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May 30, 2009
Walk Good
If you had asked me I’dhave said that whenthe time had come for meto say au revoirofficially by thenit would be warmand we would be outsidein shorts and T’s.But it ain’t so.Of course each year there ...
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February 21, 2022
*Well, excuuuse me, Princess
Welcome back, Open Book reader. Lovely to see you again, hope you’re doing well. As promised, I’m going to give some insight into what fuels all this nerdiness I’m brimming with. The relatively ...
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December 11, 2018December Spotlight on Excerpts: Read About the Maple Leaf from Symbols of Canada
Symbols of Canada, edited by Michael Dawson, Catherine Gidney and Donald Wright (Between the Lines Books), delves into the titular symbols, whether they're as storied as Indigenous carvings or as ...
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June 21, 2023Your Global Indigenous Playlist: Summer Solstice 2023
Yesterday, I received 200-plus comments from an editor on the first draft of a manuscript. I love this part of the publishing process, when I’m in conversation with someone about making a book. Page ...
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August 24, 2023Eugenie Fernandes on Breaking Down the Extrovert/Introvert Dichotomy in Her Lovable New Picture Book
In recent years, the idea of introverts (those who may enjoy social interactions but find them draining) and extroverts (those who gain energy from social interactions) has been everywhere, from online ...
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September 22, 2020Lana Button's New Picture Book Helps Kids Cope with a Common Classroom Anxiety
New environments can be intimidating at any age, but all the changes that come with going to school as a kid can be especially tough. In Raj's Rule (Owlkids Books, illustrated by Hatem Aly) picture book ...
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October 21, 2020The casting call
“Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head and … as you get older, you become more skillful in casting them.” — Gore VidalThe characters who show up in my stories are truly a mixed ...
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April 26, 2014
The Most Important Skill
Someone asks me what’s the most important skill a poet can have and I start to say the power of observation. The world awaits us with all sorts of small truths that can’t easily be seen. When I lose ...
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July 23, 2019Excerpt: Glimpse into Audrée Wilhelmy's Stunning and Mysterious Novel The Body of the Beasts
The strange, dark, and beautiful world of Audrée Wilhelmy's The Body of the Beasts (House of Anansi Press, translated by Susan Ouriou) is an utterly captivating one. In the novel, the Borya family ...
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December 09, 2015Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: Spotlight on 3 Picture Book Creators (2016 Blue Spruce Award Nominees), (Part 2)
Welcome! Today I continue my chat with the three accomplished creators whose picture books have been nominated for the Ontario Library Association 2016 Blue Spruce Award: Sangeeta Bhadra, Elly MacKay ...
