About What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books
In each episode of What Happened Next, author Nathan Whitlock interviews other authors about what happens when a new book isn’t new anymore, and it’s time to write another one. This podcast is presented in partnership with The Walrus.https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/what-happened-next/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
My guest on this episode is Marc Bendavid. Marc is an author and actor who has appeared on shows like Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Murdoch Mysteries, Dark Matter, and Reacher, as well as films such as Unholy Night, which came out earlier this year. His debut book is the The Sapling, which was published by Simon & Schuster Canada in 2025, and which recently won the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for fiction. Author Liz Harmer called it “a gorgeous, subtle novel of an unconventional friendship developed out of a strange kinship, a love for art, and a desire to hold on to the beauty of the world.”
Marc and I talk about his dual existence as an award-winning literary author and a guy who appeared on multiple episodes of Reacher, about how his novel began as a kind of personal archival project, and about the messy but disciplined process he has committed to for what may become his next book.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock (https://www.nathanwhitlock.ca/), in partnership with The Walrus (https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/).
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky (https://alukashevsky.bandcamp.com/). Used with permission.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
19 Oct 2026
Rachel Deutsch
My guest on this episode is Rachel Deutsch. Rachel is a writer, cartoonist, and illustrator whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, PRISM, The Pinch, McSweeney’s, Mother Tongue, Mutha Magazine, and in the popular newsletter ParentData by author Emily Oster. Her first book is the graphic memoir The Mother, published in 2025 by Douglas & McIntyre. Author Ashley Audrain called the book “profound, candid and wonderfully witty,” and “a tender self-reflection about the tumbling journey through early motherhood.”
Rachel and I talk about the creative tensions that sometimes arise between her illustrator side and her writer side, about why she has not re-read her graphic memoir since it was published, and about being surprised and a little heartened to discover that, even among her fellow New Yorker cartoonists, there is no shortage of imposter syndrome.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock (https://www.nathanwhitlock.ca/), in partnership with The Walrus (https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/).
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky (https://alukashevsky.bandcamp.com/). Used with permission.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
12 Oct 2026
Thea Lim
My guest on this episode is Thea Lim. Thea is a novelist and culture writer whose work has appeared in The Nation, the Paris Review, Guernica, The Guardian, Granta, The Walrus, and elsewhere. Her debut book was the novel The Same Woman, and her most recent is the novel An Ocean of Minutes, which was published by Penguin Canada in 2018 and was nominated for Canada Reads, the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, the ALA Reading List for Science Fiction, the Giller Prize, and the Sunburst Award. The Irish Times called it “a timely novel that brings a fresh perspective on the complex subjects of migration and displacement that plague our world today.”
Thea and I talk about an essay she wrote recently for The Walrus about the flattening of book culture, about why it’s been so long since her last book (spoiler: it’s because of kids and capitalism), and about her new novel, which is both a mystery story and a critical look at the realities of work.
This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock (https://www.nathanwhitlock.ca/), in partnership with The Walrus (https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/).
Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky (https://alukashevsky.bandcamp.com/). Used with permission.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Who has been a guest on What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Natalie Zina Walschots
Michelle Good
Michael Crummey
Teresa Wong
Kerry Clare
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
1,684,853
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Spotify
5.0 / 5
6 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 71 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
80
Social presence
0
YouTube
86
Engagement
68
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Guest appearances
Books guests
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