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July 10, 2015On Sports and Writing
Years ago, when applying to MFA Programs, I was asked for a personal essay about my writing and writing influences. Without a shred of irony I stated that my earliest literary influences were televangelists ...
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April 05, 2025Every Ingredient in Our Ancestors' Kitchen by Willie Poll Thrums With Meaning and Tradition
Métis activist and storyteller Willie Poll has deep connections to her community and traditions, all of which is on full display in a beautiful new picture book from the author. Poll's poetic voice ...
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February 22, 2022Monique Polak on Helping Kids Find Themselves While Exploring Parental Alienation in Her New Middle Grade Book
Everything in Justine's world has changed since her parents got divorced. She and her little sister Bea travel across Montreal from one house to the other, living two lives. But when Justine's mother ...
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March 25, 2025Author Ella Russell Shows Why Respecting Boundaries is Important in Hugs Are (Not) for Everybody!
Young people today have plenty to contend with in terms of their social education, and it is heartening to see that they are encouraged to be aware of their own space and autonomy. And, there are excellent, ...
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June 30, 2025Read an Excerpt From Shane Neilson's Moving Collection of Essays, What to Feel, How to Feel
Today we're featuring a fascinating collection of lyric essays from poet and physician Shane Neilson, a neurodivergent artist and academic whose unique work has been published widely, and to great acclaim. In What ...
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October 06, 2023Sara Truuvert Explores a Child's View of Japanese Internment in Her Moving First Picture Book
In Japanese folklore, a baku is a chimeric creature that children can call on to protect them from bad dreams – an eater of nightmares. In fiction writer and poet Sara Truuvert's first picture book Mira ...
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February 14, 2022
Valentine's Day! (and one or two other things I don't really like)
Hello, Open Book reader. Glad to have you back. So…remember that promise I made early on to curb the sass mouth? Well, apologies in advance because I’m breaking that promise today. Originally, I wasn’t ...
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September 26, 2022“I Choose My Country Over My Personal Needs" Feature Interview with Acclaimed Ukrainian Novelist Ivan Baidak
In just his early thirties, Ivan Baidak has already established himself as a literary superstar in Ukraine, with his novels and short stories winning critical acclaim while at the same time topping bestseller ...
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May 03, 2009
Our Town, 2009 Edition
Come the goodweather folks inthis Portuguese-Italian neighbourhoodhang their clothesout to dryso stirring linesof laundryin the breezeare a sure signit’s warming up.Come fill the cupthe poet said…Of ...
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April 28, 2014
Shake It Up
Range is something to aim for – a poet’s ability to go multiple, whistle one minute, moan the next. Sound like a basset hound, then go for a high-pitched squawk of geese. Try tender, then bold; try ...
