Cid Brunet is a former stripper and emerging writer who spent a decade working in clubs across Canada under the name Michelle.  This Is My Real Name: A Stripper's Memoir is a candid, searing memoir of working 10 years in the sex trade, a personal guide of the strip club circuit by someone who knows it well.  Brunet’s crisp dialogue puts you in the dressing room, the VIP lounge, on the pole, or in the middle of a mental collapse.  It describes a subculture of humanity, at once a gladiators’ pit, a hypnotic and intimate sexual emporium, the set of the movie Norma Rae, or an episode of Cheers.  We spoke to Brunet from their home in Montreal. 

Talking UP is an interview show dedicated to writers, journalists and authors working on issues of social justice the nonprofit sector.

Shakil Choudhury, is an award-winning educator and consultant with more than 20 years of international experience in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion. He’s worked with thousands of organizational leaders across sectors in Canada and the United States to, as he says, “help them improve their equity outcomes.” 

 His new book, Deep Diversity: A compassionate scientific approach to achieving racial justice has been called “a highly significant contribution to the struggle against racism in our society” and “a moving, powerful look at how to address issues of both ‘head’ and ‘heart’ in engaging in diversity conversations that promise real and lasting change.”

 We spoke to him from his home in Toronto.  

 Talking UP is an interview show dedicated to writers, journalists and authors working on issues of social justice the nonprofit sector.

A contemporary multi-media storyteller, Drew Hayden Taylor has written more than 30 books and screen plays, and scores of columns and essays. He’s a theatre performer and director, actively expanding the boundaries of Indigenous literature.  

His most recent novel Chasing Painted Horses was published in 2019 and named one of the year’s best books of fiction.  This year he has written the forward What Comes from the Spirit: Selected Work from Richard Wagamese and written the forward and an essay in the 4th in his edited collections of the Me series called Me Tomorrow.  And he's got  more up his sleeve.

Taylor’s writing is—as is the man himself—engaging, funny, and resonant. And he joins us today from his vacation in Cabo. 

Talking UP is an interview show dedicated to writers, journalists and authors working on issues of social justice the nonprofit sector.