Ontario book news, interviews and more

How To Make a Great Book Cover

The most important lesson I learned when I self-published my first book was that readers do judge a book by its cover. This is often framed as negative but as author and illustrator Annie Mok recently ...

The WAR Interview Series: Writers as Readers, with Devon Code

Journey Prize winner Devon Code moves from the short story to the novel with his newest book, Involuntary Bliss (BookThug). The insight and deft prose that won Code accolades for his short story collection, ...

"What's Your Story?" Obpo Writing Contest Winners! Part Two: North York

We're excited to bring you the second instalment of the Ontario Book Publishers Organization's inaugural What's Your Story? writing contest winners. The competition asked authors across the city to ...

Reconciling a Double Life: Law and Literature

I’m very happy to be spending the month of October as Writer in Residence at Open Book. I’m also happy that it’s a virtual residency as I was able to skip town on the very first day to attend a ...

Governor General's Literary Award Nominees Announced with More Good News for Madeleine Thien!

2016 marks the staggering 80th anniversary of the Governor General's Literary Awards. The shortlists, announced today, are interesting ones this year, with the fiction list especially notable for its ...

Contest for Young Writers - Enter the Write Across Ontario Competition!

As book lovers, it's exciting to us to see the next generation of literary talent begin to flex their writerly muscles. To that end, Open Book is proud to partner with the International Festival of Authors’s ...

The Vine Awards Kick Off Revamped Prizes with an Inspiring Year

2016 Vine Award winners After a previous incarnation as the Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards and a hiatus last year to re-focus and re-launch, the Vine Awards for Jewish Literature arrived ...

The Lucky Seven Interview, with Bill Turpin

As a longtime journalist, Bill Turpin surely drew on plenty of real-life experience while writing Max's Folly (Guernica Editions). From Max's dangerous adventures while reporting in Latin America to ...

Final Post

Hi Open Book Readers,I’ve had such a wonderful time being your Writer in Residence this month.It feels like perfect timing that I’m writing my last Writer in Residence post immediately after doing ...

Interviews With Three Up and Coming Writers

Hi Open Book Readers,I feel very fortunate to be doing my MFA for the Masters of Creative Writing at Guelph University. I have some incredibly talented classmates, and I want to share three interviews ...