Radio Docs & Other WRiting

Radio Documentary
My broadcast work grew out of my love of sound, story and my move back to Nova Scotia in 2002. I had been travelling and working at all sorts of jobs from being a cleaning lady, to teaching ESL in Korea, to waitressing, farm work, storytelling in Northern Ireland, and doing an MFA in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia. When I came back to Nova Scotia, I was living alone in a cottage on an apple farm and listening to the radio constantly as a companion. (It’s why I love radio and podcasts so much now, the presence of voice and sound.) There was a show called OutFront on CBC Radio and I rather spontaneously pitched an idea. Over a period of time I fell into the inspirational hands of Dick Miller, Mary Lynk and Myfanwy Davies and Christina Harnett. It was Mary Lynk who connected me with a producer in Toronto named Kent Hoffman who worked on my first documentary with me. This began a wonderful collaboration where Kent taught me so much about telling stories with sound. I did radio docs for Information Morning, Maritime Noon, CBC Arts Tonight, Outfront. With the support of Christian Harnett, I ventually ended up working with Kent Hoffman again, co-creating and hosting CBC Fear Itself, a national summer show.

The Show
Fear Itself is a summer radio program that explores the whys, wherefores and whathaveyous of fear – why we are afraid, why we are both drawn to and repulsed by fear, the healthy role it plays in human life, and its pathological manifestation. We are built with the flight or fight instinct but what triggers which part of it in each of us? Why does he run screaming, and she with pounding heart, stands to face the monster?

Host
A self-described connoisseur of fear, Christy Ann Conlin eats terror for breakfast–that is, when she isn’t wrestling with her healthy fear of German attack dogs and lobsters, and, embarrassingly for an East Coaster, her fear of the ocean. Christy Ann is the author of Heave, which was a national bestseller, a Globe and Mail book of the year, shortlisted for the Amazon.com First Novel Award and long listed for the 2011 CBC Canada Reads Top 40 Books of the Decade, and the acclaimed novel, The Memento. Watermark, her first collection of short fiction, will be published by House of Anansi in August 2019. Christy Ann has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia where she wrote and studied fiction, stage and screenplay writing. Christy Ann lives and writes in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, an area renowned for brave sailors, fine wines, scary sea creatures and exotic ghosts.
1. Ocean Of Fear
2. OVERCOMING FEAR
3. GETTING CAUGHT
4. FIRST RESPONDERS
5. CREATING FEAR
6. REFLECTING FEAR
7. CHILDHOOD FEARS
8. FEAR OF DEATH
9. FEAR OF VIOLENCE
10. FEAR OF THE DARK
Producer
Kent Hoffman


Murdy’s Musuem
Outfront
Murdy’s Museum, a short radio documentary, originally created for CBC Outfront (2008) with producer, Kent Hoffman.
‘Murdy’s Museum’ is a sound story about my father, Murdy Daniel Conlin, and his magnificent and bizarre barn on our family property. It’s a tribute to my father’s belief that anything is possible — you only have to try and see where it leads.
When I listened to ‘Murdy’s Museum’ the day after my father died, I was startled hearing his voice, his laughter and delight in the music. It was as though he hadn’t died. If you’ve ever lost someone, you mighta have experienced that strange feeling, the massive hole left behind, knowing that they have died but still looking for them none the less. It’s a part of the grief process, of course, a very bittersweet part, where they are everywhere and no where. But hearing his voice, it was like part of him would be alive forever. It was a poignant moment, where he was gone but he was not…we do live on in art and sound.
‘Murdy’s Museum’ is a tribute and celebration of my father’s deep creativity and originality, and how it has shaped his children,and anyone else who had the pleasurable and unforgettable experience of meeting him.
Listen to Murdy's Museum

Other Writing
PERSONAL ESSAYS
Christy Ann Conlin’s Guest Post on Sarah Emsley’s Blog: The Sweet Exhilaration of Solitude
Santaphobia, The Globe and Mail
My Cat Took My Facebook Page Hostage, The Globe and Mail
What Happens to Working Dogs When They Retire, The Globe and Mail
Is It Okay to Share Your Bed With Your Pets? The Globe and Mail
Why Do Dogs Like Car Rides So Much? The Globe and Mail
Love Me or Love My Dog March, The Globe and Mail
The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric
The Hungry Ghosts by Anne Berry
The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
