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May 30, 2016The Burden of Positivity
As a writer, reader and reality TV watcher, Canada Reads masterfully combines some of my favourite practices and past-times in a nation-wide, televised battle of the books. And while I enjoyed the 2016 ...
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March 05, 2020Read an Excerpt from Shani Mootoo's Chilling 'Polar Vortex'
Relationships are exciting. As two people begin to bond, walls are brought down, and vulnerabilities are shown. We invite a person into the sanctum of our private life, developing a sense of security ...
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November 05, 2018
The Writing Process (For Me, Anyway)
I mentioned in my first post that most people feel they have at least one or two good novels in them. This is something you hear all the time, even more so if you've put out a book and talk to people ...
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February 07, 2017
Kid Lit Can: Spotlight on Middle Grade Fiction - Part 1
Happy 2017! This month and next, I’m spotlighting middle-grade (MG) novels -- stories written for readers who are generally within the 7 to 12-year-old age range. I’ve written one MG novel (Island ...
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October 07, 2025Jumoke Verissimo's New Poetry Collection CIRCUMTRAUMA is a Haunting Poetic Reckoning
In the fascinating new collection Circumtrauma (Coach House Books), one of Africa’s most celebrated literary voices turns to poetry to reckon with one of the continent’s most haunting histories. ...
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December 20, 2023Get Cozy with Open Book: The Open Book Team on Our All-Time Coziest Reads
As the end of a busy year full of ups and downs approaches, we decided to focus on cozy comfort for our 2023 holiday feature – to share the books that bring us calm, comfort, and peace. We hope this ...
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June 24, 2017Lincoln in the Bardo
While I admire many, many books, very seldom do I wish I’d written the one I’m reading.I wish I’d written George Saunders’s new novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, It’s his first novel, but of course ...
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January 26, 2017On Writing, with Julie Salverson
Julie Salverson has written plays, operas, scholarly texts, and non-fiction, but her newest book, a memoir, may be her most unique work yet. Lines of Flight (Wolsak & Wynn) traces her ten-year journey ...
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November 01, 2021"Human Justice Still Demands It" Read an Excerpt from Die Walking by Obadiah M, an Raw, Anonymous Account of the Rwandan Genocide
Die Walking: A Child's Journey Through Genocide (House of Anansi Press) by Obadiah M. tells the story of the Rwandan genocide through the perspective of one incredibly brave man who experienced its horrors ...
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August 06, 2019"I Want My Readers to Question the World Around Them" Jaime Lee Mann on the Thrilling End to her Environmentally-Focused YA Series
Could anyone blame Mother Earth if she started feeling a little, well, vengeful? In Jaime Lee Mann's Ancient Fall (Blue Moon Publishers), the earth has had enough of the humans who exploit her, who have ...
