Episode 16: Ali Bryan

This week on the pod, Makda is joined by author Ali Bryan for a conversation about her debut young adult novel THE HILL. They talk about family, feminism, and the freedom that comes with having choice — both in life and in writing. 

Ali Bryan is a novelist and creative nonfiction writer based in Calgary. Her first novel, ROOST, won the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and was the official selection of One Book Nova Scotia. Her second novel, THE FIGGS, was a finalist for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour and has been optioned for TV by Sony Pictures. She was longlisted for the CBC Canada Writes Creative Nonfiction prize, shortlisted for the Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Award, and won the 2020 Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story. She is also a Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Emerging Artist prize recipient. Her debut YA novel, THE HILL, was released this past March with Dottir Press. She has a wrestling room in her garage and regularly gets choked out by her family.