Friday Special Blend
Friday May 1st, 2026 with Susan Johnston
Jane's Walk Ottawa, featuring Kelly McGurrin and Leigh Thorpe, Corrie Rabbe, and Chris White. CKCU x Writersfest: Jennifer Chevalier's The Winter Witch. Misha Solomon.

In Hour One, we'll step out into the city with Jane’s Walk, the grassroots festival of walking conversations inspired by urban thinker Jane Jacobs. We’ll start with organizers Leigh Thorpe and Kelly McGurrin. Next, we’ll head to Overbrook with herbalist (and CKCU host) Corrie Rabbe, whose plant walk reveals the edible and medicinal species hiding in parks and sidewalk cracks, and why these urban wild spaces matter. We’ll wrap up on Bank Street with musician, community-builder, and CKCU host Chris White, tracing the Canadian Folk Walk of Fame. For more information about Jane's Walk Ottawa, check out JanesWalkOttawa.ca. In Hour Two, journalist and novelist Jennifer Chevalier joins Susan to discuss her haunting debut, The Winter Witch. Set in 1670 at the height of the witchcraft trials and the migration of the Filles du Roi, the novel follows two sisters crossing the Atlantic toward New France as rumours of sorcery, questions of faith, and mental distress collide. Chevalier explores how early modern beliefs about magic shaped women’s lives, and how those tensions echo pandemic-era divisions over science and trust. Jennifer will be at Writersfest tomorrow (Saturday May 2) night as part of the Living History discussion, alongside Tara Gereaux and Hélène Gaudy: https://writersfestival.org/events/spring-2026/living-history