The First Thirty

Thursdays at 7:00pm on Instragram.

Upcoming Events

(WEDNESDAY!!!) September 24: Nadia Ragbar talking about her debut novel, THE PUGILIST AND THE SAILOR from Invisible Books. Nadia’s fiction has been published in various places, including Broken Pencil and This Magazine, with a flash piece in The Unpublished City, an award-winning anthology curated by Dionne Brand.

October 23: Keriann McGoogan chatting about SISTERS OF THE JUNGLE: THE TRAILBLAZING WOMEN WHO SHAPED THE STUDY OF PRIMATES from Douglas & Mcintyre. Keriann has been studying primates – including howler monkeys in Belize and lemurs in Madagascar – for years. This is her second book.

November 27: John Cullen, author of CURLING ROCKS: CHRONICLES OF THE ROARING GAME from Douglas & McIntyre will chat about curling…and writing. Stand-up comedian, podcaster, teacher, and writer, John is counting on curling’s renaissance and will do all he can to make that happen. This is sure to be a fun chat.

December 18: Paul Vermeersch joins us to chat about his latest collection, NMLCT from ECW Press. Paul is a poet, multimedia artist, professor, and editor. Editor-in-chief of The Ampersand Review of Writing & Publishing, and senior editor of Wolsak and Wynn Publishers where he created the poetry and fiction imprint Buckrider Books.

January 22: Mackenzie Nolan joins us to chat about her debut novel, VEAL, her debut novel, published in Canada by ECW Press. Mackenzie was born and raised in Newfoundland. Working professionally as a social worker for several years, she found herself better suited to writing interpersonal dynamics, rather than solving them.

February 12: Meg Todd reads from her debut novel GRIEVOUS FAULT from Harbour Publishing. Meg’s debut short story collection, Exit Strategies, was a finalist for both the ReLit Award and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. She is also a two-time finalist for the CBC short story prize.

March 19: David Bergen shares insights as the bestselling author of twelve novels and two collections. DAYS OF FEASTING AND REJOICING is his latest (Goose Lane Editions). He has won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year five times, and his writing has also been shortlisted for GG Award for Fiction, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and a Pushcart Prize.

April 23: Umar Turaki joins us to talk about the writing life and his second novel, EVERY DROP OF BLOOD IS RED. Umar is a writer and filmmaker from Jos, Nigeria. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia. I don’t know why everyone isn’t reading and talking about Umar!

May 28: Leila Marshy shares her collection of stories, MY THIEVERY OF THE PEOPLE (Baraka Books, 2025),and chats about life as a writer & editor. Her first novel, The Philistine, was published in 2018. She was also editor of The Rover and served as Associate Publisher at Linda Leith Publishing for several years. 

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What is The First Thirty?

I started Junction Reads in 2014 because I love talking about writing, books and how writers live. I have to say the greatest joy is hearing how writers face and overcome the obstacles of writing something great with only the spark of an idea: something readers will not want to put down, writing that people will want to talk about.

Writers know, and readers too, the first pages are the most important in any novel, memoir or story. And I want to talk about it.

The First Thirty is an Instragram Live series where I will meet authors for a quick chat (30 minutes) to talk about writing, and how they shape those first pages to be a warm welcome to the reader; to include the hook that makes a reader want to keep reading, and to give us the characters we either want to love or really hate.