Columnists

Writing a Cover Letter for Your Poetry Manuscript

In the world of Canadian publishing, poets rarely have agents. Poetry collections are often published through small presses, and these presses have open submission periods where anyone can submit a manuscript. In ...

Breaking Down the Ontario Arts Council’s Literary Creation Projects Grant

For writers in Ontario, this is your reminder that the deadline for Literary Creation Projects (Works for Publication) is just around the corner. This grant gives $12,000 to work on your novel, poetry ...

Getting into Writing Book Reviews

Book reviews are a key part of the book ecosystem. Long after a book’s publication date, book reviews help keep titles in relevancy. They can be useful marketing tools for a writer’s arsenal. They’re ...

In Praise of Chapbooks

The first time I heard the word “chapbook” as a new poet, I was pretty sure I misheard things. It was a word that everyone working within poetry seemed to know—and because of that, I felt shy asking ...

In Praise of Literary Magazines

Within the small world of poetry readership in Canada, trade poetry collections are likely more widely read than other forms of publication. But publishing a trade collection of poetry through traditional ...

Writing a Love Poem

I’m writing this column on Valentine’s Day, which is important to note because the column will be published well after Valentine’s Day. Writing a love poem isn’t limited to a specific day, however, ...

Facing (the Failure of) an Empty Event

There’s a particular kind of feeling to describe preparing and planning for a literary event, only to show up and find the room empty, or nearly empty. You keep looking at the door hoping the passers-by ...

The Transition to Short Stories (as a poet)

I’ve spent years now honing my craft as a poet. I know how to edit individual poems, as well as to approach and rewrite entire manuscripts. Why did the need to do the same in fiction seem so daunting ...

I think I have a manuscript

This is what I said to myself about four years into publishing my poems in journals, magazines, and through chapbooks. Sifting through folders to put poems into a single Word document, I saw the page ...

Book Launch Season, Part 2: Being an Audience Member

In the first part of “Book Launch Season,” I talked about how to enter this period of time as an author. Writers are (I hope) readers. As a poet especially, going to readings and sitting there as ...