Search
-
February 18, 2021
Fired Up About Consent Author Sarah Ratchford on the Books That Brought Them Tears, Lessons, & Laughter
The rallying cry often heard in conversations about consent is the simple truth: consent isn't just sexy—it's mandatory.And it's a topic that we're finally discussing with young people, with the hope ...
-
February 18, 2021
Small gifts from writers: The power of writerly connections
On one especially sunny day when I was a young girl sitting at my kitchen table scribbling stories on the backs of old receipts my mother left on the table, I closed my eyes, looked into the future, and ...
-
February 22, 2021
LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID: The writing process Part 7 of 9
Love like anything that matters in this life is a risky business. To fall in love, one must take a big leap of faith. I wanted my characters who were dissatisfied with their isolation to jump both feet ...
-
March 01, 2021
Writing violence (again)
On violence and trauma and repetition...When I was nineteen, I went to dinner at a friend’s, and afterwards, her father invited us all upstairs to see his attic art studio.There were so many canvasses ...
-
February 26, 2021
LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID: The writing process Part 8 of 9
What happens when the unexpected occurs. As a writer, I like to throw unexpected elements in when things seem to be progressing smoothly. The same way I don’t conceive of a beginning or middle before ...
-
March 05, 2021
Writing Time
When it comes to writing, I have a hard time wrapping my head around some of the basics—namely space and time. I find it easy to imagine myself into a character’s head—to project myself into a character’s ...
-
March 08, 2021
"I Was Completely Transported by Every Sentence" The CBC Canada Reads Panellists on Their Debate Strategies & Their Love for Their Chosen Books
Everyone's favourite literary smackdown returns today through Thursday: the 2021 edition of CBC Canada Reads will bring the same fiery debates from passionate panellists championing their chosen book ...
-
March 08, 2021
On Giving Myself Permission Not to Write
I know I have to write it. The essay I’ve been trying to write for a year and a half.I will be in the grocery store or out in the muck of a hike dripping with sweat and a sentence of it will come to ...
-
March 09, 2021
CBC Canada Reads 2021: Two Down, Two to Go (Spoilers)
*This post contains spoilers about which books were voted off Canada Reads on days one and two*After a lively first day in which (final spoiler alert!) Jessica J. Lee's Two Trees Make a Forest was voted ...
-
March 09, 2021
A love letter (to books)
The first quote-unquote serious novel I read was One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. My eighth grade teacher set down a box at the front of the classroom and, in a seemingly ...