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May 05, 2025The Pros and Cons of Beta Readers
I just finished an early draft of a new middle grade novel and realized as pressed “save” that even though it was nowhere near done, I’d taken it as far as I could.It was officially time for a beta ...
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March 02, 2020Acknowledging Fear in Writing
“Don’t tell us what to believe, what to fear. Show us belief’s wide skirt and the stitch that unravels fear’s caul.” – Toni Morrison Fear.Fear of the first draft, fear of spiders, fear of ...
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August 23, 2018"I am Story": Getting to know GG Nominee Harold R. Johnson, Author of a Stunning, Genre-Defying New Memoir
Governor General’s Literary Award nominee Harold R. Johnson's newest book combines his expertise in fiction and non-fiction, in a genre-blending work that is being hailed as the crown jewel of an already ...
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September 15, 2022Read an Excerpt from Harold R. Johnson's Final Book, The Power of Story
The late Harold R. Johnson was a master storyteller. He published a dozen books prior to his passing in February 2022 and was acclaimed for his fiction, which often drew on elements of his Cree heritage ...
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October 20, 2020Mark Kingwell on How the Pandemic Will Change Our Understanding of Risk and Luck
Professor and writer Mark Kingwell is well known as one of Canada's leading thinkers, and he is almost certainly our most fun one. Whether it's baseball or cocktails, philosophy or futurism, Kingwell's ...
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February 11, 2020"This Was the Perfect Time for Me to Tell the Story" Amanda Leduc Talks Fairy Tales, Disability, and Progress in Her New Book
The often-problematic role of disabled people in fairy tales hasn't been widely studied, but author Amanda Leduc's new book Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space (Coach House) is determined ...
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December 28, 2020How to Make Your Longest, Darkest Nights Shine
The Winter Solstice is happening as I write this column. It’s the shortest day of the year and the longest, darkest night of the year. But during this time, every night often feels like the longest, ...
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August 12, 2021Words in Isolation
For many reasons, I felt conflicted about writing another pandemic piece. After the events of the last year, our everyday lives have been complete coloured by our experiences living in a pandemic. Despite ...
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August 04, 2020My Attraction to Gritty Stories
Not all stories are romantic or are tied up neatly at the end. Sometimes characters do not have a redeeming quality, and sometimes their experiences have made them hard and difficult to “save.” Gritty ...
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July 11, 201612 Reasons CanLit's Got Me Feeling so Tired
I sat through and wandered by a lot of literary industry panels at a recent event where the large majority of the industry panelists were white. And while it’s not an unusual experience in the CanLit ...