Ontario book news, interviews and more

Excerpt! Get Hooked on the Mystery in Ann Lambert's Dark Quebec Tale, The Birds That Stay

In the opening of Ann Lambert's The Birds that Stay (Second Story Press), Louis Lachance sneaks away while his wife is sleeping - not for an affair, but to take one more job as a handyman. Instead of ...

Poetry School: Feminist re-vision with Ms. Rich

Feminist revisionist mythologies represent a vibrant stream in mid-to-late 20th- and 21st-century poetry. I’m thinking of Muriel Rukeyser’s Orpheus; Carol Ann Duffy’s The World’s Wife and Feminine ...

Smokii Sumac on Being Seen in Poetry, Why Endings Matter, and a New Spin on Love Letters

Smokii Sumac's you are enough: love poems for the end of the world (Kegedonce Press), a debut collection that breaks your heart, makes you laugh, and leaves you gutted all at once, began as a daily writing ...

Poetry School: Rilke’s advice against advice

My aversion to the poetry workshop grew quickly many years ago. Let me correct that: my aversion to the untutored, undisciplined poetry workshop.Although I’ve been writing poems off and on since I was ...

Behind the Scenes with Hannah Moscovitch: The Acclaimed Playwright on Bad Reviews, MFAs, & Awards

Over the past 15 years, the name Hannah Moscovitch has become synonymous the best, brightest, and boldest of young Canadian theatre. Her work has been produced around the world, with prizes adding up ...

On Burnout

I’ve finished my first book. I’ve done the writing, the rewriting, the editing, more rewriting, the copy editing, the fact checking… I think you get the point. It was a lot of work. But now I’m ...

Poetry School: Denise Levertov on form as a revelation

After reading poet Denise Levertov’s 1965 essay “Some Notes on Organic Form,” I had a revelation: I write poetry mainly in organic form. Given that the notion of the work of art as a self-germinating ...

"I am a Fighter" Nilofar Shidmehr on Writing Iranian Women's Stories in Her Powerful Collection Divided Loyalties

Nilofar Shidmehr is known for her powerful poetry collections, but her newest book sees her working in a different genre: short fiction. Her voice is just as arresting in the short stories of Divided ...

Writing Black Futures: I see you creating strong bonds

In February of 2018 I had curated an event at the Vancouver Public Library called “Where are you really from?” which I hoped would create a safe space for dialogue around what it means to identify ...

"I Put My Faith in Those Three Main Characters" Oakland Ross on His Intriguing New Novel Swimming with Horses

Sometimes the people who leave the biggest impression on you are the most surprising. In Oakland Ross's Swimming with Horses (Dundurn Press), Sam Mitchell is an average teen when he meets Hilary Anson, ...