Ontario book news, interviews and more

Lana Button's New Picture Book Helps Kids Cope with a Common Classroom Anxiety

New environments can be intimidating at any age, but all the changes that come with going to school as a kid can be especially tough. In Raj's Rule (Owlkids Books, illustrated by Hatem Aly) picture book ...

What Timothy Findley Taught Me

Unfortunately, it isn’t often that a major biography of a Canadian writer is published. Such a book takes years to write and costs the author a great deal, not only in work time but also in research ...

Contest: Expand Your Mind & Your Bookshelf with an Ideas & Imagination Prize Pack from WOTS

Some books leap out of the crowd as totally new, fresh, brave, and timely. Whether fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, there are countless writers in Canada tackling big ideas with imagination and innovation. ...

How writing rituals saved me from quitting as a writer

I define my writing ritual as a series of unique actions taken that tells my brain it’s writing and creation time. This is part preparation, part boundary-setting, part protective aura. I know that ...

CBC Books Announces 35-Writer Nonfiction Prize Longlist, including Kevin Chong & Adrienne Gruber

Yesterday CBC Books announced a whopping 35-writer longlist for the CBC Nonfiction Prize. One of three literary awards run by CBC (in addition to a poetry and a short fiction award), it's one of the ...

The Word on the Street: Authors Lamees Al Ethari, Karoline Georges, & Michelle Parise on Going Virtual for WOTS

An annual highlight of Toronto literary calendar, The Word on the Street brings together authors and book lovers for reading, discussions, workshops, and a massive literary marketplace. This year, of ...

To Pandemic or not to Pandemic

 Surely any period of upheaval and uncertainty is a difficult one to start a novel.   And  here we are, seven months into the pandemic and with no end in sight.  Let’s say that you’re a novelist ...

Adan Jerreat-Poole on Comfort Reads, Finding Identity in Fairy Tales, & One Fabulous L'Engle Quote

As readers enter Adan Jerreat-Poole's The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass (Dundurn Press), they sink into a richly rendered fantasy world at war, where witches' assassin are the most deadly of weapons. Like Eli, ...

"I Couldn’t Type Fast Enough" Phyllis L. Humby on First Drafts and Newfoundland Magic

Phyllis L. Humby's Old Broad Road (Crossfield Publishing) is a story of the complications, joys, and risks of taking an unexpected leap of faith. When Sylvia Kramer leaves her comfortable life on the ...

Contest: Travel through CanLit with a Words Across Canada Prize Pack from The Word on the Street

Travel is complicated right now, but there's a way to endlessly explore without ever leaving home - dive into a great book! We want to help you "travel" the country with four spectacular novels. Enter ...