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November 07, 2018
"We Hunger for the Real" The 2018 Weston Prize Finalists on the Power of Non-Fiction
The Writers' Trust of Canada has been going from strength to strength in recent years, with their prizes and programs increasing in impact and profile every year (the 2018 Writers' Trust Awards ceremony, ...
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November 06, 2018
An Interview with Paul Vermeersch
Self-Defense for the Brave and Happy, the sixth collection by poet, professor, artist and editor. Paul Vermeersch, feels like a flashlight found in a blackout. By his own admission, when writing the poems, ...
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November 05, 2018
The Writing Process (For Me, Anyway)
I mentioned in my first post that most people feel they have at least one or two good novels in them. This is something you hear all the time, even more so if you've put out a book and talk to people ...
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November 02, 2018
Black Tie Books: Guest Authors for the 2018 Writers' Trust Gala on Dressing Up, Books, and Space Suits
There's a reason the Writers' Trust Gala has been a highlight of the literary calendar for so long: not only is it a chance for writers to shed their writing-at-home soft pants and crumpled teaching ...
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November 01, 2018
A Question of Motivation
If you ask any group of people about future goals they hope to one day accomplish, one of the most frequent responses would probably be that they’d like to write a book. Some of them may have ideas, ...
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October 31, 2018
We've always been here
My time here is drawing to a close and I’d like to express great thanks to the Open Book team for inviting me to this space for the past month. It’s been a real pleasure and an immense honour to have ...
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October 31, 2018
November writer-in-residence & Double Debut Author Brian Wilkinson on the Books That Shaped Him
Brian Wilkinson decided to start his publishing life with a bang -- this fall, he's got not one, but two books out with Blue Moon Publishers as a double debut: Paramnesia and Battledoors: The Golden ...
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October 30, 2018
SK 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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October 30, 2018
Independent Publishers Win Big at the 2018 Governor General's Literary Awards
It was a great year for independent presses at the 2018 Governor General's Literary Awards. The seven English language awards (along with their French counterparts) were announced yesterday, with six ...
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October 27, 2018
Characters like family
One of my favourite parts of the writing process is creating and developing characters. I’ve always believed a story is only as strongly crafted as the people in it. Characters are the pillars of and ...