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January 18, 2024Mariam Pirbhai Digs Deep to Find Profound Truths in Gardens, and Ourselves
We are surrounded by plantlife all the time, and yet, how often do we really think about the ways that we interact with even the most familiar vegetation? Perhaps it takes a person who has travelled far ...
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April 29, 2024Emily Weedon Writes a Modern Epic in the Debut Novel, Autokrator
Classics and epics are in focus in Emily Weedon's debut novel. Inspired by a broad range of sweeping tales like Ghormenghast, Dune, and even Game of Thrones, as well as the underpinnings of Shakespeare ...
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May 02, 2024Blood-Feuds and Beastly Hallucinations Lurk in the Pages of The Hollow Beast by Christophe Bernard
Already an award-winning author in Quebec, Christophe Bernard has now found his way into English translation, and his work aims to leave a mark on the broader landscape of CanLit. The author travelled ...
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June 26, 2024Read an Excerpt from Fungal: Foraging in the Urban Forest by Ariel Gordon
Though many of us live in urban surroundings, and may well be caught up in all of the concrete, glass, and metals that make up our neighbourhoods and streets, the natural world is always there, beneath ...
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August 31, 2024Jennifer Maruno Sends a Young Witch and Her Rodent Sidekick on an Adventure in Broom for Two
Prolific children's author Jennifer Maruno may be familiar to readers of Open Book. In fact, as recently as last week, another title written by Maruno was featured on the site.This time we're sharing ...
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September 17, 2024Jacob Wren Stumbles Into a Strange Utopia Amidst a Raging War Zone in Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim
It's a difficult task to distill the political struggles of our time into fiction, and authors run the risk of either alienating readers by doing so, or by creating a story that is simply too close to ...
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September 23, 2024Scandal at the Alphorn Factory Brings 40 Years of Magical Gary Barwin Stories Together in a Definitive Collection
Author to over 30 titles in total, Gary Barwin is a mainstay on the CanLit scene and a renowned short story writer. It will come as no surprise to readers of his work that his catalogue includes a considerable ...
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November 15, 2024Two Sisters Must Reckon with Deeply-Held Family Secrets in Louise Ells' New Novel, Lies I Told My Sister
After being named a Hawthornden Fellow, author Louise Ells was given the go-ahead to take the opportunity by her family, a crucial decision due to her caretaking duties for a husband living with dementia. ...
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November 20, 2024Chris MacDonald Chronicles Two Friends' Revelatory Adventure Across the UK with a Truly Special 90's Punk Band
On a backpacking trip through the UK in 1999, Chris MacDonald and his friend Jason found themselves roughing it from country to country. They slept where they could, and were witness to a number of ...
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December 17, 2024Acclaimed Artist David Gagnon Walker Guides the Audience Through Fear and Anxiety in an Immersive, Interactive Stage Play
It has been said that, if David Gagnon Walker's name appears on a theatre playbill, the audience should prepare themselves for the unexpected. The playwright has created some of the most interesting ...