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April 13, 2015
Thinking with M. NourbeSe Philip's Zong!
I thought today I’d write about a text that beautifully, painfully, brilliantly performs some of the affective and political work that I’ve been writing about in past posts: M. NourbeSe Philip’s ...
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March 10, 2017
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me about Becoming a Writer #2: Elisabeth de Mariaffi
In my early 30s I went back to school to do my MFA at the University of Guelph-Humber. I was afraid I'd be older than everyone else in my cohort, and thus I was happy to meet a contemporary in Ken Babstock's ...
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June 07, 2015
Chopsticks
Last summer, I made chilled noodle soup.Why? I was writing a short story that took place in North Korea, and I was stuck. The plot, for some reason, had twisted into a Gordian knot (if you know what I’m ...
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September 18, 2015
Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: Q and A with 2015 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction Nominees, Part I
Welcome back to another year of kid lit updates, info, and author chats! First up, I want to share with you the list of the 2015 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Award nominees . The CCBC sponsors 8 ...
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August 30, 2016
City of Toronto Announces Finalists for the Toronto Book Award
The City of Toronto and Toronto Public Library have released the shortlist for the 2016 Toronto Book Award, which honours books of literary merit that are evocative of the city. Books of all genres are ...
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June 06, 2017
Hockey Stalking
I’m a big advocate of writers carrying notebooks. You can jot down thoughts, overheard conversations—I’m a terrible eavesdropper—sights you want to call up later.Yesterday, a father was trying ...
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October 01, 2020
Read an Excerpt of Jamie Sharpe's Wonderfully Weird Everything You Hold Dear
Jamie Sharpe's previous poetry collections, Animal Husbandry Today, Cut-up Apologetic, and Dazzle Ships, showed the work of not only a witty and perceptive mind but a wildly creative one. His newest ...
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June 01, 2021
Governor General's Literary Award Winners Announced, Including Another Win For Michelle Good
The Canada Council for the Arts today announced the winners of the 2020 Governor General's Literary Awards. Though delayed due to issues related to the pandemic, it was nevertheless an exciting announcement. Notably, ...
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June 21, 2021
Playwright Makambe K Simamba on Fearlessly Exploring "How Far Characters are Willing to Go in Order to Live Their Truths"
CW: discussion of anti-Black violenceIt's a gutting image: a seventeen-year old Black boy, a child in a hoodie, dead far too soon because of hateful and unchecked anti-Black racism. Makambe K Simamba's Our ...
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September 15, 2021
Indigenous Storytelling Shines on the Powerhouse 2021 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction Shortlist
This morning, the Writers' Trust of Canada announced the five 2021 finalists for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the $60,000 award that has quickly come to be the defining nonfiction ...