Fire Weather — with John Vaillant

Below the Radar

On this episode of Below the Radar, we’re joined by John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast. Fire Weather is a national best selling book about the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, North America's oil industry, and our new century of fire, which has only just begun. Our host Am Johal and John discuss how John approached the subject, the process of collecting and weaving stories from Fort McMurray, and how the book has been received. John will be joining us for a free public talk on the book on January 31st, 2024! RSVP at https://bit.ly/47YnwDZ Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/232-john-vaillant.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/232-john-vaillant.html Resources: Fire Weather: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/739360/fire-weather-by-john-vaillant/9780735273160 Fire Weather winning the Baillie Gifford Prize 2023: https://www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/year-by-year/2023 Fire Weather on the New York Times Top 10 Books of 2023: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/28/books/review/best-books-2023.html Bio: John Vaillant is an author and freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and the Guardian, among others. His first book, The Golden Spruce (Knopf, 2005), was a bestseller and won several awards, including the Governor General's and Writers’ Trust awards for non-fiction. His second nonfiction book, The Tiger (Knopf, 2010), won the B.C. Achievement Award for Non-Fiction, was a bestseller selected for Canada Reads, and has been published in 16 languages. In 2014 Vaillant won the Windham-Campbell Prize, a global award for non-fiction. In 2015, he published his first work of fiction, The Jaguar's Children (Knopf, 2015), which was long-listed for the Dublin IMPAC and Kirkus Fiction Prizes, and was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His latest book, Fire Weather (Knopf, 2023), is a #1 national bestseller, and a finalist for the National Book Award (US), the Baillie Gifford Prize (UK), and the Writers‘ Trust Nonfiction Prize. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Fire Weather — with John Vaillant” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 16, 2024. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/232-john-vaillant.html.