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October 01, 2025Story Sparks and Surprises Interview with Wendy J. Whittingham, author of The Last Last (Illustrated by Brianna McCarthy)
In her debut picture book, The Last Last, author Wendy J. Whittingham invites readers into a tender, sun-soaked farewell to island life through the eyes of a young girl preparing to leave her Jamaican ...
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October 27, 2018
Characters like family
One of my favourite parts of the writing process is creating and developing characters. I’ve always believed a story is only as strongly crafted as the people in it. Characters are the pillars of and ...
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October 01, 2019"Sometimes, the Story Isn't Finished Being Told" Drew Hayden Taylor on Spending 20 Years with the Story That Inspired His Newest Novel
In playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Drew Hayden Taylor's new book, Chasing Painted Horses (Cormorant Books), an innocent act of encouragement from a parent has far-reaching consequences. When ...
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October 02, 2018The Story of My Face Author Leanne Baugh on Teenaged Self-Consciousness & Crafting Memorable Characters
Every teen feels awkward and self-conscious sometimes, but 17-year old Abby Hughes, the resilient young protagonist in Leanne Baugh's The Story of My Face (Second Story Press), has a serious reason ...
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April 30, 2022Artist's Books
For my last blog post as Open Book’s writer-in-residence and to close out poetry month I want to talk to you about one of my favourite things: Artist’s Books! I’ve shared some of my passion for ...
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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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June 27, 2016“These Two Things Are One,” an Interview With Kilby Smith-McGregor
Kilby Smith-McGregor’s debut poetry collection, Kids in Triage, explores the in-betweens that exist just out of sight. Psychology/biology, art/philosophy, literature/legend all expose their connective ...
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October 14, 2025Coltrane Seesequasis Continues the Powerful A Wolf in the Sun Series with THE THREADS OF TIME
In The Threads of Time (Kegedonce Press), the second novel in the A Wolf in the Sun series, the very talented Coltrane Seesequasis takes readers back to a world of ancient rivalries and haunting choices. ...
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November 15, 2016“You can't write fiction on a napkin,” an Interview with Eva H.D.
There is a strand of literature that aligns itself closer to the blue collar, working class values of general communication and accessible story telling than the “high-brow,” all encompassing grand ...
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June 08, 2016On Writing, with Tim Falconer
They are plenty of us who dread our turn at karaoke, who wouldn't let anyone hear our shower singing for love or money, who are, to put it plainly, bad singers. Writer and journalist Tim Falconer however, ...