The songwriter, musician and film composer David Baerwald discusses his debut novel The Fire Agent (Spiegel & Grau, 2026), with Joseph Planta.

The Fire Agent by David Baerwald (Spiegel & Grau, 2026). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: The Fire Agent

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

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

David Baerwald joins me now. His debut novel, The Fire Agent is to be published in June, and it’s a terrific work of fiction. He weaves twentieth-century history, with the story of Ernst Baerwald, a character based on his grandfather. At the dawn of the twentieth-century Ernst is a fearless idealist, gifted linguist, and talented musician. As we get into his story a bit more, he works for what’s to become the German chemical company IG Farben. He gets into undercover work as a spy, which takes us into the Second World War, and the dawn of the Gold War. The rise of fascism in Japan and Germany is chronicled too in this novel that’s riveting and that also has a romanticism to it. I’llask David about how he came to find out more about his grandfather, and how he reveals some of him through this work of fiction. I’ll ask him about how he views the history of the twentieth-century after having written this novel, and pondering America’s place in the world, then as now, as well as the patterns of history. David Baerwald is a songwriter, musician, performer, and film composer. He spent a formative part of his childhood in Tokyo and Los Angeles. He lives in the Hudson Valley, but joined me from Toronto last week. This new book is published by Spiegel & Grau. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, David Baerwald; Mr. Baerwald, good morning. 

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