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August 08, 2024Read an Excerpt from The Outsmarters by Deborah Ellis
Award-winning author, feminist, and peace activist Deborah Ellis is a prolific author of books for young people, and she is no stranger to conflict resolution and illustrating what it takes to overcome ...
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July 20, 2017
writing with dyslexia
I could not really read until I was about eight. I have a distinct memory from 1977-- around June-- when I was sitting in my elementary school class watching other kids read. I had just transferred schools ...
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September 18, 2017
Unsung Heroes of Literature: You know what I mean ... An Interview with Ellipses
It was extremely difficult to get to the restaurant where Ellipses and I had agreed to meet. This was primarily the result of the fact that Ellipses wouldn’t give me the name of the restaurant, only ...
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October 31, 2017
The Writer in the World: Coda
When I became that book all those years ago, the effects of art in my life were not definable. I only knew that I enjoyed storytelling and later I would appreciate that my relationship to story has everything ...
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October 30, 2018SK Dyment on Crafting Characters in Steel Animals, a Smart, Hilarious New Book of Queer Magic Realism
Jackie is a quiet loner who happens to secretly be a badass bank robber. Vespa is a artist who rides motorbikes and obsessively plans her revenge on an ex-partner. Together, they find love and a heap ...
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November 22, 2018
Inspiration is Inconvenient
I’ve been talking about writing, publishing, YA, comics, and all of these other aspects of being involved in the writing world. Now I’m going to interrupt all of this to talk about inspiration. It’s ...
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February 05, 2019Who I Think About When I Write … It’s Probably You: A List of Questions to Ask Yourself About Audience as You Write
I find it really challenging to write a picture book without imagining its audience. In whose hands will the finished book end up? What will make them pick it up? Will they find my story satisfying? To ...
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June 28, 2019Navigating Microaggressions as a Black Writer in CanLit
Story time! Yesterday evening, I had the pleasure of doing a talk with the wonderful and talented Olive Senior and I was excited because it was held in the same neighbourhood where my protagonist, Kara, ...
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August 31, 2020How to Be Exceptionally Editable
When I first started writing children’s books, I possessed the strength and virility of a thousand strong and virile men. I believed in my ideas and held fast to them. While I was open to the editorial ...
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July 06, 2016What is Literary Fiction? Ask a Romance Publisher
Years ago, I was the guest author at a summer camp for teen writers. The afternoon started well: I read a bit from my first novel, spoke in very general terms about how I became a writer, and outlined ...