ZALIKA REID-BENTA + CARLEY FORTUNE

House of Crouse

On this edition of the Richard Crouse Show we’ll meet Zalika Reid-Benta, an author who explores race, identity and culture through the lens of second-generation Caribbean Canadians in her work. The Columbia MFA graduate's debut novel “Frying Plantain,” a series of interconnected stories featuring a young Black female protagonist, was on the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. Her new book is River Mumma, is an exhilarating contemporary fantasy novel about a young Black woman who navigates her quarter-life-crisis while embarking on a mythical quest through the streets of Toronto. Then, we’ll meet Carley Fortune, an award-winning journalist who has worked as an editor at some of Canada’s top publications, including The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Toronto Life, and The Grid. She was most recently the Executive Editor of Refinery29 Canada. Her new book is called “Meet Me at the Lake,” a love story about secrets, lies, missed connections and second chances that is being called, “beautiful and heart-tugging.” It recently caught the eye of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry who bought the rights to the book as their first big screen adaptation of a novel.