The writer Heidi Sopinka discusses her debut novel The Dictionary of Animal Languages (Hamish Hamilton, 2018), the themes in it like love, lost love, being solitary, and more, with Joseph Planta.

The Dictionary of Animal Languages by Heidi Sopinka (Hamish Hamilton, 2018). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: The Dictionary of Animal Languages

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

The book is called The Dictionary of Animal Languages and its author Heidi Sopinka joins me now. In the novel, Ivory Frame, who is in her nineties, recounts many aspects of her past, how she ended up in Paris, her study of art, and her friends and loves. This is all hastened by the arrival of a letter saying that she has a granddaughter living in New York City. I’ll get Ms. Sopinka to tell us as much as she’d like about her book. The book has gotten good notices and explores love, loss, being solitary, and of course the lifelong project that’s evoked in the title of the novel, Ivory’s curating a dictionary that contains the wordless yearning of animals. Heidi Sopinka is a designer and co-founder of Horses Atelier. She has written for such publications as the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Flare, Chatelaine, and The Believer. She is the recipient of a National Magazine Award. The book is published by Hamish Hamilton Canada, which is an imprint of Penguin. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Heidi Sopinka; Ms. Sopinka, good morning.

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