Tony Aspler is arguably Canada’s wine expert. The former Toronto Star columnist has written a robust new book, The Wine Atlas of Canada: The Indispensable Guide (Random House, 2006), which he recently talked to Joseph Planta about. It literally puts Canada’s wine industry on the map with great photographs and profiles of the wines and wineries throughout Canada.

The Globe and Mail’s Stephen Brunt, one of the nation’s premier sports writers talked with Joseph Planta about his new book, Searching for Bobby Orr (Knopf, 2006).

From a busy street in Toronto, stumping for candidates in yesterday’s municipal elections, federal NDP leader, The Hon. Jack Layton, called in to talk with Joseph Planta about his newly revised book, Speaking Out Louder: Ideas That Work for Canadians (Key Porter, 2006). Layton also talked about working with prime ministers Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, his ideas for Canada’s future, our role in Afghanistan, the challenges posed by Bob Rae and the Liberals, and the Green Party, as well as electoral reform.

Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow’s new book, The Story of French (Knopf, 2006), is a study of the life of the French language, its development, spread, history, and future, and just how the French language has survived despite English’s prevalence, as well as other languages. Nadeau joined Joseph Planta to talk about the book, how he learned English, how Barlow learned French, and their plans to adopt twins from Haiti.

Internationally-renowned thinker and bestselling author (The Ingenuity Gap), Thomas Homer-Dixon, Director of the Trudeau Centre for the Study of Peace and Conflict at the University of Toronto, talked to Joseph Planta about his timely and highly readable new book, The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization (Knopf, 2006).

Full Circle: Death and Resurrection in Canadian Conservative Politics (Key Porter, 2006) is a new book by conservative insider and public policy specialist, Bob Plamondon. Recently, he talked with Joseph Planta about the book, that for the first time sets forth a definitive account of the events that lead to the rebirth of the Conservative Party of Canada. He discussed the players involved, Stephen Harper, Peter MacKay, Preston Manning, Joe Clark, Belinda Stronach, and Brian Mulroney.

Bestselling and acclaimed author Wayne Johnston recently spoke with Joseph Planta about his latest novel, The Custodian of Paradise (Knopf, 2006). As well, Johnston talked about how he wrote, and how he created his most remembered characters.

Journalist Julian Sher recently spoke with Joseph Planta about his new book, Angels of Death: Inside the Bikers’ Global Crime Empire (Knopf, 2006), which he co-authored with William Marsden, a timely look at the Hells Angels, and other bikers who’ve met the attention of the public, not to mention law enforcement.

Film and television producer Brian O’Dea talked with Joseph Planta about his past, which includes prison stays for drug smuggling, cocaine addiction, and more, which he writes about in his new compelling book, High: Confessions of a Pot Smuggler (Random House, 2006), soon to be a major motion picture.

A couple of years ago, NBC News and Today Show correspondent Mike Leonard decided to take his elderly parents and his children on a RV trip across the United States. He talked with Joseph Planta about the journey, its foibles, hilarity, bonding, and more, which are recounted in his new book, The Ride of Our Lives: Roadside Lessons of an American Family (Ballantine, 2006), soon to be a major motion picture.