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Max Wallace

Authored on February 5, 2024

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books.

Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write.

For this episode, Red is joined by Max Wallace, the Canadian journalist, filmmaker, human rights activist, and best-selling author.

Max’s most recent work, After The Miracle: The Political Crusades of Helen Keller, offers a new perspective on an individual who remains an international icon nearly 150 years after her birth. But whereas previous biographers have concentrated on the sentimental story of Keller’s struggles as a deafblind and mute child, portraying her teacher, Annie Sullivan, as a miracle worker and so making Keller a secondary character in her own story, Max focuses on Keller’s achievements as an adult.

Join Max and Red as they discuss Helen Keller’s lifelong commitment to racial justice, socialism, and disability rights, as well as her love of movies and dirty jokes!

Leah Redmond Chang

Authored on January 22, 2024

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write.

For this episode, Red is joined by Leah Redmond Chang, a historian with a background in comparative literature and research.

Her latest book, Young Queens, is a fascinating and highly insightful historical biography of three Renaissance women exercising power in a world dominated by men. It tells the dramatic and intertwined stories of Catherine de Medici (Queen of France from 1547 to 1559), Elisabeth de Valois (Queen of Spain from 1559 to 1568) and Mary Queen of Scots (Queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567).

Fusing new archival research with rich narrative prose, the book also asks profoundly modern questions about women, gender and power.

Join Leah and Red as they explore what it meant to be a queen in Renaissance Europe’s real-life Game of Thrones.

Curtis LeBlanc

Authored on January 8, 2024

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books.

Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write.

For this episode, Red is joined by Canadian writer Curtis LeBlanc, who until recently has been best known for his poetry, but with the publication of his debut novel, Sunsetter, he’s finding a far wider audience. Set over a single weekend when the carnival comes to a post-industrial Canadian prairie town, the book is a mesmerizing blend of crime thriller and literary fiction.

Across its pages, Curtis unflinchingly peels back the layers to reveal a community in the clutches of small-town police corruption, designer drugs, and teen disillusionment. And yet, for all this, it’s a novel where hope refuses to lay down and die.

Join Curtis and Red as they discuss the lure of the carnival, teenage angst, and the natural beauty of the prairies.

My Life in Books airs Mondays at 1 p.m. Eastern on AMI-audio, or download the podcast from your favourite provider via this link:https://www.ami.ca/My-Life-Books/recent_episodes