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July 11, 2016Five Things Literary: Ottawa, with Monty Reid
Ontario is a literary province in every sense — it's chockablock with historically significant points of interest that anyone can visit, but it's also full of seemingly simple local spots beloved by ...
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June 28, 2016The WAR Series: Writers As Readers, with Sue Sinclair
Sue Sinclair's Heaven's Thieves (Brick Books) gets right to the heart of the questions that drive us. What is beauty? What is the point of art? How are we meant to live, and how do we engage with the ...
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May 31, 2016Special Feature! Talking About Poetry with the Griffin Prize Finalists
The Griffin Poetry Prize is a career-making honour, and has built itself into one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world, honouring the best in both Canadian and international poetry for ...
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May 16, 2016Profile on Monty Reid, with a Few Questions
Ottawa poet Monty Reid, who moved to the area in 1999 after spending most of his working life in Alberta, including side trips to British Columbia and Quebec, was originally born in Saskatchewan. He is ...
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April 12, 2016Griffin Prize Shortlist Announced, Including Debut Poet Liz Howard
The 2016 Griffin Prize shortlists were announced today, with nominees announced for both the international and Canadian prizes. The Canadian shortlist is particularly interesting, featuring both a book ...
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April 24, 2015
On Being Led by a Poem
Yesterday evening, a friend emailed me a copy of Jan Zwicky’s “The Geology of Norway” from the collection Songs for Relinquishing the Earth (Brick Books, 1998). I’d never read the poem before, ...
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April 30, 2014
Timelessness
Over the course of the WIR experience, I’ve often used my morning writing time to work on that day’s blog. This is sacred time when I shut the door on all distractions, from phone calls to my cat ...
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April 29, 2014
Questions Not to Ask While Facing a Blank Page
Is enjambment supposed to be pronounced with a French accent?What do you do when you unpack a line and can’t figure out where you thought you were going in the first place?Is a metaphor just a simile ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
