Who wouldn't want to turn their passions into their trade? With roots in D.I.Y. culture, Emily Pohl-Weary has been doing it her way for years with all paths leading to more opportunities. Now with five books, a series of comics, and a literary magazine, Kiss Machine, under her belt, her latest book—the teen novel Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl—(Penguin Razorbill in Canada and Skyscape in the U.S.) is set to be released on readers this September.

49th Shelf sat down to chat with Emily at The Academy of the Impossible, co-founded with Jesse Hirsh in 2011. The Academy is a community learning centre in Toronto where people teach each other how to achieve their dreams. It's the Hogwarts School for Social Good.

Emily's also the founder of the Toronto Street Writers, a free writing group for inner-city youth.

What's impossible? Nothing, if you set your heart and time to it. In this podcast, she talks about her famed grandparents, science fiction writers, Judith Merril and Frederik Pohl, winning a Hugo Award, and how to create an escape from the harsh realities of being a teenager.