Columnists

Poets Becoming Novelists: On Trusting Leaps and Fragments

I finished the first draft of my novel in mid-March – in the first week of isolation. I hadn’t grasped the gravity of the pandemic then, so I was grateful for the sudden reprieve from the real world. ...

Natasha Ramoutar: On Full Circles and First Books

Less than a month ago, Natasha Ramoutar published Bittersweet, her first book of poems, with Mawenzi House. Less than a month ago, I celebrated the ten year publishing anniversary of my first book, Bleeding ...

On Querying into an Apocalypse

"I feel so cooped up in my house with this smoke and the moths that keep flying by my window. Is a weekend really a weekend in 2020 if it doesn't include plague, pestilence, and Hell fire?" - @a_h_reaumeI ...

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 ...

Stories of the North

There’s no consensus on where Southern Ontario ends and Northern Ontario begins. Some say the French River north of Parry Sound is the unofficial border. Others believe the north begins at the town ...

Book Therapy: Farzana Doctor’s Seven

 “As I slip into slumber, listening to my girl breathing beside me, a sensation of well being settles over my skin like a silk sheet.”-Farzana Doctor, SevenThe closer we got to September, the less ...

How To Become That Kind of Bitch (or, One-Night Stands and New Selves)

Before the pandemic, I had a one-night stand with a person I met at a rave, Tyler. The morning after we slept together, I was buttering my toast and he began to ask probing questions about my life and ...

How to Be Exceptionally Editable

When I first started writing children’s books, I possessed the strength and virility of a thousand strong and virile men. I believed in my ideas and held fast to them. While I was open to the editorial ...

What Do You Do When Your Disability Keeps You from Writing? What I Learned When I Launched a Brute Force Hack on my Brain

What Do You Do When Your Disability Keeps You from Writing? What I Learned When I Launched a Brute Force Hack on my Brain [1]A few years ago, I started hiking alone. I enjoyed escaping the city to one ...

(Cook)Book Therapy: County Heirlooms and Pandemic Cooking

“We hope you’ll try making some of these recipes, and we encourage you to find ways to make them your own. And we also hope this book inspires you, wherever you live, to find personal ways to connect ...