Join me and Hannah Pittard, author of 5 Books and the forthcoming, IF YOU LOVE IT, LET IT KILL YOU (July 2025),  as We discuss 10 books—5 each —which are Lean and Mean and all written by Women! I had a lotta fun with this interview, and I hope you will too.

”Funny Books About Sad People:” Emily Austin joins us again to kick off season 2 and to chat about a buncha books. Together we chose the theme “Funny Books About Sad People,” and our conversation went from there to chatting about mental health, grief, having access to certain types of humour that non-queer folk can’t have, Frog & Toad, Burt & Ernie and much more!

Joini my conversation with Minda Honey, author of The Heartbreak Years, a memoir about one woman's journey through her 20s and the love and relationships she experiences before she turns 30.   We talk about the book, and how the people within become "characters" even as it's a memoir. We talk about making friends as an adult. We talk about her writing journey and it got from fictional stories, to essays, to a full-fledged memoir.   She also tells us which of the many cities she has lived in would be the life of a party, if cities were humans! 

Sophie Mackintosh joins me for Episode 9 to talk about her Booker Longlisted novel, The Water Cure, as well as her latest novel, Cursed Bread, and Blue Ticket.  We chatted about a lot of things: Borrowing from genre fiction to write her literary novels, being compared to Margaret Atwood and other literary giants, and the relationship between love, intimacy and violence. I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I have. For those interested in Bonus (and Exclusive) Material: Mackintosh has agreed to add to my Bonus Audio Archive with a reading from the early pages of Cursed Bread. This is available in the Friend Tier of my Bindery @ BlackKitBooks.Binderybooks.com

Sydney Hegele joins the pod to talk about their books, The Pump, and Bird Suit. We talk about magic realism, staying true to your artistic vision, queerness and religion, and carnivorous Beavers.  Bird Suit is Hegele's first novel, available now, wherever books are sold.

Sarah Mintz joins us to talk about her collection of short stories, Handwringers, and her debut novel, Norma (May 2024). We chatted about her writing process, mixing folklore with her fiction, and trying to find (and write) beauty in today's hyper-online world. 

Kathryn Mockler joins us to talk about her 2023 Debut story collection. We talk about the writing life, where inspiration comes from, and her desire to blur genres, from fiction to poetry to film to overheard conversations. 

In anticipation of his latest novel, Prairie Edge--due to release as of Today, April 16, 2024!--Conor Kerr sits down to chat about it, along with the rest of his work.   We chat about genre--the fact that he has now published poetry, short fiction, and a novel--and his life as a prairie writer AND a Metis writer, but maybe the most interesting convo came out of our discussion around reconciliation and what that might Actually look like moving forward in Canada.   Thanks for listening!

Join me as I chat with Chelsea Wakelyn about her novel, What Remains of Elsie Jane (published in 2023). We get into her unusual way of getting published, the pros & Cons of writing autofiction, and in the Penultimate Segment, she has to identify songs included in the book based on 6 second snippets.

After a brief (3 months!) Hiatus, Tim Blackett & Friends is back with episode 3, an interview with Jessica Johns about her novel, Bad Cree. We chat about the book, about writing, about love stories and horror stories, and the joys of solving Jigsaw Puzzles!

Sheila Heti joins the show! I still can't believe it. We talked about the interviewing process, autofiction and creating art from one's life, and writing novels as a "game," and much more, including Friends OFF with Sheila Heti, and a haphazard Penultimate segment feature Sheila the AI Bot. Included as this month's bonus audio archive material is some "off-the-record" chatter that she and I kept up after the episode ended. It's less formal and doesn't fit the "vibes" of the actual episode, but there's some interesting stuff: more about interview, about my new glasses, and about some new projects I've got going on. Anyone can access the Bonus Audio Archive if you become a listener supporter through my patreon: patreon.com/timblackett  Last month, Emily Austin submitted a reading of a poem from her forthcoming collection of poetry (not out until 2024!)   A Big thanks and shout out to my current supporters: Lia Marnie Colleen Scott Chantelle Kristin Jessica

Emily Austin, author of Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead and the forthcoming, Interesting Facts about Space, joins the pod for our first episode. It's full of technical difficulties and poor sound quality, but we snuck some fun little tidbits, and a few writerly tips in there as well.   Let me know what you think of my sweet Intro diddy!

Author (and Book-Tokker), Tim Blackett, Interviews his writing heroes about the process of writing, the act of creating art, and the joys and struggles of being alive.   Friends On!