Graeme Gibson
Canadian novelistWikipedia
6
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3
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Search complete. 6 mentions across 3 episodes found for "Graeme Gibson".
Oct 9, 2026
speaker_0HOST
Exactly.
speaker_0HOST
You're going to hear about these decades-long grudges, the really petty academic squabbles, and, uh, the profound, just staggering grief of losing a partner.
speaker_1HOST
Yeah.
speaker_0HOST
And on top of all that, she delivers these incredibly sharp, deadpan jokes that kind of land right in the center of your chest before you even realize you've been hit.
40 MINS LATER
speaker_0HOST
But, but there's a fascinating divide among the critics on, on how to interpret this anger.
speaker_0HOST
Uh, the, the New Statesman published a critique arguing that she never knowingly accepts fault or paints herself in a bad light, and they interpreted this constant outward blame as, as a, as a form of deep-seated defensiveness.
speaker_1HOST
Yes, and they specifically pointed to her highly guarded account of her late partner Graham Gibson's previous marriage as the primary evidence of that defensiveness.
speaker_0HOST
Right.
Ed SeawardGUEST
I mean, I knew much about Southern Gothic, but I'd never heard anyone refer to Southern Ontario Gothic.
Ed SeawardGUEST
And I came across this old interview, Graham Gibson, who is the late husband of... margaret atwood and he'd been interviewing the the novelist timothy finley um about uh finley's first novel uh back in the late 60s called last of the crazy people and he referred to it as as reminding with southern gothic and finley said well it is a southern ontario gothic i went that's interesting and born and raised in london ontario which is a you know the the dead center of uh southwestern ontario i uh I thought that was interesting.
Ed SeawardGUEST
And, you
J.F. GarrardHOST
know,
Matt GallowayHOST
The Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood is also, as it turns out, a celebrated birder.
Matt GallowayHOST
And she has given a million dollars to Western University in honor of her late partner and fellow novelist, Graeme Gibson.
Matt GallowayHOST
I spoke with Margaret about Graeme's love of birds in 2021, just a few years after his death.
Margaret AtwoodSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Graeme was a late life convert, by which I mean he did not grow up watching birds, and then he had one of those light bulb experiences in one of the Don Valley ravines when he saw a large bird, and he didn't know what it was.
Margaret AtwoodSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
So he found out it was a red-tailed hawk, and from that moment on, he was a birder, as we say.
Matt GallowayHOST
That donation of a million dollars will set up a new chair for avian biology, care- carrying Graeme Gibson's name.
Matt GallowayHOST
Chris Guglielmo is a professor of biology at Western University, director of the Center for Animals on the Move.
Matt GallowayHOST
Chris, good morning.