Rejected Central

For the final episode of Rejected Central, Brent & Dave sit down with award-winning writer Andrew Forbes to talk about rejection, baseball, and the importance of perseverance and stubbornness in pursuit of life's most valuable things. Brent & Dave also reflect on their experiences with the podcast and thank the important humans who've helped make the Rejected Central podcast possible (including you!). 

Rejected Central has ...

In the penultimate Rejected Central episode, we chat with actor, writer, musician, stand up comedian, and playwright Nicole Zylstra! She has faced rejection and risen above and considers herself "Canadian Famous" (and says we might be that, too) and opens up about a life in improv and the art and love of failing better.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-em...

Ron Monteiro is an author, life trainer, podcaster, accountant, entrepreneur, and proud askhole. Though grieving his team Arsenal's latest stumbles, he joins us to talk about what it means to transform oneself in the late summer of one's career and how a quiet life can inform even the most outgoing among us. 

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave...

Brent and Dave chat with Chinese-Canadian author Su Chang about the tension between exploring today's truth and the cost it has for those who went before, as well as what it means to write in the inspired shadow of a father who is a great writer himself. Su's journey reminds us that for Chinese emigrants, maintaining relationships with people still in China — as well as with China itself — is delicate, but is also a story worth tel...

Elizabeth Mateer is a former professional dancer and actor who now writes poetry as a diversion from her work as a fellow in neuropsychology at Harvard University. We chat about the inevitable rejections in the artistic life, what it's like to be a research-focused doctoral fellow in Trump's America, and how reject is about learning, or in her words, "failing upwards." Her book of poetry Searching for Home is titled after a poem sh...

The death of Pope Francis at the age of 88 has predictably generated a tsunami of emotions rushing in from around the globe. Looking past the shiny progressive tributes, flowery words, Vatican-generated propaganda, and wasn't-he-fabulous refrains, Brent & Dave pause for a moment to suggest that his work isn't nearly finished, and the Church still hasn't answered for an awful lot of horrors it has inflicted on the vulnerable and...

Aamir Hussain is a writer, political advocate, TTRPGer, and all-round interesting guy. He joins us to talk about the disappointments and rejections that have brought him to today, where he's releasing a book into the world. He also talks about election disappointments, life as a Muslim who really believes in listening to others, and how writing about a speculative matriarchal society in his novel Under the Crescent Moon can challen...

Celebrating the release of his newest bestseller Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of Catholic Church, veteran journalist and writer Philip Shenon joins us to talk about Rejection, the Church, the 7 modern popes who have shaped how we think about Catholicism, and the one thing the Church should be talking about more.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educa...

Brent and Dave sit down with award-winning and story-redefining writer Anuja Varghese to talk rejection, writing across the genres, writing for writing's sake, and what cats can teach us about rejection. 

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what...

Actor, writer, director, producer, and life-lover Carrie Schiffler joins us to talk about her memoir From the Corner of Bad and Ass (and the forthcoming Beyond the Corner of Bad and Ass) rejection and perseverance and how a life in the arts can carry a person forward. In a wide-ranging conversation, we get real about all of it: laughter, pain, trauma, and joy, and how creativity is sometimes the only response.

Rejected Central is a...

Our instincts might say otherwise, but uncertainty can indeed be a safe space. Therapist and writer Jen Watt joins us in studio to have a wide-ranging and revealing conversation about creativity, parental kid-shaping, religious questioning, and creating safety. 

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcast...

Marissa Stapley is a bestselling novelist and fabulous human, and the author of the newly released The Lightning Bottles. She is the only Canadian writer ever to have been chosen for the prestigious Reese's Book Club, a massive nod to her craft and storyweaving, and she has gotten the chance to work with some big, big names as a result. Still, life is life, and rejection finds even those who earn successes and accolades: for Mariss...

In the middle of another chaotic week in Washington, Brent chats with Ukrainian political strategist Kateryna Odarchenko about shepherding the challenges of post-Soviet democracy through DC's halls of power, navigating the polarized atmosphere in the media, and the power of gratitude amidst global conflict and upheaval.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by award-winning and bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and ed...

Lana Starchuck is an author, speaker, motivator, producer, screenwriter, and record-holding skydiver with a dream of helping others. She sits down with Dave and Brent to talk about what happens when a parachute fails, life gets complicated, and how rejection can give you a new perspective on life. The answer, of course, is to turn those rejections into something better, of course, and fill the gaps with creative and artistic things...

When Caroline Topperman returned to her ancestral homeland of Poland, she discovered that having heritage from a place and being from the place don't always line up, and that one can feel like a reject in places that seem familiar from that familial connection. We sit down and talk dancing, pilates, Poland, famous clients, and her fabulous memoir Your Roots Cast a Shadow.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling no...

American professor and author Randall J Stephens joins us from his home in Norway to talk about exploring pop and Christian Contemporary music, his creative resistance on BlueSky, and using graphic design to help us assess the present by illuminating the past. He can be found on BlueSky, Facebook, and Instagram.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by award-winning and bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator a...

As we move through the deepest, often gloomiest part of the winter, Dave and Brent sit down with psychotherapist and counsellor Stephen Doucet Campbell to talk about why this season can affect us more profoundly than others, and what we can think about, do, and say to each other to process the winter moods and feelings that challenge us.   

Note: this episode contains discussions of mental health challenges, which can be activating...

Actor Richard Willis has seen a few things along his TV, stage, and film journey. We chat with him about his creative bio-pic Strolling Player, love, and acceptance. He has also made Strolling Player available for our listeners to view: click here to watch. 

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by award-winning and bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you ge...

On inauguration day, Elon Musk delivered not one, but two Nazi/Fascist salutes, solidifying his increasingly vocal position that whites should work harder than ever to grab power, and demonstrating with perfect clarity that he is a white supremacist. This should be horrifying to anyone with a conscience, and yet very few influential voices in the US convincingly condemned his actions. Well, we at Rejected Central decided that Nazi ...