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December 19, 2023Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu on Collecting 21 Answers to the Question "What is the Future of Blackness?"
In 21 Black Futures: The Anthology, Obsidian Theatre, Canada's leading theatre for Black art, imagines the future of Blackness. Gathering 21 of the country's most talented writers, the anthology collects ...
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October 15, 2021MUSE ON THE LAM
Today’s post is about what to do when your muse goes AWOL. When your muse is a contrarian like mine is, getting them to show up for work often requires lengthy debates. Who has that extra time?The ...
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October 18, 2024Music and Friendship are at the Heart of an Uplifting Middle Grade Novel from Jean Mills
Along with being a prize-winning author, Jean Mills is also a musician and music lover who has found a wonderful way to tie that passion into her latest middle-grade novel. This new book, After the ...
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October 04, 2023Music, Automation, and Writing With a Satellite Mindset
Technology drained away my love of new music with the promise of access. That’s why I didn’t see it happening. Logging on to my subscription streaming service, I’m greeted with abundance—playlists ...
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November 04, 2019
Music, Writing, and the Practice of Art
Like many people in the arts, I have a number of jobs. For me, that includes writing, teaching writing, transcribing music notation, and teaching music.Teaching music came first. For the last fifteen ...
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October 17, 2022
My Abuser Died
Trigger Warning – Sexual Violence, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Trauma.I have pondered the title of this thread for weeks now, wondering if I should lead with a softer opening. Something like, ‘the ...
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August 04, 2020My Attraction to Gritty Stories
Not all stories are romantic or are tied up neatly at the end. Sometimes characters do not have a redeeming quality, and sometimes their experiences have made them hard and difficult to “save.” Gritty ...
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February 25, 2022
My Black History Month list (because yes, there's still time!)
Hey Open Book reader, what you up to this weekend? Looking for something to do? Well, since it’s still technically Black History Month for a wee bit longer, I have some suggestions for you…okay, ...
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March 13, 2017My final two columns: Part One
After nearly a decade, my time as a columnist for Open Book comes to a close. According to my email folder, it was May 2009 when Amy Logan Holmes first approached me with the idea of submitting pieces ...
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October 18, 2018
My friend Richard
In my last post I talked about some of the influential writers and books that inspired me to seriously pursue my own creative writing. My list is much longer than that, and there are many more storytellers ...
