Ontario book news, interviews and more

Susan Perly on Writing Grief, Reading Don Quixote, and Why Her Favourite Character is a Talking Octopus

Susan Perly's Giller Prize-nominated Death Valley drew comparisons to everything from Twin Peaks to Alice in Wonderland for its dark humour and compelling beauty. So her follow-up, Stella Atlantis ...

Montreal's Matthew Hollett Wins CBC Poetry Prize for Pandemic Inspired Poem

Today, CBC Books announced Matthew Hollett of Montreal as the winner of the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize.His winning piece, "Tickling the Scar", was written during the early days of the pandemic, when Hollett, ...

Read an Excerpt from the Final Instalment of Brit Griffin's Climate Dystopia, The Winter Men III

Brit Griffin's The Wintermen series is a timely and chilling look at a world that could easily be our own in a not too distant future - ravaged by climate catastrophe and divided socially. In the final ...

"My Mind Instinctively Starts in Halloween Mode" Peter Counter on Horror as a Safe Space

Just because spooky season is over doesn't mean you have to pivot to Lifetime movies and all things feel-good. If you're someone who loves a good shiver up your spine in any month, you won't want to miss Peter ...

Souvankham Thammavongsa Wins 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize for Debut Story Collection

Last night in an online broadcast, Souvankham Thammavongsa was named the winner of the $100,000 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her debut short story collection How To Pronounce Knife (McClelland ...

"I Had No Choice But to Write It" The 2020 Weston Prize Finalists on the Power & Pleasure of Nonfiction

As creative nonfiction continues to evolve as a genre and authors find themselves sharing more of their own personal stories as well as traditional research and analysis, we see nonfiction growing to ...

Screenwriting Lessons

Sometimes I forget that I majored in screenwriting during my undergrad, even though it ended up playing a key part in what and how I write now. I had chosen this major because I wasn’t sure what to ...

Saumiya Balasubramaniam's Beautiful New Picture Book is a Pathway to "Appreciate the Magic in the New"

In a sea of endless Canadian snow, Ma misses the colours and warmth of home — so far away now it's hard to explain to her little girl as they walk home from school. But her daughter's joy in the cold ...

Western Canada Dominates CBC Poetry Prize Shortlist

It's another good day for Western Canada with the announcement of the shortlist for the CBC Poetry Prize. With five finalists (four of whom count their homes in Alberta or farther west), it's an intriguing ...

25 Writing Rules & Routines

I'm trying my best not to write about the moon, but it’s hard, isn’t it?Sometimes a poem just needs to be a diary entry. Sometimes a diary entry just needs to be a poem. Same goes for tweets.Try keeping ...