Joseph Boyden (born 31 Oct 1966) is, Wikipedia tells us, a Canadian novelist and short story writer.

"He grew up in Willowdale, North York, Ontario and attended the Jesuit-run Brebeuf College School." His father Raymond Wilfrid Boyden, was a medical officer who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and was the highest-decorated medical officer of World War II.

Of Irish, Scottish and Métis decent, Boyden writes about the First Nations heritage and culture. Three Day Road, is a novel about two Cree soldiers serving in the Canadian military during World War I. It was inspired by Ojibwa Francis Pegahmagabow, the legendary First World War sniper. Boyden's second novel, follows the story of Will, son of one of the characters in Through Black SpruceThree Day Road. It won the Giller Prize.

He studied creative writing at York University and the University of New Orleans, and subsequently taught in the Aboriginal Student Program at Northern College. He divides his time between Louisiana, where he and his wife, Amanda Boyden, are writers in residence, and Northern Ontario."

We met recently in Ottawa to talk about his contribution to Penguin's Extraordinary Canadians series, Louis Riel & Gabriel Dumont. Please listen here (apologies for all the background clammer. It recedes a bit after the first few minutes):

John Ralston Saul was elected President of International PEN in October 2009.

His award-winning essaysand novels have had an impact on political and economic thought in many countries. Declared a “prophet” by TIME magazine, he is included in the prestigious Utne Reader’s list of the world’s 100 leading thinkers and visionaries. His works have been translated into 22 languages in 30 countries.

He has received many national and international awards for his writing, most recently South Korea's Manhae Grand Prize for Literature. He has published five novels, and is General Editor of the Penguin Extraordinary Canadians project, a series of 18 biographies that reinterprets important Canadian figures for a contemporary audience by pairing well-known Canadian writers with significant historical, political and artistic figures from 1850 onwards.

Born in Ottawa, Saul studied at McGill University and King's College, University of London, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1972.

We met recently in Ottawa to discuss his general editoring of Extraordinary Canadians, and his particular authoring of Lafontaine and Baldwin, one of the books in the series.

Please listen here:

Adrian Harrington (born 1948, Chelsea, England) is a noted antiquarian bookseller who specialises in first editions written by Winston Churchill, Arthur Conan Doyle, Graham Greene, J.K.Rowling and, particularly, Ian Fleming. He is a Past President of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA), 2001–2003, and the immediate past President of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). He has exhibited at major international book fairs in America, Canada, Hong Kong, Britain and Ireland, and for the past decade has Chaired Britain's leading rare book event, the summer ABA Book Fair at Olympia, London.. Harrington has been a regular consultant on rare books for Millers Price Guide, and has been interviewed on book-related matters by the BBC, the Daily Mail, Australian Television and now, you guessed it, The Biblio File.

We met late last year at the Toronto Antiquarian Bookfair to talk about the challenges that currently face the antiquarian book trade, notably an aging book collecting and bookseller population, and the resulting closings of many bricks and mortar stores. I start off by asking Adrian what ILAB and others are doing to try to improve the situation.

Please listen here: