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May 29, 2023
Bringing It All Back Home
As I write this, I am sitting outside in the backyard of a rowhouse in Toronto’s East End. The wind is stirring the leaves of a big maple tree spreading its branches high above me, and stirring the ...
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October 20, 2025Writing Protagonists Who Don’t Care If You Like Them
As writers, we want our readers to connect with our protagonists, to root for them and relate to them. It makes sense – human connection is at the heart of storytelling. If a reader just utterly hates ...
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March 08, 2021On Giving Myself Permission Not to Write
I know I have to write it. The essay I’ve been trying to write for a year and a half.I will be in the grocery store or out in the muck of a hike dripping with sweat and a sentence of it will come to ...
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June 11, 2018
Tweet Tweet: A City’s Past & Present: Remapping Vancouver
@poetchelene: After reading and researching about the setting in my novel I felt compelled to recognize the city as a character. #hogansalleyfactorfiction “Junie stood on her balcony overlooking the ...
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May 29, 2020Making Time: Why Now is the Perfect Time for Tarot
I don’t want to pretend that I know the history of the Tarot or how it should be used, but I’ve been using it for the last three years because it’s been immensely helpful. I’m not an “expert,” ...
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December 04, 2024Sophie Kohn Celebrates the Power of Laughter in Katrina Hyena, Stand-up Comedian
A multi-talented artist who teaches humour-writing as a specialty, Sophie Kohn is no stranger to the effect of laughter and the empowering nature of humour as it develops in young people. This is a ...
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January 15, 2020The Craft of Reading: How Reading 260 Books This Year Made Me a Better Writer
I was making a care package for a writer friend recently and wanted to include a book in it.“What have you been dying to read?” I asked her before heading out to the bookstore.“Fever Dream by Samanta ...
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October 18, 2018"Dreaming of the Day I’d Get to Be on That Stage" Talking Festivals, Writing Tips & Nerves with 3 TIFA Guest Authors
October 18 marks the launch of the 39th edition of the Toronto International Festival of Authors - but in a way, this is also year one for the newly re-branded and re-imagined festival (formerly known ...
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June 24, 2019Advice From Mentors Past
One of the most surprising things I’ve encountered since starting to talk publicly about my writing and my first book is how many people appreciate the fact that I mention the positive influence of ...
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May 26, 2025The Key to Publishing a Book: Being a Staunch Celebrationist
Writing a book takes forever. Or, it does for me. I always think I’ll be able to crack the code for the next one, and write faster and be more efficient, but the reality is, it takes me five years to ...
