Arts
ABOUT THIS EPISODE: In this episode, host Megan Cole talks to Shaena Lambert, author of Petra. Petra won the 2021 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. In their conversation Shaena talks about how she met Petra Kelly and how growing up in Horseshoe Bay helped her write about Berlin and Germany. ABOUT SHAENA LAMBERT: Shaena Lambert is the author of the novel, Radiance and two books of stories, Oh, My Darling and The Falling Woman – all of which were Globe and Mail best books of the year. Her fiction has been published to critical acclaim in Canada, the UK and Germany and has been nominated for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, the Evergreen Award, the Danuta Gleed Award and the Frank O’Connor Award for the Short Story. Her stories have been chosen four times for Best Canadian Stories, and have appeared in many publications, including The Walrus, Zoetrope: All Story, Ploughshares, The Journey Prize Anthology and Toronto Life. A dedicated environmentalist and climate activist, Shaena was arrested twice on Burnaby Mountain for crossing a police barrier, to protest the building of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline from the Alberta tar sands, and continues to actively oppose oil pipelines, logging of old growth, and other policies leading to climate change and environmental destruction. Her most recent novel is PETRA, inspired by the activist and green party founder Petra Kelly who changed history and transformed environmental politics, only to find herself caught up in a triangle of love, jealousy and murder. Lambert lives in Vancouver with her family. ABOUT MEGAN COLE: Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in The Puritan, Untethered, Invisible publishing's invisiblog, This Magazine and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book titled Head Over Feet: The Lasting Heartache of First Loves. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com ABOUT THE PODCAST: Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the traditional territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen. Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.