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Love & Defiance Podcast

love and defiance

This is the Humber School for Writers Love & Defiance podcast. I’m David Bezmozgis, creative director of the Humber School for Writers. The Love & Defiance podcast features Humber students and graduates who’ve lived interesting or extraordinary lives and who have brought those experiences into their writing. As for the podcast title, Love & Defiance, it refers to the twin motivations behind writing or creating art, probably at any time in history but certainly today. Love for the subject matter, for the act of putting words together in a true and pleasing way, for books in general and what they’ve given us and also the defiance to persevere in the face of failure, rejection and a sense of being drowned out by the noise of the world. 

Sat, 17 Jun 2023

Season 4 Episode 4 - Sumaiya Matin

In today’s episode I’ll be speaking with Sumaya Matin who worked on her memoir with Shyam Selvadurai. Titled The Shaytan Bride, it was published in 2021 by Dundurn Press and it is an account of Sumaiya’s immigration to Canada from Bangladesh as a young girl, her attempts to reconcile her Muslim faith with secular Canadian society and the patriarchal strictures placed on Muslim girls and women from within their own community which culminates, for Sumaiya, in an attempted forced marriage.

This season of Love and Defiance is written and produced by David Bezmozgis, and produced and edited by Evan Gravelle.

Thanks for listening. We’ll be back next year with more students and more remarkable stories from the Humber School for Writers.

Sat, 10 Jun 2023

Season 4 Episode 3 - Craig Shreve

In this episode, I speak with Craig Shreve about his novel The African Samurai, a fictionalized account of the tragic and heroic life of Yasuke, an African slave and warrior who became the first non-Japanese samurai.

This season of Love and Defiance is written and produced by David Bezmozgis, and produced and edited by Evan Gravelle.

Sat, 03 Jun 2023

Season 4 Episode 2 - Shivani Howe

In this episode I speak with Shivani Howe about her novel-in-progress, Land’s Breath. Set at a yoga retreat in the interior of British Columbia, Land’s Breath is a story informed by what Shivani describes as chakra psychology and yoga ecology.

This season of Love and Defiance is written and produced by David Bezmozgis, and produced and edited by Evan Gravelle.

Sat, 27 May 2023

Season 4 Episode 1 - Live at The Black Box Sessions

Our first episode of Season 4 comes from conversations at the Black Box Sessions at the Toronto International Festival of Authors with students from the Humber School for Writers. Our first guest is Kim Echlin. Kim's novels include Elephant Winter, and Dagmar's Daughter. Our second guest is Vicky Chen who has published a book of nonfiction and three plays. We finish off with Arzu Yildiz, a writer and journalist from Turkey. 

This season of Love and Defiance is written and produced by David Bezmozgis, and produced and edited by Evan Gravelle.

Sat, 04 Jun 2022 00:00:11 +0000

Season 3 Episode 3 – Aaron Goodman

Aaron Goodman discusses his novel inspired by his journey through abandonment, teenage exploration, and growth.

Sat, 28 May 2022 00:00:10 +0000

Season 3 Episode 2 – Arnab Majumdar

Arnab Majumdar's book explores his early childhood experiences of living with a parent battling a mental health condition, familial dynamics, and the lingering effects.

Sat, 21 May 2022 00:00:56 +0000

Season 3 Episode 1 – Naomi Yano

David Bezmozgis interviews Naomi Yano at the Black Box Session at the Toronto International Festival of Authors as she discusses loss, betrayal, healing, and writing.

Sat, 26 Jun 2021

Season 2 Episode 4 - Aaron Berhane

Aaron Berhane talks about founding the first independent newspaper in Eritrea, and how he survived when a dictatorship came for him.

Sat, 19 Jun 2021

Season 2 Episode 3 - Onder Deligosz

Onder Deligosz talks about escaping a military coup in Turkey, and how, even in exile, he's using writing to give a voice to his country.

Sat, 12 Jun 2021

Season 2 Episode 2 - Nina Levitt

On this episode of Love and Defiance, we talk with Nina Levitt about sexuality, espionage, and the women who used secrecy to survive the world and win a war.

Sat, 05 Jun 2021

Season 2 Episode 1 - Gillian Grant

Gillian Grant talks about surviving cancer with the support of her family, the help of Western medicine, and the unexpected generosity and grace of Indigenous healers.

Sat, 29 May 2021

Season 1 Bonus Episode - Gabriel Munro

David Bezmozgis speaks with Gabriel Munro, editor and producer of Love & Defiance, and a student in the Humber Broadcasting-Radio program, about podcasting, audio storytelling and his personal connection to writing.

Sat, 22 May 2021

Season 1 Episode 4 - David Albertyn

David Albertyn talks about using personal experience to find his voice, and how to prepare for a new kind of challenge – success. 

Sat, 15 May 2021

Season 1 Episode 3 - Tendisai Cromwell

Tendisai Cromwell explores how to write about faith, dual identities, and where to draw the line between piousness and piety.

Sat, 08 May 2021

Season 1 Episode 2 - Colin Buchanan

Colin Buchanan talks about his novel which takes us from personal heartbreak and institutionalization into the hidden heart of the deep South.

Sat, 01 May 2021

Season 1 Episode 1 - Jillian Stirk

David Bezmozgis speaks with Jillian Stirk about her experience as a young diplomat in Warsaw during the Solidarity movement and how the letters she wrote home to her parents formed the basis of her novel, Small Ironies.

About David Bezmozgis

David Mezmozgis

David Bezmozgis, a writer and filmmaker, is the author of Natasha and Other StoriesThe Free WorldThe Betrayers and Immigrant City. His writing has appeared in many publications, including The New YorkerHarper’sZoetrope All-Story, and Best American Short Stories. He has been nominated three times for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, twice for the Governor General’s Literary Award and has received the Amazon.ca First Novel Award among other prizes. In 2010, he was one of The New Yorker’s 20 Under 40. David has written and directed two feature films, Victoria Day and Natasha, each nominated in the writing category at the Canadian Screen Awards. He was on the writing staff for the fifth and final season of the television series Orphan Black.