What is Your MOTIVE?

About

Why do writers write and what keeps them writing? Join Tom Ryan, Jonathan Whitelaw, Eva Jurczyk in conversation with Steven Beattie as they discuss the writers and books that inspire them, the tropes they love (or loathe), the culture and creative quirks that keep them going with inspiration- and perhaps a little procrastination. An informal conversation about successes and failures, motivation and and meaning, where the authors share when they almost gave up and what kept them going.

Moderated by Steven Beattie

Eva Jurczyk

Eva Jurczyk was born in a mining town in Poland and wound up halfway around the world in a Canadian city that often masquerades as New York in the movies. As her day job, she buys books, building library collections for the University of Toronto Libraries.

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Tom Ryan

Tom Ryan is the author of two adult mysteries, the internationally bestselling The Treasure Hunters Club, which was a 2025 Edgar nominee for the Lilian Jackson Braun Award, and We Had a Hunch, which Publishers Weekly called “criminally good fun”. He is also the author of the YA mystery Keep This to Yourself, winner of the 2020 ITW Thriller Award for Best Young Adult Novel, the 2020 Arthur Ellis Award for Best YA Crime Book, and the 2021 Ann Connor Brimer Award.

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Jonathan Whitelaw

Jonathan Whitelaw is a writer, award-winning journalist and broadcaster. After working on the frontline of Scottish politics, he moved into journalism, covering everything from sports to music to radioactive waste – and everything in between.

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