Search
-
September 25, 2018
It Begins with the Body author Hana Shafi on Halloween, Karaoke, & Whether Die Hard is a Christmas Movie
Hana Shafi is the hilarious big sister you always wished for. Her frank, smart, relatable poems tackle everything from anxiety to unibrows, unemployment to rushing to throw up in a bar bathroom. It ...
-
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 ...
-
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 ...
-
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, ...
-
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 ...
-
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? ...
-
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 ...
-
June 25, 2019
"A Title Will Often Jumpstart the Development Process of a Piece" Playwright Kat Sandler on Her Play BANG BANG, Titles, & More
Kat Sandler's newest play BANG BANG (Playwrights Canada Press), features not only a play within a play but a movie within in a play as well. When a playwright writes the story of a Black female cop ...
-
May 15, 2014
Words & Curds: Ondjaki, Author of Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret
It was Wednesday, April 30. Poutine time once again! I met with one of Angola's most acclaimed authors, Ondjaki, who has brand-new English translation, Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret (translated ...
-
May 02, 2014
Guttersnipes: Mimi Pond
TCAF is the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. It is an annual week-long celebration of comics and graphic novels and their creators, featuring readings, interviews, panels, workshops, gallery shows, art installations, ...