Christian McNeil is sentenced to natural life without the possibility of parole, plus two years for the firearm. The sentence is not the start of the answer but the start of the question: What should we do with Christian McNeil? A quarter of a century after the shooting, Christian reaches out to Lynda Harris, Nathan’s mother, for the first time. He…

What is it like to be the parent of a murderer? What’s it like to be their sibling? Three days before the shooting, Nathan had beaten Christian’s brother Adam. Now, Nathan is dead, Christian’s in prison, and Adam is exiled to Florida. None of them are ever coming home. The wedding between Christian and Bridgette is so close it seems inevitable. But…

Bridgette Burnett was married to a prisoner for seven years. He got out, and now she’s engaged to another—one who is never leaving. During the decades that Christian has been locked-up with all his basic needs given to him, Bridgette has been having to scrap and struggle. The world now is much crueler than the one Christian left. And is it a world …

Conjugal visits—whether you’re married or not—have never been allowed in Michigan prisons. But there's more than just sex that Christian is missing out on now that Bridgette has been banned from visiting. It’s a long list of regrets, and it all begins with Christian arriving home, twenty minutes after the shooting, to tell his mother that he killed…

Michigan, 1996. Nathan Harris and Christian McNeil meet in the parking lot between the Red Devil Restaurant and the Battle Alley Barbershop. It will prove the final moments of Nathan’s life, and it will prove the final moments of Christian’s life as he knew it. Twenty-three years later, Christian meets Jamie, another inmate, and hears about Jamie’s…

Natural Life is a limited podcast series chronicling the life of Christian McNeil, who is serving a lifetime sentence without parole in a Michigan prison. February 14, 2022By Richard

Chris Chambers, Sharon Miki Chan, Andrew Daley, and Emily Pohl-Weary read at the launch of Taddle Creek No. 45, with special guest Lindsay Zier-Vogel, live-ish at the Jet Fuel Coffee Shop, August 26, 2020.By Taddle Creek

Kerri Huffman and Chris Chambers read at the launch of Taddle Creek No. 15, live at Supermarket, December 8, 2005.By Kerri Huffman

Victoria Hetherington, J. R. McConvey, Sarah Gilbert, and Richard Kelly Kemick read at the launch of Taddle Creek No. 44, live at Famous Last Words, January 15, 2020.By Taddle Creek

Stuart Ross rings in 2020 with his annual New Year’s poem.By Stuart Ross

Stuart Ross rings in 2019 with his annual New Year’s poem.By Stuart Ross

Terry Murray discusses her memoir about the integration of a local elementary school in her childhood Chicago neighbourhood, in the nineteen-sixties, with Bee Quammie at the launch of Taddle Creek No. 41, live at the LitBang! Pop-Up Shop, June 27, 2018.By Terry Murray

Jessica Westhead reads an excerpt from her short story collection And Also Sharks at the launch of Taddle Creek No. 41, live at the LitBang! Pop-Up Shop, June 27, 2018.By Jessica Westhead

Michael Redhill reads a selection of poems at the launch of Taddle Creek No. 41, live at the LitBang! Pop-Up Shop, June 27, 2018.By Michael Redhill

Stuart Ross rings in 2018 with his annual New Year’s poem.By Stuart Ross

Conan Tobias talks to Katherine Collins, creator of the comic book Neil the Horse, about her career and recent resurgence. Recorded live at the Toronto Reference Library during the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, May 13, 2017.By Conan Tobias

Stuart Ross rings in 2017 with his annual New Year’s poem.By Stuart Ross

Derek McCormack drops by talk about Pieface, Jeanette Winterson, and Bats in the Belfry.By Derek McCormack

The author Derek McCormack makes his now-annual Halloween podcast appearance to wish Conan Tobias a Happy Halloween and to discuss the Holiday Arts Mail-Order School.By Derek McCormack

Chris Chambers helps The Taddle Creek Podcast celebrate fifty episodes with a reading of his poem “Ventilator,” originally published in Taddle Creek No. 27.By Chris Chambers

John Degen phones in to tell Conan Tobias everything he’s doing wrong.By John Degen

Shawn Syms reads an excerpt from his short story “Taking Creative Licence.”By Shawn Syms

Conan Tobias gets a progress update from Hal Niedzviecki on the serialization of his novel The Archaeologists.By Hal Niedzviecki

Elana Wolff reads her poem “Think of a Name for the Bird in the Glossy Photo.”By Elana Wolff

Conan Tobias chats with Natalia Hernandez, the real-life cover star of Taddle Creek No. 37.By Conan Tobias

Taddle Creek contributing editor Alfred Holden interviews Conan Tobias on his feature story “Canada’s Greatest Cartoonist,” a look at the life of the cartoonist Lou Skuce.By Conan Tobias

Jessica Westhead reads her story “Things Not to Do” at the launch of Taddle Creek No. 37, live at the Jet Fuel Coffee Shop, June 3, 2016.By Jessica Westhead

Michael e. Casteels reads a selection of poems at the launch of Taddle Creek No. 37, live at the Jet Fuel Coffee Shop, June 3, 2016.By Michael e. Casteels

Jess Taylor reads a new short story, “I Moved Out When I Caught Him With the Dog,” at the launch of Taddle Creek No. 37, live at the Jet Fuel Coffee Shop, June 3, 2016.By Jess Taylor

John Degen phones in to talk about this and that, in lieu of a proper guest.By Conan Tobias

Julie Cameron Gray is back with another poem, “Dorothy and the First Tornado,” which originally appeared in Taddle Creek No. 34.By Julie Cameron Gray

Alexandra Leggat calls in for a quick interview on the launch of her new press, Two Wolves.By Conan Tobias

Julie Cameron Gray reads her poem “Thoughts of a Drunken Tourist at the Bushmills Whiskey Distillery,” which originally appeared in Taddle Creek No. 31.By Julie Cameron Gray

Alfred Holden discusses the urban thinker Jane Jacobs, on the hundredth anniversary of her birth. (Correction: Alfred was mistaken on-air. Jacobs resided at 58 Spadina, not 56. Taddle Creek regrets the error.)By Alfred Holden

Gary Barwin, the Penguin Random House Canada New Face of Fiction for 2016, shares an audio trailer for his new novel, Yiddish for Pirates.By Gary Barwin

Katia Grubisic reads her poem “Sundays.”By Katia Grubisic

Sandy Pool reads her poem “The Offering.” Recorded in the men’s room of a Montreal Mexican restaurant, 2015.By Sandy Pool

Adrienne Weiss drops by the Taddle Creek studios to eat pancakes and read her poem “A Member of the Wait Staff Delivers a Glass of Ice to Oprah,” which originally appeared in Taddle Creek No. 14.By Adrienne Weiss

Jennifer LoveGrove reads her poem “Backyard Insurrection,’ from the upcoming Taddle Creek No. 37,By Jennifer LoveGrove

In which Hal Niedzviecki takes exception to the episode title of his previous podcast appearance.By Conan Tobias

Emily Schultz reads her poem “The Rain of a Thousand Days,” recorded in 2015 in her car on a Brooklyn side street. Egg creams for everyone at Peter Pan afterward.By Emily Schultz

Taddle Creek’s editor-in-chief Conan Tobias gets Hal Niedzviecki on the phone to discuss the author’s time-consuming request.By Conan Tobias

Jessica Westhead reads an excerpt from her short story “Empathize or Die,” debuting in the upcoming Taddle Creek No. 37.By Jessica Westhead

Billie Livingston reads another chapter from her novel The Crooked heart of Mercy.By Billie Livingston

Billie Livingston reads a chapter from her novel The Crooked Heart of Mercy.By Billie Livingston

JonArno Lawson reads his poem “Under a Billboard at Bathurst and Eglinton,” which originally appeared in Taddle Creek No. 35 (Summer, 2015).By JonArno Lawson

Stevie Howell reads her poem “Ontarioabandonedplaces.com,” which originally appeared in Taddle Creek No. 35 (Summer, 2015).By Stevie Howell

Jennifer LoveGrove reads her poem “Tables.”By Jennifer LoveGrove

The author Sofi Papamarko reads her short story “The Pollinators.”By Sofi Papamarko

Patrick Rawley discusses the original Captain Marvel at the launch of Taddle Creek No. 36, live at the Ossington, December 3, 2015.By Patrick Rawley