In this episode of The Reading List, Canadian author Sean Paul Bedell shares his inspiration drawn his paramedic life and a short excerpt from his novel The Shoebox.

Author Sean Paul Bedell's second book, Shoebox, is published by Now or Never Publishing. In this gritty, emotional novel, Steve Lewis, a dedicated paramedic, faces the emotional aftermath of a fatal accident that casts a shadow over his commitment to saving lives. As Steve grapples with the high stakes of his job and community scrutiny, each life he saves rekindles his passion for his work. The novel explores the human spirit’s capacity for healing.

Sean’s previous novel is Somewhere There’s Music. He has been writing and publishing for more than 30 years. A longtime paramedic and captain with the fire service, he lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

JENNIFER LOVEGROVE is the author of the Giller Prize–longlisted novel Watch How We Walk, as well as three poetry collections: Beautiful Children with Pet Foxes (longlisted for the Raymond Souster Award), I Should Never Have Fired the Sentinel, and The Dagger Between Her Teeth. Her latest poetry collection is The Tinder Sonnets, published by Book*hug Press in Spring 2026. Jennifer LoveGrove divides her time between downtown Toronto and Squirrel Creek Retreat in rural Ontario.

https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/jennifer-lovegrove/the-tinder-sonnets-by-jennifer-lovegrove/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_LoveGrove

Don Gillmor is the author of To the River, which won the Governor General’s Award for nonfiction. He is the author of five novels, Cherry Beach, Breaking and Entering, Long Change, Mount Pleasant, and Kanata; a two-volume history of Canada, Canada: A People’s History; and nine books for children, two of which were nominated for the Governor General’s Award. He was a senior editor at The Walrus, and his journalism has appeared in Rolling Stone, GQ, Saturday Night, Toronto Life, the Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Star. He has won twelve National Magazine Awards and numerous other honours. He lives in Toronto. His latest book is Cherry Beach, published by Biblioasis in 2026.

https://www.biblioasis.com/author/gillmor-don/