Dan Werb

Well, since you asked, [chuckles] um, we happen to have five of the 14 Giller longlisted authors coming to Kingston, starting with Michelle Good on Wednesday the 30th, and, uh, then we also have Wayne Johnston and Patricia Finn and Tara Jeru and Colin McAdam.

And we have three of the five, uh, Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction authors coming, so Dan Werb and, uh, Robert Moore and Richard Kelly Kemick, who has written, uh, the most hilarious book of essays called Decadence.

The first essay is about this grown man who's obsessed with miniature Santa villages, like creating the biggest Santa village in the, like Christmas village in the world, and it's goes-- it gets funnier from there.

Every year we, uh, uh, and, and we're doing this again, is, is we're having, uh, uh, workshops for writers, people who want to, to sort of improve their writing, um, and to, um, talk about their work with other would-be writers.

And we have three of the five, uh, Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction authors coming.

So Dan Werb and, uh, Robert Moore and Richard Kelly Kemick, who has written, uh, the most hilarious book of essays called Decadence.

The first essay is about this grown man who's obsessed with miniature Santa villages, like creating the biggest Santa village in the, like Christmas village in the world.

And it's, goes, it gets funnier from there.

Most of the time, we are trying to avoid them or pretend they don't exist or get rid of them.

But today, you'll hear from an author named Dan Werb, whose new book makes the case that we really have to look at these animals, understand our connection to them, and build our cities with them in mind.

Not necessarily because we like them or we think they're cute, but but because they have a crucial role to play in our planet's future.

And then for Article Club, a behavioral scientist will tell you all about Jimothy, the famous raccoon who survived against all odds.

I am absolutely crazy about the book we're talking about on the show today.

It's called Our Wild Familiars, How Animals Are Adapting to Cities and Reshaping the Natural World.

The book became an instant national bestseller, and it's by Dan Werb, who is an award-winning author and social epidemiologist.

In this book, Dan explores our relationship with synanthropes.

I, I was sitting down.

I was doing a, a friend's engagement present, and I was sitting down and I was go...

And I had more to do, more shopping, and I went to Alice, "I, I can't do this.

I feel too ill.

Uh, it's, yeah.

I mean, yeah.

I mean, I hope, um, I had a really good friend, um, guy named Daniel Werb.

Unfortunately, a couple years ago, he passed away from a brain aneurysm, and the way I describe him was the kindest man you'll ever meet, much like yourself.

Some representatives got in touch with me.

And they alerted me to an author by the name of Dan Werb.

Dr. Dan Werb.

He's a social epidemiologist, and he investigates the link between big events and human society.

He's been in the New York Times, Time, The Believer, many other outlets.

The wild creatures who found ingenious ways to survive and thrive in human communities.

We see it all over the place.

And this is award-winning writer and scientist Dan Werb, and he is with us now.