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March 19, 2020On Consolation
1.It’s early February, as I write this in my journal. I’m in Hong Kong at the peak of the coronavirus crisis. At least, it may be the peak. A week ago, I saw in the news alerts on my phone that a ...
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May 11, 2016On Doubt
It'll be your constant companion. You won't know a day without it. It will defy cold logic and your efforts to cultivate confidence. It will be haughtily contemptuous of your desire to focus on positives, ...
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August 31, 2012On Editing, with Anita Chong
On Editing is our newest interview series at Open Book, giving us the chance to speak to the great editors who help writers shape their work into the very best version of itself.Today we're pleased to ...
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March 27, 2020On Emergency Landings
A few years ago, I boarded a crowded plane to Asia. As I reached my aisle seat, I was dismayed to notice that the guy next to me had his arm all over our shared armrest, spilling over to my side. He was ...
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November 14, 2018On Fairy Tales
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live…[w]e look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition ...
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April 07, 2016On Fallout: an Interview with Michael Lista About "the Shock Absorber"
Please note the views and opinions expressed by writers in the Open Book writer-in-residence program are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect those of Open Book, its staff or contributors__________________________________________________________________________When ...
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March 12, 2020On Family Secrets
Why does my writing tend to focus on family secrets? In particular, on children trying to unearth secrets tied to their parents’ pasts? I’m often asked these questions during interviews. The first ...
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March 08, 2021On Giving Myself Permission Not to Write
I know I have to write it. The essay I’ve been trying to write for a year and a half.I will be in the grocery store or out in the muck of a hike dripping with sweat and a sentence of it will come to ...
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June 27, 2019On Hanging Laundry
I have an obsession with laundry hung on lines. The image literally stops me in my tracks. There’s so much thought put into the way the sleeves of shirts are pinned just close enough to the hem of a ...
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January 31, 2011On Illustrating, with Jon Klassen
Jon Klassen, winner of the 2010 Governor General's Literary Award for Illustration, talks to Open Book about his prize-winning (and heart-warming) illustrations for Cats' Night Out (Simon & Schuster) ...
