Ontario book news, interviews and more

Mike Barnes on the Big Books in His Life, Including One Important "Thundering Masterpiece"

Mike Barnes is one of those rare writers who can do it all – in poetry, short fiction, novels, and memoir, he takes readers on nuanced, brainy, powerfully moving journeys. Fiercely intelligent yet consistently ...

"Prisons, Peacocks, Jarred Garlic" A Conversation with the Editors of Biblioasis' 2024 Best Canadian Series

Every year Biblioasis, the award-winning Windsor-based independent publishing house, releases their Best Canadian series, collecting the year's most powerful and innovative Canadian writing in short ...

7 Ways to Develop Secondary Characters

Many authors do a good job at developing their protagonist or POV characters. After all, readers will be in these characters’ heads throughout an entire book. But as many readers can attest to, sometimes ...

Zain Bandali Uses Mehndi to Talk About Gender, Creativity, and Being Your True Self in His Delightful Debut

In Zain Bandali's Mehndi Boy (Annick Press), Tehzeeb loves to draw. He practices his clouds, patterns, stars, and more, as whole galaxies of beautiful and intricate designs swirl across his notebooks. ...

Anthropologist David R. Samson Wins $60,000 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy

Fresh off awarding more than $300,000 in awards just last week, the Writers' Trust announced today more exciting prize news, with the third annual presentation of the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy.This ...

6 Books That Impacted Adriana Chartrand, Author of the Acclaimed Debut An Ordinary Violence

Try as she might, nothing is quite right in Dawn's life. A young Indigenous woman eager to leave a city full of bad memories, she's moved to a new place to start over, but she's haunted by messages from ...

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 ...

Arts in Evolution: The Word on the Street's New Leadership Team on Their Innovative Lateral Model

The Word on the Street is one of Toronto's biggest, oldest, and most beloved literary festivals, and it has recently undergone big changes on the staff side. Festival Director David Alexander announced ...

The Writers' Trust Awards Over $300,000 in an Emotional Prize Ceremony, with More Good News for Anuja Varghese

Last night at CBC's Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, publishers, writers, and industry professionals gathered for one of the most impactful nights in the Canadian literary calendar: the Writers' Trust Awards, ...

Excerpt from Nights Too Short to Dance by the Late French Canadian Literary Icon Marie-Claire Blais

Marie-Claire Blais was known for her fiery writing, her passionate representation of the French Canadian experience, and her fearless literary voice. Over 70 years, she became an icon of Quebec, Canadian, ...