Columnists

6 Social Media Tips for Authors

I get it. You’ve written, rewritten, and edited your book, and now you have to go out and promote it? Isn’t that someone else’s job? Marketing and publicity teams have all sorts of connections and ...

Book Therapy: Workday Warrior

“Your work likely presents you with one challenge after another. Your personal life, no doubt, does the same. All are sources of stress. And then there are other big-picture stressors—the pandemic, ...

5 Questions with an Established and Emerging Writer

Authors Chelene Knight and Sophie Jai explore novel writing, community, and social media in the respective stages of their differing careers.Chelene Knight is the author of Junie (2022), Dear Current ...

Writing Goals for 2023

I love the clean slate of a new year—the new, unsullied notebooks, the expanse of the year stretching out full of potential, and how everything feels possible. As I was thinking about what I wanted ...

Shake Up Your Writing Routine

January is full of messages about intention setting and challenges. Personally, I do not go in for unwieldy resolutions, but prefer to think of the new year as a good time to shift into something a little ...

Abdulrazak Gurnah and the Rupture of Beauty

As snow fell over Vancouver and Calgary, it was hard not to think about beauty. When we see something beautiful, why do we become still? Why do we feel so calmed? What exactly happens in that moment when ...

Book Therapy: Favourites From My Favourites

“It was the book I was always meant to read. It spoke directly to me, braiding so many currents of my own life—messy motherhood, literary research, poetry—into a rich river of language and rhythm ...

The year’s writing wins

I love a good December retrospective. I love looking back on the year and creating a highlight reel—favourite books, best swims, most listened to songs, best cake I made, best TV show I watched...But, ...

On Orpheus & Eurydice, or the Inevitability of Timing

I’ve become superstitious about my novel. I believe that if I look back at the previous pages, I will not be able to write – not even one word to move it forward. After I finish writing for the day, ...

Book Therapy: Cyclettes

“If I had paused for too long to reflect on whether I was making the ‘right’ choices to optimize satisfaction, I might have become paralyzed in a never doing. Instead I sped towards my hypothetical ...