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January 22, 2020Rugged Beauty, Stolen Horses and Tragic Circuses: Nick Tooke Takes a Trip to BC's Great Depression in his Debut Novel
Set in the ragged B.C. interior during the Great Depression, British-Canadian author Nick Tooke's debut novel The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt (Porcupine's Quill) tells the story of a teenage boy who, fueled ...
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June 19, 2019What Kdramas Taught Me About Storytelling
OK so first I feel like I should explain that literature and TV/film motivate me in different ways. I like to see it as craft vs. content. Books I love or respect teach me about word choice and pacing, ...
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April 01, 2020Keep It Short: Frances Boyle on Rewrites, Taking Chances, and the Authors That Inspired Her
A haunted mother is terrorized by spectral visions of twins. A young academic reminisces on the past, and a long-lost film, as she watches her apartment building burn. A carefree woman tears through Toronto ...
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June 17, 2020On Reclaiming Brokenness and Refusing the Violence of ‘Recovery Narratives’
I’m working on this essay when a friend texts me. His therapist suggested he write a list of things that he likes about himself but the picture that shows up on my phone is just a blank page.“Having ...
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September 11, 2020Stories of the North
There’s no consensus on where Southern Ontario ends and Northern Ontario begins. Some say the French River north of Parry Sound is the unofficial border. Others believe the north begins at the town ...
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January 10, 2020“It Happened to a Friend of a Friend of Mine:” What I Learned from Serialized Horror
You’ve heard this tale before. It’s the one about the hook hand, a lone accessory on the car door of an unsuspecting couple. Or better yet, it’s the call that the babysitter finds out is coming ...
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March 29, 2021Speaking Your Story into Existence
Over the winter I was part of two separate online writing residencies through the Banff Centre. Each cohort involved wonderfully talented writers from across the land, sharing their stories, truths, and ...
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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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May 14, 2019"Like a Marilynne Robinson Book in a Spangly Jumpsuit" Missy Marston on Her Fabulous New Daredevil Novel, Bad Ideas
Ottawa-based author Missy Marston's second novel Bad Ideas (ECW Presss), is all heart, packed with humour, vivid and memorable writing, and unforgettable characters. Not to mention it has a rocket ...
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February 13, 2019"I Put My Faith in Those Three Main Characters" Oakland Ross on His Intriguing New Novel Swimming with Horses
Sometimes the people who leave the biggest impression on you are the most surprising. In Oakland Ross's Swimming with Horses (Dundurn Press), Sam Mitchell is an average teen when he meets Hilary Anson, ...
