{"podcast":{"title":"What Happened Next: a podcast about newish books","slug":"what-happened-next-a-podcast-about-newish-books-6367402","podcast_index_feed_id":6367402,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/67f6cc8f0c09f66202906ee8","website_url":"https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/what-happened-next/","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/67f6cc8f0c09f66202906ee8/show-cover.jpg","author":"Nathan Whitlock","episode_count":167,"summary":"In each episode of What Happened Next, author Nathan Whitlock interviews other authors about what happens when a new book isn’t new anymore, and it’s time to write another one. This podcast is presented in partnership with The Walrus.https://thewalrus.ca/podcasts/what-happened-next/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-20T16:19:26.730524+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-happened-next-a-podcast-about-newish-books-6367402"},"episode":{"title":"Donna Jones Alward","slug":"donna-jones-alward","published_at":"2026-03-23T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-happened-next-a-podcast-about-newish-books-6367402/donna-jones-alward","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-happened-next-a-podcast-about-newish-books-6367402","url":"https://shows.acast.com/what-happened-next-a-podcast-about-newish-books/episodes/donna-jones-alward","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/67f6cc8f0c09f66202906ee8/e/69bd97be7878605e119c58db/media.mp3","summary":"My guest on this episode is Donna Jones Alward. Donna wrote and published dozens of romance novels before shifting to historical fiction in 2024 with the bestselling novel When the World Fell Silent . Her most recent book is the novel Ship of Dreams , which was published in 2025 by HarperCollins Canada, and was also a national bestseller. Author Jennifer Robson called it “a thoughtful and immersive novel that confirms Alward’s gift for meaningful and character-driven storytelling.”   Donna and talk about the astonishing fast pace with which she published books up until this year, which is the first one of her career in which she has no new books coming out, about that shift from romance to historical fiction, and about the perils inherent in writing a novel about a story everyone feels they already know… such as the sinking of the Titanic. This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock , in partnership with The Walrus . Music: \"simple-hearted thing\" by  Alex Lukashevsky . Used with permission. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"My guest on this episode is Donna Jones Alward. Donna wrote and published dozens of romance novels before shifting to historical fiction in 2024 with the…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1669,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-happened-next-a-podcast-about-newish-books-6367402/episodes/donna-jones-alward/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-happened-next-a-podcast-about-newish-books-6367402/donna-jones-alward.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}