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May 31, 2020Signing off.
Horrific day to be posting this last entry. The violence and harm inflicted on Black people is enraging. Seeing the failure of some to recognize this terror—or worse be complacent and perpetuate it—can ...
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March 22, 2021The Writing Moment with Natasha Ramoutar's Bittersweet
Welcome to “The Writing Moment with . . .”!In this series of craft-focused columns, I will explore a wide range of works, topics, and interests that inspire me with the hope of inspiring you. I will ...
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May 22, 2017
Gotta read
The way it was, shapes of letters in the alphabet were like suggestions of different parts of insects. That was in the beginning when I first became aware of them, how different they were—the construction ...
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April 12, 2014
Poet for Hire
I heard a few days ago that a colleague did a major job of editing that took the better part of a year to complete for a mere five-hundred dollars. I happen to mention this to a friend who works as a ...
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November 20, 2017Talking to Picture Book Creators - Part One
Admit it: Don’t you just wish you were me sometimes?Because when I recently came across four super picture books—A Bedtime Yarn by Nicola Winstanley, The Walking Bathroom by Shauntay Grant, Federica ...
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November 29, 2017So You Want to Write About Race
Somehow I have become on expert on writing race.This was not something I planned for. When I started publishing, I was writing fiction about Chinese Canadian characters, about families who had been invisible ...
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April 21, 2023Read an Excerpt from Gregory Koop's The Donkey Cutter, a Gritty, Moving Tale of Early 20th Century Canada
In Gregory Koop's The Donkey Cutter (Guernica Editions), Mareika Doerksen and her distant father are Mennonite in name only. Both mourning the loss of Mareika's mother, they bide their time until Mareika ...
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June 21, 2022National Indigenous Day!
June 21st in case you didn't know today is National Indigenous Day!WOOT WOOT!It's the day you get to celebrate Indigenous people!Celebrate our culture,our history,our languages,our dances and ceremoniesour ...
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June 25, 2021A daydreamer’s guide to the world outside
How children’s stories can cultivate connection to nature, and why I look wistfully out of windows I’ve spent most spare moments I’ve had during the recent time blob staring out of windows. Between ...
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March 31, 2023April Writer in Residence Manahil Bandukwala Explores the Woman Behind the Taj Mahal in Her Masterful Debut Poetry Collection
One of the most iconic landmarks in world history, the spectacular Taj Mahal, was famously built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife. A romantic story; a favourite tourist ...
