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January 09, 2017The WAR Series: Writers as Readers, with JonArno Lawson
JonArno Lawson The Hobo's Crowbar (Porcupine's Quill) is an infectiously rhythmic collection of children's poetry, filled to the brim with Lawson's trademark (and award-winning) whimsy and wit. The playfulness ...
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March 03, 2014
The Dirty Dozen, with Brian Panhuyzen
By Open Book and Brian PanhuyzenBrian Panhuyzen is a short story writer and novelist and is Open Book: Toronto's March 2014 Writer-in-Residence.Stay tuned throughout the month to hear from Brian on subject ...
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January 12, 2017levarT emiT
Picture it: 1999. The last months of the last year of an infernal century. David Fiore had completed requirements for his History degree. He took our Romantic Literature class for fun. A gumshoe intellectual, ...
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May 07, 2018Craig Terlson on Exploring Truth Through Scandal and Conspiracy
Illustrator Craig Terlson spent more than twenty years drawing for the likes of The Boston Globe, The Globe and Mail, and Saturday Night magazine, racking up numerous awards. After making it to the ...
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November 07, 2019
Where Ideas Begin
Questions every writer is familiar with: “Where did you get the idea?” or “How did you decide what to write about?”How did Denis Johnson decide to make a character obsessed with Elvis Presley’s ...
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June 26, 2021What Makes a Good Writing Routine?
As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm fascinated by other people's writing routines. Not only am I just a somewhat nosy person (as many writers are, I imagine), but I don't have much in the way of a ...
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April 30, 2018May 2018 writer-in-residence Mark Sampson on Indoor Life, the Music in His Head, and Cocktailing
Mark Sampson does it all. From poetry to short stories to humour writing, Sampson's literary chameleon quality has garnered him wide acclaim as a versatile, insightful, wickedly witty writer. Now Mark ...
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November 12, 2019
Keeping Momentum
After the initial idea for a story is grounded, but before there’s enough material for real revisions and edits, writers are somehow expected to get words on the page. This is intimidating! Here a couple ...
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May 21, 2018On racialized motherhood, writing, and sleep deprivation
The day before my son’s due date, I sent what I thought was the final draft of The Better Mother to my editor. The baby’s bedroom was finished: yellow walls, penguin stencil, gingham curtains. My ...
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May 14, 2020Bring Back the Good ‘Ol Days of Getting Lost in Fiction
“The anonymous woman in bed beside me adamantly shakes my shoulder.”—Amber Dawn, Sodom Road Exit“Sometimes we would hide in the closet when the drunks came home from the bar.”—Tanya Tagaq, ...