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June 16, 2021
Playwrights Team Andrea Mapili & Byron Abalos on Creating a Magical Adventure Story Where Filipinx-Canadian Kids Can Feel Seen
What book loving kid didn't dream of being literally transported into the pages of their favourite adventure? For 12-year old Philly, that dream becomes a reality when opening a mysterious old book whisks ...
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November 18, 2015
Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: Spotlight on 3 Picture Book Creators (2016 Blue Spruce Award Nominees), (Part 1)
How many Canadian picture books are traditionally published each year? Meghan Howe, Library Coordinator of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, estimates the number to be between 180 and 200.So imagine ...
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December 09, 2015
Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: Spotlight on 3 Picture Book Creators (2016 Blue Spruce Award Nominees), (Part 2)
Welcome! Today I continue my chat with the three accomplished creators whose picture books have been nominated for the Ontario Library Association 2016 Blue Spruce Award: Sangeeta Bhadra, Elly MacKay ...
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May 31, 2019
"I Wanted This to Be About a Specific Third Culture Kid" June 2019 writer-in-residence Zalika Reid-Benta on her Stunning New Story Collection
We are extremely excited to announce that Zalika Reid-Benta, author of Frying Plantain (House of Anansi Press) is our June 2019 writer-in-residence. Frying Plantain, Reid-Benta's brand new book of short ...
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November 24, 2015
On Writing Violence - An Addendum
I’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback and some questions about one of my first posts for Open Book, “On Writing Violence.” One reader, Susan, asked me in the comments about how this all ...
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August 06, 2019
"I Want My Readers to Question the World Around Them" Jaime Lee Mann on the Thrilling End to her Environmentally-Focused YA Series
Could anyone blame Mother Earth if she started feeling a little, well, vengeful? In Jaime Lee Mann's Ancient Fall (Blue Moon Publishers), the earth has had enough of the humans who exploit her, who have ...
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December 14, 2023
Read an Excerpt from Emma Metallic's Beautiful, Snowy Debut, Nipugtug, Written in Both Mi’gmaw & English
A meditative snowshoe through the forest might be just what we all need in the busy holiday season. While not many of us have the chance to don snowshoes and absorb the peace of a snowy wood, after reading Mi’gmaw ...
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July 15, 2019
"The More Fun I am Having, the Better the Writing" Novelist Susan Swan on Finding Joy in the Writing Process
In Susan Swan's newest novel, The Dead Celebrities Club (Cormorant Books), readers meet charismatic, high-flying financial conman Dale Paul. When Paul's empire is revealed to be an exploitative sham, ...
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February 10, 2021
Treaty Words Author Aimée Craft on Why She Wants Her Young Readers to Know They are "Part of Something Bigger Than Them"
At the heart of Anishinaabe/Métis lawyer Aimée Craft's wise and engaging Treaty Words: For As Long As the Rivers Flow (Annick Press, illustrated by Luke Swinson) is a question: Just what is a treaty? ...
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June 02, 2021
Anne Laurel Carter's Moving Picture Book What the Kite Saw was Inspired by Children She Met in the West Bank
In the darkest moments, sometimes it is the smallest and simplest things that bring comfort. When a young boy in Anne Laurel Carter's moving picture book What the Kite Saw (Groundwood Books, illustrations ...