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October 25, 2022On Giving Yourself Room to Change (Or, Eros the Bittersweet)
A few months ago, I talked to someone on the phone. I didn’t know this person well and though I’d seen them over Zoom somewhat regularly for our work together, I never really noticed them too much. ...
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February 21, 2024On Writing the Same Book Over and Over
In a 2015 webchat on The Guardian’s site, Kazuo Ishiguro was asked about his varied subject matter. He replied:“My subject matter doesn't vary so much from book to book. Just the surface does. The ...
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March 26, 2025A Greedy Businessman Gets His Comeuppance in ICEMEN by Acclaimed Playwright Vern Thiessen
Governor General Award-winning playwright Vern Thiessen is up there with some of the most prolific artists in his field, with his plays being read and staged all over the world. The reasons for his continued ...
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July 04, 2025More Tips on Writing Book Reviews
One year ago, I wrote a column on getting into writing book reviews. The topic of book reviews remains ever-important, especially in a media climate where outlets to review grow smaller and smaller. In ...
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July 08, 2017
humour as a form of Indigenous revitalization
Humour is a powerful force which animates our lives and gives us energy. Humour binds us with each other, helps us relax, and helps us to think beyond our ordinary perceptions. It allows us to imagine ...
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September 20, 20172017 Weston Prize shortlist announced: 5 Books vie for $60,000
We are officially into the swing of literary prize season, with the Giller Prize longlist announced earlier this week, the Governor General's Literary Awards announcement around the corner (October 4), ...
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May 11, 2016On Doubt
It'll be your constant companion. You won't know a day without it. It will defy cold logic and your efforts to cultivate confidence. It will be haughtily contemptuous of your desire to focus on positives, ...
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March 16, 2016Writing "Well"
Illness spoils any story that desires a certain romanticism of adventure or self-discovery, the solitary act of Manifest Destiny. Many of history's beloved novels have entertained (and sometimes genuinely ...
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March 31, 2016Gearing Up for National Poetry Month
It has been such a pleasure and honour to be the Writer in Residence for OBT this past month, and especially in light of the fact that next month is also one that I take pleasure and honour in: April, ...
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May 24, 2017Happy Birthday, Marian Engel!
Today is the eighty-fourth birthday of Marian Engel, or it would be, had the novelist not died of cancer in 1985. Now, instead of a person, she is a name, survived like all people by her family and friends, ...
