Terry Fallis

My guest on this episode is Terry Fallis. Terry’s first novel, The Best Laid Plans, which began as a podcast and was initially self-published, won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and was re-published by McClelland & Stewart in 2008. That book went on to win the 2011 edition of Canada Reads and was adapted as a CBC Television series and a stage musical. His next two novels, The High Road and Up and Down, were finalists for the Leacock Medal. And In 2015, he won the prize a second time, for his fourth book, No Relation. His other novels include Poles Apart, One Brother Shy, Albatross, and Operation Angus, and were all national bestsellers. Terry’s most recent novel is A New Season, which was published by McClelland & Stewart in 2023. In its review of A New Season, The Winnipeg Free Press said, “It’s about grief, friendship, family and, most of all, love, with humour taking a backseat for a change.”

Terry and I talk about those early days of podcasting, about why, given all his success, he only recently retired from his day job to focus on writing full time, and about how readers and critics very often mistake comic novels for frivolous ones.

 

Terry Fallis: terryfallis.com

Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

Contact Nathan Whitlock at nathanwhitlock.ca/contact