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The journalist and author Marjorie Simmins discusses her new memoir In Search of Puffins: Stories of Loss, Light and Flight (Pottersfield Press, 2025), with Joseph Planta. In Search of Puffins: Stories of Loss, Light and Flight by Marjorie Simmins (Pottersfield Press, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: In Search of Puffins Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   I first encountered Marjorie Simmins in 2016, when she emailed me after it had been suggested by mutual friends that she be in touch. She and her beloved Silver Donald Cameron were making their way west in late 2016 to winter in the milder climes of Metro Vancouver from where they made their home in the east, in Nova Scotia. Both Don and Marjorie are originally from Vancouver. I was delighted to have both Marjorie and Don on the program, as soon as they motored their way across the country. They both came into the office at home to chat, first Marjorie on a book of hers, and Don on one of his, and then we did one with the two of them. I saw firsthand their affection and respect for one another, not just as married people but as writers. And it was lovely seeing how they supported one another. I look up from my desk now at a photograph from that sunny November day, a selfie of the three of us. It’s with the warmth of that memory that I sat at my desk recently, looking up at that photo on the wall from time to time, as I read Marjorie’s latest book In Search of Puffins: Stories of Loss, Light and Flight. The book looks at Marjorie and Don’s story, their love, their life together, and the loss after Don’s death at the height of COVID in June 2020. Don’s still around, as you’ll read, certainly throughout the book, he’s like a character, a voice through the book, guiding Marjorie, or giving her a laugh. The book is also great at illustrating grief and how hard it is to navigate. Marjorie during Don’s final days, and how she goes about to a new chapter in her life is damn near heroic. Marjorie joins me again, and I’ll ask her about how she finally got writing again, especially finishing this book. I’ll ask her about wanting to move back to Vancouver, but how she found that unfeasible. There’s a lot in this book, a lot that’s useful, but a lot that’s just worthwhile as Marjorie is a great writer; in some parts of the book, it reads as poetic. The website for more is at www.marjoriesimmins.ca. This new book is from Pottersfield Press. We taped this interview nearly two weeks ago, with Marjorie joining me from Truro, Nova Scotia. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Marjorie Simmins; Ms. Simmins, good morning.The post Marjorie Simmins first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The writer and singer-songwriter Rodney DeCroo discusses his new book Night Moves: The Street Photography of Rodney DeCroo (Anvil Press, 2025), with Joseph Planta. Night Moves: The Street Photography of Rodney DeCroo by Rodney DeCroo (Anvil Press, 2025). Click to buy this book from Anvil Press: Night Moves Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Rodney DeCroo joins me now. The author, poet, singer-songwriter has just published a new collection of photographs. It’s a collection that largely reflects the world that Mr. DeCroo sees in East Vancouver. It’s often ironic, whimsical, serious, tense, but always real. The images he captures with his camera, largely self-taught, evoke a Vancouver that’s not what people immediately see when they Google for images of Vancouver. This is the Vancouver that’s on Commercial Drive, or Main Street. This isn’t Kerrisdale or Kits, Yaletown or Champlain Heights. It’s a Vancouver that’s trying or barely trying to make ends meet, that’s crushed by the world around us. The evocative photographs feature people as they go about trying to get to work in the heat, in the snow, and since it’s Vancouver, the rain. Sometimes there are photographs of people just taking a rest on the curb or the bus stop bench, or guys shooting the shit at a coffee shop on The Drive. I’ll ask Mr. DeCroo about this collection, how he goes about taking pictures, and more. Rodney DeCroo is the author of two previous books of poetry Allegheny, BC, and Next Door to the Butcher Shop. Also, a well-known, touring singer-songwriter with eight albums to his credit. His solo plays Stupid Boy in an Ugly Town and Didn’t Hurt have toured across Canada and the US. The full title of the book is Night Moves: The Street Photography of Rodney DeCroo. It’s published by Anvil Press. The foreword is written by Mike Usinger. I talked to Rodney nearly two weeks ago. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Rodney DeCroo; Mr. DeCroo, good morning.  The post Rodney DeCroo first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The journalist and author Tom Hawthorn discusses his new book Play Ball! The Amazing Stories and Captivating Characters Who Have Made Baseball a Winning Ticket in Vancouver for Over 100 Years (2025), with Joseph Planta. Play Ball! The Amazing Stories and Captivating Characters Who Have Made Baseball a Winning Ticket in Vancouver for Over 100 Years by Tom Hawthorn (2025). Click to buy this book from The BC Sports Hall of Fame: Play Ball! Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Tom Hawthorn joins me again. He’s just published a new book, Play Ball! The Amazing Stories and Captivating Characters Who Have Made Baseball a Winning Ticket in Vancouver for Over 100 Years. It is a tough book to put down, because Tom with his ability to weave together great stories about colourful characters on and off the field, terrific archival photos, along with his skill at providing the reader with the historical and cultural context within which the baseball he writes about take place, make for not just a beautiful book for the coffee table, but a splendid resource for the sports fan, or a Vancouver history buff. With a foreword by Jim Robson, we get a sense of baseball’s endurance in Vancouver, and this is all despite the popularity of lacrosse, the BC Lions, and then the Vancouver Canucks throughout the twentieth century and now. The book also charts baseball’s development, relationships with leagues higher up in the pecking order through to Major League Baseball. Also, we see Vancouver’s own growth and development. I found particularly poignant, Tom’s recounting of the various ballparks that once stood throughout Vancouver. And of course, Nat Bailey Stadium, Capilano Stadium before that, plays a central role in the book. It’s a ballpark that Tom loves, and a lot of people, who’ve played here or visited here, or live near, just love. As Tom says, the book was commissioned by Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney, the former owners of the Vancouver Canadians, and it also chronicles how baseball has continued to play a major part as a brand in the community. And that’s largely thanks to Kerr and Mooney and all their efforts not just with the club and their relationship with the Toronto Blue Jays, but with the upgrading of the facilities at Nat Bailey Stadium. Tom Hawthorn is a Victoria-based journalist and author. He is a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail. He has written several acclaimed books, including Deadlines, and The Year Canadians Lost Their Minds and Found Their Country, which he’s appeared with on the program when they came out. The book is available at Nat Bailey Stadium, another good reason to go to a Canadians game, as well as at the BC Sports Hall of Fame, where they do mail orders as well. We taped this interview earlier this week, with Tom joining me from Victoria, BC. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Tom Hawthorn; Mr. Hawthorn, good morning.  The post Tom Hawthorn first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

Marking the twentieth anniversary of the program, Joseph Planta makes remarks and offers answers to questions sent in by friends and listeners. Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   It was in August 2004 that I started the show. The word podcasting hadn’t come into vogue just yet. I taped the interviews over the phone and put the recording on the website, and people had to stream them. Just over twenty years later, I’m still at it, and though I might sometimes, rarely, complain about the work that goes into the show, I can’t think of anything as fulfilling an endeavour as this. To get to talk to very worthwhile people about their lives, their work, their experiences, their ideas, their ruminations on nearly every sort of topic imaginable has often been fun, as well at times an incredible privilege.   When I hit ten years doing the show, I said I’d had more years behind me than ahead of me. I just kept on doing it, and every season brought about something new, something I probably couldn’t have imagined twenty years ago. I was going to do a clip show, you know, take a bunch of clips from some of the boldfaced names that have been on the show over the years. I may do just that another year, another anniversary. When I came back from summer break last fall, I went into taping shows from practically the week after signing off last May. I like pre-taping interviews, which is also a great privilege especially when a book’s weeks or even months away from being in stores. So, I really didn’t have time to assemble clips for a best-of show. And frankly, how could I choose from twenty years and over two thousand, three hundred shows. How do you choose between the multiple Pulitzer Prize winners, Emmy and Oscar winners, Tony winners, and members of the Order of Canada? And how do you have enough time to give a plausible overview of what’s gone on from my desk the last, what’ll be twenty-one years in August.  I will take my usual summer break, and return for the 22nd year of the show in late September. I’ve already got half a dozen names in the hopper for the fall, and that’s encouraging. I’m still a little surprised that there are those willing, sometimes wanting to talk to me. And then there are those that don’t. I’m not particularly upset about those but I’m furious about those that don’t even take the time to say no. Life has a way of sorting things out, because there’s been more than a couple of people who’ve ended up asking to come on the show years later.  I didn’t want to sign off for the year, and let the anniversary pass without expressing my thanks to all those who’ve deigned to appear on the program. Having been interviewed, I can’t imagine why people would subject themselves to my questioning. Nevertheless, I figured I owe a few answers, and put out a call on social media last week soliciting questions. I’ve got them printed off and I’ll begin to answer them shortly. But I should note, other than the guests themselves, there’s a group of people who are instrumental in getting guests on the show that require acknowledgement. The great publicists over twenty years I’ve encountered outnumber the not-so-great ones. They’re often the person I talk to before and after I speak to the guest, and they’re practically saintly for reassuring me that the interview will go well, especially if I might have a doubt or two. And there are publicists I talk to on a regular basis that they’re in touch more frequently than most relatives or friends at this point. I’d like to name them all, but I’m afraid I’ll forget somebody. The good publicists will know before I do that a guest will be good on the show. For that discerning judgment, I am grateful, as listeners should.  Now, to the questions:  The post The Twentieth Anniversary Show first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The journalist and author Alan Haig-Brown discusses his new book Raincoast Chronicles 25: m̓am̓aɫa Goes Fishing (Harbour Publishing, 2025), with Joseph Planta. Raincoast Chronicles 25: m̓am̓aɫa Goes Fishing by Alan Haig-Brown (Harbour Publishing, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: m̓am̓aɫa Goes Fishing Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Alan Haig-Brown joins me again. In a new book, he takes us to when he was a teenager in the 1960’s. He hadn’t quite finished high school, but found himself married into a fishing family. The Assu family had been fishing for generations, and since Alan was married to Herb and Mitzi Assu’s daughter Vicki, he found himself working on a fishing boat. It’s often tough work, and Alan recounts it all in Raincoast Chronicles 25: m̓am̓aɫa Goes Fishing. He’s got marvelous stories that provides insight as to what it’s like to make a living as the Assu’s did on the water. You get a sense of what it’s like navigating British Columbia’s west coast; and Herb did that without radar, the fishery resource as it was, and the challenges of life on a fishing boat in such close quarters. It really is a loving look at this formative time in Alan’s life, as he’d go on to work as an educator and then editor of the Westcoast Fisherman, and founding Westcoast Mariner and the Westcoast Logger. The book comes alive with Alan’s stories of adventure, and the occasional misadventure aboard the Assu boat. We also get a sense of the times, the relations that Indigenous peoples had with the commercial fishing industry, as well as how Alan found his way into this family, being a white guy. The book also comes alive with the photographs of Alan’s former wife Vicki Assu Robbins. Taken aboard and from the boat, you see what life was like on the coast over fifty years ago now. Alan Haig-Brown seined salmon and herring until 1973, and served for eleven years as coordinator of Indigenous education in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. A noted international marine journalist, Alan’s award-winning books for Harbour Publishing, which publishes Raincoast Chronicles 25, include Fishing for a Living, The Fraser River, and Still Fishin’, which he was on this program with in 2010. He divides his time between Bangkok, Thailand, and New Westminster, BC where he joined me from last week. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Alan Haig-Brown; Mr. Haig-Brown, good morning.The post Alan Haig-Brown first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The marketing executive Pete Crighton discusses his memoir The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts, and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy (Random House Canada, 2025), with Joseph Planta. The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts, and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy by Pete Crighton (Random House Canada, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Vinyl Diaries Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   When Pete Crighton came of age in the 1980s, he lived in fear of being found out by friends and schoolmates. Being gay then felt like a death sentence, and living in the shadow of HIV/AIDS could have meant death as well. The balm to his pain was and remains music. In his new memoir The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts, and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy, Mr. Crighton, who joins me now, talks about the music that meant a lot to him growing up, that he revisits regularly, and looks for meaning in from time to time. That’s a great lesson in the book, that anything worth its salt, music, literature, art itself, relationships, need to be cared for, listened to rigorously. It’s music that he’s shared with lovers and other strangers, and he does so in this book that often reads as a curated playlist. The book also chronicles how he struggles to make sense of his sexuality, how he entered two long-term monogamous relationships, and how they eventually failed. In his early forties, as hook up culture’s rise thanks to apps on one’s phone surrounds our society, Pete goes through a mid-life sexual awakening. He writes about that with great candour in the book. Frankly, his honesty in the book is refreshing, and the unapologetic way he finds love in all its forms could be seen as inspiring. It’s worked for him. Pete Crighton has worked as a marketing executive in the arts for many years. He’s studied comedy at Second City, graduating from their Conservatory Program in improv, scene writing, and performance. He sings in the Dolly Parton choir, The Tennessee Mountain Homos. This new book is published by Random House Canada. He joined me from Toronto last week. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Pete Crighton; Mr. Crighton, good morning. The post Pete Crighton first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The artist and writer Seema Shah discusses the collection she’s co-edited (with Betsy Warland and Kate Bird) Off the Map: Vancouver Writers with Lived Experience of Mental Health Issues (Bell Press, 2025), with Joseph Planta. Off the Map: Vancouver Writers with Lived Experience of Mental Health Issues edited by Betsy Warland, Seema Shah, and Kate Bird (Bell Press, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Off the Map Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   There’s a new collection of writing out now that illuminates what it’s like for writers and creative people to contend with mental health issues. Off the Map: Vancouver Writers with Lived Experience of Mental Health Issues is the title of the collection and it features thirty-three writers who showcase their writing be it memoir, non-fiction, fiction, or poetry. Some bare themselves to varying degrees, while they all navigate their writing with an honesty that is refreshing. The collection is edited by Betsy Warland, Seema Shah, and Kate Bird. Seema Shah joins me now, and I’ll ask her about how the collection came about, what about the process of editing the collection did she find interesting and informative, and what she hopes the collection will yield for a reader. Seema Shah is a self-taught visual artist and writer with lived experience of mental health issues. Her creative nonfiction has been published in literary journals and anthologies, shortlisted for the Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives’ Narrative Essay Contest and twice for the Surrey International Writers’ Conference Contest, and longlisted for the Susan Crean Award for Nonfiction 2023. Her artwork has been exhibited in galleries in Canada, the US, and the UK, and she was a recipient of The Beaumont Studios’ Artist to Watch Award 2022. Visit www.seemashahart.com for more. This new collection is published by Bell Press. We spoke last Wednesday. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Seema Shah; Seema, good morning.  The post Seema Shah first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The writer and novelist Ron Base discusses the fourth book in the Priscilla Tempest Mystery Series Curse of The Savoy, which he co-wrote with Prudence Emery who died in April 2024, and more, with Joseph Planta. Curse of The Savoy by Ron Base and Prudence Emery (Douglas & McIntyre, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Curse of The Savoy Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Ron Base joins me again. The former newspaper and magazine journalist and movie critic has just released the fourth book in the Priscilla Tempest Mystery Series, Curse of The Savoy. His co-author Prudence Emery inspired this series as the central character Priscilla Tempest, like Emery worked in the publicity department at London’s famed Savoy Hotel. The luxurious hotel is again the setting of this book, as Prudence finds herself an invited guest to a dinner hosted by filmmaker Orson Welles. It’s a Who’s Who of British society, culture and politics at this dinner: Hitchcock, Mountbatten, Noel Coward, Cary Grant, and the infamous Christine Keeler are amongst the attendees. They number thirteen, and it just so happens there’s an old curse that looms the proceedings, as the first guest who departs a party of thirteen is said to have brought doom to their existence. Well that’s what happens, and soon Priscilla Tempest finds herself at the heart of the intrigue, even drawing the attention of Queen Elizabeth II. I’ll get Ron to tell us about this book and the storied people that find themselves wrapped up in the mystery. A lot of these famed folks are perhaps ones that Ron interviewed, or that Prudence Emery wrangled for journalists like Ron in her heady days working on film sets or at the Savoy. Prudence Emery died last April at the age of 88. She leaves behind a colourful life that she wrote about in her memoir Nanaimo Girl, and which inspired this series with Ron, who I’ll get to reflect on his fabulous friend. Ron Base has written twenty novels, two novellas, and four works of non-fiction. Visit www.ronbase.wordpress.com where he also blogs. I’ll ask him about a recent remembrance I read off there. This new book is published by Douglas & McIntyre. We spoke a week and a half ago with Ron joining me from Milton, Ontario. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Ron Base; Mr. Base, good morning.  The post Ron Base first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The writer, poet and songwriter Bill Arnott discusses his new book A Season in the Okanagan (Rocky Mountain Books, 2025), with Joseph Planta. A Season in the Okanagan by Bill Arnott (Rocky Mountain Books, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: A Season in the Okanagan Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Bill Arnott joins me again. He’s just published a new book A Season in the Okanagan. In the book he takes the reader into the Okanagan region of British Columbia. It’s a part of the province he knows, having grown up there. It’s bucolic, and a tourist attraction for those who appreciate the outdoors, wine and bountiful fruits and vegetables. Bill doesn’t just narrate his travels, and the people he encounters, not to mention wildlife, he depicts what he sees through artistic renderings that illustrate how bright and vast the land is. Bill also shares conversations he’s had with people who live in the region. He gets a great understanding of what draws people to the Okanagan, despite the ever-thickening smoke every fire season, or just the weather that’s different there than here in Metro Vancouver, for example if it’s hot here, it’s likely warmer there, or colder there in the winter. Bill also looks at how history is depicted in public institutions like museums. He also takes the time to look at the land, history, and people through how the Indigeous view the land. Bill Arnott is the bestselling author of A Perfect Day for a Walk: The History, Cultures, and Communities of Vancouver, On Foot, which he was on this show with back in the fall. He’s also written A Season on Vancouver Island, as well as the Gone Viking series. This new book is published by Rocky Mountain Books. We spoke a week and a half ago. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Bill Arnott; Mr. Arnott, good morning.The post Bill Arnott first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The award-winning stage and screen actress and activist Michelle Thrush discusses the new production of Inner Elder, which she wrote and will star in at the Firehall Arts Centre (22-31 May 2025), with Joseph Planta. Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   The award-winning Cree artist of stage and screen Michelle Thrush joins me now. Opening this Thursday, 22 May 2025 and running until Saturday, 31 May 2025 is her solo show Inner Elder. She’s written and will perform the piece, which highlights the power of imagination in survival. I’ll ask Michelle about the show, how it was developed in Calgary, and taking the show to the stage of the Firehall Arts Centre, where she acted in the 1992 production of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe. I’ll ask Ms. Thrush about the role of elders and the wisdom they bestow on us all. The piece is about healing, from substance abuse and aliens, and features a superhero that lights the way forward. Visit www.firehallartscentre.ca for tickets and information. We spoke earlier this week, with Michelle joining me from here in Vancouver. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Michelle Thrush; Ms. Thrush, good morning.  The post Michelle Thrush first appeared on thecommentary.ca.