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April 04, 2023Erum Shazia Hasan on Exploring the Complex Moral & Emotional Landscape of International Aid Work in Her Brilliant Debut
It may be a universal truth that phone calls that come in the middle of the night never bring good news, and for Maya, a mother, aid worker, and the main character in Erum Shazia Hasan's We Meant Well (ECW ...
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July 20, 2023Read an Excerpt from When It All Syncs Up, Maya Ameyaw's Tale of a Dazzling Black Teen Ballerina
In Maya Ameyaw's new young adult novel, When It All Syncs Up (Annick Press), Aisha seems to have everything going for her. She has a coveted spot in an elite ballet academy, a relentless work ethic, ...
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July 22, 2021Alma Fullerton Uses Literal Plastic Trash to Advocate for a Plastic-Free Future in Her Inspiring New Picture Book
Alma Fullerton's No More Plastic (Pajama Press) goes beyond simply communicating its titular message in words. Instead, Fullerton got down to the nitty gritty and created her illustrations out of literal ...
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July 22, 2020a quick aside on breaks, interpretations, and momentum
i realized two things after my last post. first, that i was missing video games more than i’d probably like to admit. and second, that after three months of online teaching and attempts at book promo ...
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July 05, 2020Chicken Little in the Time of Covid-19
It’s probably been a long time since you’ve heard the story of Chicken Little. Let me take a moment to remind you. While out walking one day, a chicken named Chicken Little is hit on the head by an ...
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May 08, 2017Tips from a Festival Director
One of the surprising things to happen when I moved to Yukon was that I became director of an annual writers’ conference. As part of my role, I secure authors, negotiating their fees, even signing their ...
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August 25, 2017Welcome to the Great White North
A lifelong Torontonian, I left my hometown several years ago for the Far North. I watched Toronto transform from a big city with the heart of a small town to an enormous city that seemed heartless. I ...
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July 12, 2020Why I've Been Waiting for Lovecraft Country
One of the most divisive and important figures in the horror canon is H.P. Lovecraft (the H.P. standing for Howard Phillip). His impact has been unmistakable, heavily influencing the work of artists across ...
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July 27, 2020The Erotic and the Prophetic: A Lesson Across Centuries
I’m loathe to admit that I only became intimately familiar with the works of celebrated Black feminist theorist and poet Audre Lorde a little over a year ago, when my partner gave me a copy of Sister ...
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April 13, 2017Poetry in Yukon
“The next unit is Poetry.”Was there any phrase that could make me less popular as a teacher?I was teaching Grade 8 English in Dawson City, an historic Gold Rush town of 1,500, just 5 hours from the ...