SFU Library is delighted to be the new home of the complete digital archive of Writers & Company, CBC’s flagship literary program, hosted by Eleanor Wachtel for 33 years.
Thanks to an extraordinary partnership with the CBC, researchers and the public alike will be able to freely access this important and prestigious collection on the SFU Library website this fall. Here’s a sneak peek!
Bringing a rich cultural legacy to SFU
Wachtel holds an honorary degree from SFU, conferred in 2007, and is also a former adjunct professor in SFU’s Women’s Studies department, now known as Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies.
“Over more than three decades, I’ve had the privilege to speak with some of the most exceptional writers of our time, from Canada and around the world,” observes Wachtel. “To devote a whole hour to a single author, filmmaker, artist or great thinker, to have an intimate, wide-ranging conversation—in many cases more than once, to follow a career—is truly a gift. This unique digital archive also includes interviews with 14 winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature, often before they received recognition from the Nobel committee, and then engaging with them afterwards as well. At the same time, the program has featured new voices—writers who went on to become established names in the literary world."
Michelle Levy, a professor in the English department, calls the Writers & Company collection “an incomparable archive.”
“For over three decades, Writers & Company has delighted and enriched audiences, with conversations that bring us closer to the writers and artists we cherish,” Levy says. “We are excited to dig into this exciting collection for what it can tell us about the history of literature and culture, the art of the interview, and the evolution of radio.”
A collection made freely available online
SFU Library has been working closely with CBC on the transfer of the digital archive, including digitized episodes, born-digital episode files, and metadata for all of the material in the collection in preparation for making all of the episodes available online.
Thanks to SFU Library’s partnership with the CBC, past and future listeners—from scholars and students to the general public—will have the chance to experience and engage with this rich, insightful archive of interviews for years to come. Get a sneak-peek and access the first 10 episodes!
Engage with us
Learn more about you can support the Writers & Company preservation project to preserve and maintain this extraordinary resource for future generations.
For more information on this or other collections, reach out to our team at Special Collections and Rare Books: 778.782.5674 or scrb@sfu.ca.