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July 08, 2024The Magic of Letter Writing
Summer challenge: Write a letter to your favourite authorWhen I was in Grade 3, I loved Jean Little’s books. So I did what I always do: I wrote her a letter. I told her all of my favourite things about ...
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June 23, 2020
The Male Default in Children's Literature - What It Is and Why It Matters
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Bechdel Test for movies. A film that passes the Bechdel Test must have at least one scene in which two female characters are talking to each other – and not about a man. ...
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June 30, 2016The Many Colours of Kamal Al-Solaylee
Kamal Al-Solaylee wrote an amazing book called Brown. It's essential reading and its subtitle, What Being Brown in the World Today Means (to Everyone), says why you need to read it much more concisely ...
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May 25, 2021
The Many Faces of Writer's Block
Despite the fact that I don’t really believe in it, the words Writers’ Block always conjure up a dark, amorphous cloud in my mind. Which is ironic, because the part I don’t believe is that there’s ...
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October 02, 2025The Music in SOUNDTRACK Chronicles the True Joys and Looming Dangers of an Important Cultural Era
Michael V. Smith has long been celebrated for his fearless and generous writing, and his newest work, Soundtrack (Book*hug Press), is no exception. This poetic memoir captures the spirit of an era when ...
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September 29, 2015
The musicality of language – an interview with David Arcus
We learn so much from each other, particularly from other artists.This month, I’ve been thinking a lot about rhythm, and what rhythm does to story. It’s so important, and it’s not a static thing ...
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September 03, 2025The Mysteries at the Biltmore Continue in Book 3 of the Popular Picturebook Series
The LaRue Detective Agency has a spotless track record, and they’re not about to let one flaky mystery ruin it. In Mystery at the Biltmore #3: A Recipe for Robbery, celebrated picture book author Colleen ...
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August 31, 2020The Nature of Truth in Art
For my final post as writer-in-residence, I’d like to devote a bit of space to one of the subjects I love to chew on: the nature of truth in art. (As a friend of mine recently noted: ‘You always go ...
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December 02, 2024The New Novel from Priya Ramsingh is an Entertaining, Hopeful Look at Modern Love in the City
Author Priya Ramsingh has won critical acclaim for her previous work, and has seen her fiction shortlisted for best story of the year by The Caribbean Writer. With her latest novel, she returns with a ...
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November 20, 2017
The noir of Fury
No Fury Like That is the reason I started investigating noir. As I mentioned in my intro piece, I was a little taken aback by the fury in Fury! And I wondered, is it noir? And, if so, what kind of noir ...
