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November 04, 2020"There are Moments of Grace and Joy" The 2020 Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Finalists on What They Love About Writing Fiction
The Writers' Trust Fiction Prize (formerly the Writers' Trust Rogers Fiction Prize) is one of the biggest literary awards in the country, with a $50,000 prize purse and a history of highlighting some ...
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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 20, 2016Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: the Magic, the Wonder - Chatting with Ya Fantasy Authors (Part 1)
In my capacity as freelance story coach and manuscript critiquer, I receive many inquiries and, interestingly, I’ve realized that a disproportionately high number of them are from writers working on ...
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April 13, 2018"I Write to Make Sense of Worries" David James Brock on Finding the Calm in Poetry
Poet, librettist, and playwright David James Brock's second collection Ten-Headed Alien (Wolsak & Wynn), is making an impact as big and bold as its title. Poet Linda Besner called it "a sophisticated ...
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February 10, 2017The Entitled Interview, with Dawn Green
Teacher, author, and coach Dawn Green's new young adult novel How Samantha Smart Became a Revolutionary (Red Deer Press) is a startling prescient look at a country torn apart by a tight election (sound ...
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April 19, 2014
Truth Is...
I’ve been thinking about the difference between facts and details, how so many of us cling to something that isn’t quite working in our poems because it’s real, the way it actually happened. Changing ...
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April 26, 2019Poet Ayaz Pirani on Oral Tradition, Literary Gatekeepers, and Writing Faithful Lines
Ayaz Pirani's work has been praised as "wise... surprising [and] sly" and his newest collection, Kabir’s Jacket Has a Thousand Pockets (Mawenzi House), builds on his characteristic insightful, elegant ...
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October 18, 2023Getting to Know Aley Waterman, the Newfoundland Author Whose Debut Novel is Destined to Become a Toronto Classic
In Aley Waterman's debut novel Mudflowers (Rare Machines/Dundurn Press), Sophie's life seems like an indie movie dream from the outside – in her cramped but cool apartment in Toronto's west end, she ...
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May 06, 2019Moving On and Holding On: Writing Picture Books as Therapy
Is it just me or is closure overrated and nearly impossible to achieve? It sometimes feels like the more you try to shut out painful experiences, the more they wave their hands around and yell, “Look ...
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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 ...
