Columnists
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November 04, 2015What’s the Future of the Future?
By Dalton Higgins & Submitted by kateburgessIs the future now? Is it tomorrow, as it should be? Or is the future just an accelerated version of the past and present? Uhhh, have you heard the rapper Future’s new What a Time to Be Alive mixtape ...
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October 21, 2015Festival like a Pro at Toronto’s Great Big Literary Party
By Becky ToyneIt’s October, the month when pumpkin fills our bellies, ghouls parade our streets and writers from around the globe flock like moths to the literary-festival flame. In Toronto (and many Ontario locations ...
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October 14, 2015Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: Q and A with 2015 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction Nominees, Part II
By Susan Hughes & Submitted by kateburgessWelcome! Today I continue my chat with the three terrific authors whose five books have been nominated for the CCBC Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People: Patrick Bowman, Marsha ...
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October 01, 2015Transit Lit: Public Transportation as a Source of Literary Inspiration
By Dalton Higgins & Submitted by kateburgessI live a one minute walk away from a TTC subway station. In theory, this should mean that getting around town should be more fun, efficient and easy. And it generally is. But before I commit any more ...
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September 29, 2015Booking Up: with Big, Big Names at No, No Prices, Appel Salon Events Are Filling up Fast
By Becky ToyneAs summer span slowly towards fall, and as book people gathered to talk about the heavy calendar that lay ahead, a new literary lineup was among the topics under discussion. The Bram and Bluma Appel Salon ...
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September 18, 2015Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: Q and A with 2015 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction Nominees, Part I
By Susan Hughes & Submitted by kateburgessWelcome back to another year of kid lit updates, info, and author chats! First up, I want to share with you the list of the 2015 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Award nominees . The CCBC sponsors 8 ...
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September 02, 2015On the Sensory Pleasures of Putting Pen to Paper
By Becky ToyneA few months ago, I lost a pen. A beautiful fountain pen with one of those squeezy ink chambers that you fill from an old-school inkpot. The pen had been a university graduation gift from my parents and ...
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June 06, 2015Could We Can the Cover Copy?
By Becky ToyneI’m going to tell you something about my fiction-reading habits: I always skip the cover copy. The publisher-penned description printed on the cover and used everywhere from retailers’ websites to ...
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May 29, 2015What’s Your Vision: Publish or Perish?
By Dalton Higgins & Submitted by kateburgessNote to self: forget the zeitgeist. Trends are for dolts. What I mean is that when it comes to some writers and their embrace of social media, e-book culture and new audience development there seems to ...
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August 13, 2014Pioneer Fashion Strikes Gold
By Becky ToynePost-Victorian pioneer style is in. Big beards and work boots (boys); peasant skirts and sensible-heeled ankle booties (girls); huddling in old timey, barn-board-clad bars around old-timey-branded craft ...