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March 12, 2020
On 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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February 25, 2020
A Love Letter to Scarborough Writers
To busy writers, penning poems on the back of receipts, scribbling into notebooks on Line 3 — this is for you.I rarely find time to sit down and write anymore. Instead, I create fragments wherever I ...
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April 12, 2014
Oh, Suspense!
In some literary circles, "suspense" is a bad word. Some feel that rich language and interesting characters should be enough to engage a reader's attention, and those who need a little pep in their fiction ...
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July 26, 2015
“I Love That Ability to Capture the Surreal and the Comical” — a Chat with Emily Schultz
Emily Schultz is the co-founder of Joyland Magazine, host of the podcast Truth & Fiction, and creator of the blog Spending the Stephen King Money. Schultz’s newest novel is The Blondes (St. Martin's ...
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March 17, 2014
You Are God
Writing is all on the page. Take most other arts: film, music, painting, and what goes into the making of each – the processes, the materials, the effort, are not obvious, are not laid out bare. There’s ...
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February 21, 2022
*Well, excuuuse me, Princess
Welcome back, Open Book reader. Lovely to see you again, hope you’re doing well. As promised, I’m going to give some insight into what fuels all this nerdiness I’m brimming with. The relatively ...
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September 13, 2016
At the Desk: Anna Humphrey
Clara has a secret, and it's a big one. She thinks she just might have superpowers. It's a lot for a fourth-grader to deal with, but Clara has already got a lot on her plate: her favourite neighbour, ...
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March 14, 2014
The Reading Rulebook
I used to go to a lot of public readings of poetry and fiction. Then I had kids, and rarely went, but recently, due to changing circumstances, I've been out to a few more, and what hasn't changed are ...
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February 05, 2018
Exploring Elinor Florence's Picturesque Invermere Writing Paradise
Journalist and novelist Elinor Florence's Bird's Eye View earned rave reviews, so readers will be happy to hear she's back now with Wildwood (Dundurn Press). The novel opens with a Monkey's Paw-esque ...
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June 20, 2023
Frieda Wishinsky Uses the Hidden Secrets of Gardens to Explore Community in Her New Picture Book
Plenty of people enjoy the beauty of a flower in a garden, but when was the last time you asked yourself what a flower was actually doing? In Frieda Wishinsky's A Flower is a Friend (Pajama Press, illustrated ...