Sean Farrell’s debut novel, Frogs for Watchdogs, has one of the most memorable titles of this year’s new publications. The story it tells, likewise, lingers long in the mind.

Set in rural Ireland at the tail end of the 1980s, much of it is seen through the eyes of a young boy running wild in both his surroundings and his imagination.

As he struggles to adapt to changing family circumstances, and exert some control over his unsettled life, the boy’s creative powers turn ferociously destructive.

It’s a tale packed full of menace, yearning, and the intensity of childhood, brought vividly to life as an audiobook by two of Ireland’s finest narrators.

Join Sean and Red as they discuss the importance of storytelling in forming our own narratives, and why Sean chose to write from the perspective of a 7-year-old child.

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AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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In 2017, Sarah Bax Horton was researching her family history when she made the chance discovery that her great great grandfather was a Metropolitan Police sergeant who worked on the Ripper case.

Little did she suspect that this would lead her to the Ripper’s true identity. In One-Armed Jack: Uncovering the Real Jack the Ripper, Sarah combines painstaking research, recently declassified files, and modern profiling techniques, to identify a new prime suspect, and solve the mystery of why the killings stopped as suddenly as they started.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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David Bergen is widely regarded as one of Canada’s best writers. Most of his 11 novels and two short story collections have been in contention for major literary prizes, including The Time In-Between, which won the 2005 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

His latest novel, Away from the Dead, was also longlisted for the Giller Prize, and is set in early-twentieth century Ukraine amidst the chaos and terror of revolution and war. As anarchists, Bolsheviks, and armies of various colours come and go, each claiming freedom and justice, David weaves an unforgettable tale about the resilience of love and hope.

Join David and Red as they explore the two very different memoirs that inspired Away from the Dead, and the Russian literature that underpins the novel.

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AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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Arjun Basu is a Canadian author and podcaster, whose novel Waiting for the Man was longlisted for the 2014 Giller prize. His latest book, The Reeds, is set in 2017, around Western Montreal, and follows the changing fortunes of a close-knit, middle-class family, across a single summer.

By turns wry and poignant, the novel explores questions of work/life balance, identity, nostalgia and compulsive consumerism, against the backdrop of our brave new online world. It’s a wise, and ultimately optimistic story that weighs want against need, and finds solace in art and food!

Join Arjun and Red as they discuss identity, branding, consumerism and the regeneration of Montreal.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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An Astonishment of Stars is Kirti Bhadresa’s debut volume of short stories. Many of the fourteen tales in the collection chart the lives of women of colour living in Canada, as they navigate relationships, aspirations, and cultural expectations.

Like all good authors of short fiction, Kirti takes everyday situations and looks at them from unfamiliar angles, while also examining the emotional lives of a population whose contribution to society all too often goes unseen in mainstream culture.

Join Kirti and Red as they explore the ups and downs of trying to fit in while remaining true to oneself, and the joy of cooking.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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As a child, K.J. Aiello found hope and escape in magical stories of dragons, wizards, and fantasy. These tales provided a safe space where K.J. could reframe their battle with mental illness and trauma, and envisage the vanquishing of the darkness that haunted them.

In The Monster and the Mirror: Mental Illness, Magic, and the Stories We Tell, K.J. blends memoir, research, and cultural criticism, to examine their own mental illness. Exploring The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and other tales, they show how the darker realms of the human psyche have been portrayed and often stigmatised in popular culture; and suggest how the fantasy genre might also have therapeutic benefits.

Join K.J. and Red as they discuss K.J.’s quest for the ‘what if’ and explore the regenerative power of creative imagination.

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AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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Rachel Stark’s debut, Perris California, is a beautiful and heart-rending novel.

Set in the 1990s in what one character calls ‘the land of momma’s boys’, it’s a story of violence, broken dreams, tenderness, and longing that shines a light on the resilience of women living in a mostly unseen America.

In a style reminiscent of John Steinbeck and Annie Proulx, Rachel contrasts the vastness and beauty of the landscape with the claustrophobia and grittiness of the lives of its inhabitants, while also insisting that hope exists in our capacity to mend each other.

Join Rachel and Red as they discuss the harsh realities and strong bonds binding those scraping a living in the ‘golden’ state.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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Tara Moss has much in common with the heroines of her internationally best-selling crime novels. The Canadian Australian former model is glamourous, tenacious, quick-witted, and committed to fighting for justice. She also relishes a challenge, has a Private Investigator license, and as we’ll hear, isn’t afraid of putting herself in the way of danger to learn what she needs to know.

Her latest series features Billie Walker, a Second World War correspondent turned private investigator based in Sydney, who evokes the charisma of Lee Miller in the film noir style of Raymond Chandler.

Following the publication of the second book in the series, we felt it was high time to get Ms Moss in for questioning.

Join Tara and Red as they discuss femme fatales, fact-checking, fast cars, and feminism.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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