Veteran broadcaster and literary luminary, Eleanor Wachtel, announced yesterday that she will step down from CBC’s WRITERS & COMPANY, a program she co-created and has hosted since 1990. Wachtel’s final deep-dive with international writers as host of the program will be Sunday, June 25. This season finale will also bring the final chapter of this remarkable series to a close, and the development of a new literary program for CBC Radio and CBC Listen will begin.
“It’s been a privilege to engage with the finest minds in the world, and my life has been enriched beyond measure,” said Wachtel. “Writers & Company has been a dream job. So I don’t think of this as retirement. Retirement is not a word that I relate to. I see it more as a change of pace. I’m planning to stay in the game. I’m hoping to use the wealth of my experience to take on different projects.”
Born in Montreal, Wachtel formally began her career at CBC in 1987 as a literary commentator on CBC’s State of the Arts, although she started contributing as a freelance writer-broadcaster for CBC Radio in Vancouver a few years earlier. After her move to Toronto, she hosted shows such as The Arts Tonight and Wachtel on the Arts. As host of WRITERS & COMPANY, a show she also co-created, she has engaged some of the most influential artists on the world stage in intimate conversations, over an exceptional broadcast career that spans four decades. She has interviewed a wide range of acclaimed writers including spy-turned-novelist, John Le Carré, who at the end of their conversation in 2013 told her, “You do it better than anyone I know.” She spoke to the internationally bestselling author, John Grisham, who professed his passion for legal thrillers, and Nobel laureate, Kazuo Ishiguro, opened up about the emotional power of storytelling.
WRITERS & COMPANY has won prizes from the New York Festivals Radio Awards, and Wachtel has earned numerous accolades, including nine honorary degrees from universities across Canada. In 2014 she was promoted from Member to Officer of the Order of Canada. The citation described Wachtel as “the linchpin that connects Canadian readers to the worldwide literary community.”
“A commitment to storytelling and storytellers is the foundation of everything CBC offers Canadians, and Eleanor has provided listeners with a window into other worlds and experiences for decades,” said Barbara Williams, Executive Vice-President, CBC. “Her unique way of unveiling the world’s greatest creative minds and their craft has endeared her to the listeners and the authors she speaks to each week. She has been an anchor of CBC’s literary programming, and we will be cheering her on as she begins her own next chapter.”
The live-audience event and final original show taping will take place on June 16, in association with Luminato Festival Toronto, featuring special guests and surprises. Full details and ticket information will be announced soon on CBCBooks.ca.
A Literary Legacy: 33 Years of CBC’s Writers & Company
Friday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front Street West, Toronto
Tickets will be available soon through Luminato Festival Toronto
WRITERS & COMPANY with Eleanor Wachtel is available Sundays on CBC Radio at 3 p.m. ET/AT, 3:30 p.m. NT, 5 p.m. PT, MT and CT. Past episodes are also available on demand via CBC Listen.
