Ontario book news, interviews and more

May Contest: Win a 3-Pack of Books from Crossfield Publishing!

Mother's Day is coming up fast, and in honour of the day, Crossfield Publishing and Open Book are partnering to give away a 3-pack of their best-selling books to two lucky winners!The winning contestants ...

Eden Mills Writers Festival to Host Six Months of Online Literary Events

While this year's edition of the Eden Mills Writers Festival may not be happening in its traditional form, the organizers have announced their plans to host a series of online literary events running ...

On Sounding Stupid: A Love Letter to my OWN DAMN SELF

In my last post here I want to reflect back on what I realized about myself while writing these love letters to my lovely poet friends over the last month of isolation. I wasn’t sure at first where ...

Poets in Profile: Catherine Owen on Accepting the Muse, Tennyson's "The Eagle", and the Politics of Poetry

After addiction claimed the life of her spouse in 2010, poet Catherine Owen packed up and moved into an apartment on Vancouver's Fraser River. During her morning walks along the shore, she found in its ...

A Changing Landscape: FOLD Authors Talk Diversity, The Writing Life, and Favourite Reads

The Festival of Literary Diversity (popularly known as FOLD) has been bringing together creators from diverse and underrepresented communities world-wide since its inception in 2016. Held during the first ...

Literature in Isolation

“When this is over, remember how important books and movies and television and music and public radio were to your experience and your ability to get through a really hard time.”—Elisabeth de Mariaffi In ...

CCBC Announces Robert Munsch's Mortimer for TD Grade One Book Giveaway

This September, Canadian Grade One students will each receive a copy of Robert Munsch's classic Mortimer (Annick Press) to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the TD Grade One Book Giveaway.The Canadian ...

Love Letter to the Fearless Dr. Up

Well, it’s somehow the end of April and that brings me to just about the end of my time here as Writer in Residence for Open Book. At the end of the month I’m going to post a quick wrap up of everything ...

A Crip Writer’s Advice for Surviving a Pandemic

 “Write a book!”“Finish your memoir!”“Turn all this fear and grief into brilliant poetry!”As we have all now found out, the cultural imperative to be as productive as possible doesn’t disappear ...

Who Do You Think YOU Are?: A Shady Love Letter

I think that, perhaps, my last post here was a bit too hard on universities. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still angry as all hell at the larger structures of the academy. In these pandemic times, the academy ...