-regular basis in Montreal, QC, Brampton, ON, and Brooklyn, NY. Find us also on iTunes! Jessica Hundal Jessica was born to Punjabi immigrant parents and was primarily raised in Brampton, Ontario. She is currently completing her B.A. in Philosophy, Canadian Studies and Religion at McGill University. Camille Baker Camille was born to French and American parents in the US and grew up in Jamestown, Rhode Island, before moving to Quebec at 17. She recently graduated from McGill University with a B.A. in Asian Religions and English Literature.

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