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May 19, 2022Frances Koncan on How Playwrighting Gets Her "Closest to the Truth"
Frances Koncan's play, Women of the Fur Trade (Playwrights Canada Press) is the antidote to dull historical renditions of early Canada. Set in "eighteen hundred and something something", it follows three ...
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October 31, 2022November Writer in Residence Helen Walsh on Gardening, Edinburgh, & Eating Dinner with Hans Gruber
Helen Walsh's Pull Focus (ECW Press) has something for everyone: thrilling intrigue, social commentary, film industry glamour, and a tough protagonist facing crises both personal and professional. The ...
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February 18, 2023show and tell – a catalogue of the small animals that live in my house
**This is the result of an exercise I did this week. The exercise was to find objects around the house and write about them. It's a good one for when my brain is moving slow, which it has been. In looking ...
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July 06, 2023On Uncanny Delays, Endings, and Dionne Brand
Last summer I moved houses briefly to work on my novel. A friend was leaving the country for a few weeks and I gladly left my little apartment to take care of his place and write. I came well equipped ...
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August 25, 2023Book Launch Season, Part One: Being an Author
In the book world, the arrival of fall usually means the arrival of a whole host of new books to look forward to. And with new books comes book launches, tours, and celebrations—and sometimes it can ...
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September 05, 2023Writing on the Clock
A common question from the published writer is: will I ever earn out my advance? Recently I wondered: what about my stolen time? If I only ever wrote when I was “supposed to” (in periods of grant ...
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October 02, 2023Book Launch Season, Part 2: Being an Audience Member
In the first part of “Book Launch Season,” I talked about how to enter this period of time as an author. Writers are (I hope) readers. As a poet especially, going to readings and sitting there as ...
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October 25, 2023Governor General's Literary Award Finalists Revealed, with Nods for Suzette Mayr, Iain Reid, and More
Today the Canada Council for the Arts revealed the nominees for the Governor General's Literary Awards in both English and French. The seven categories for English nominees include 35 books, five in each ...
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December 08, 2023Interdisciplinary collaboration: The highlight of my writing year
Writing can be lonely—we hear that all the time. And though I generally love working alone, this year, I’ve been working with a dancer friend on a collaborative process and it’s been one of the ...
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August 20, 2024Promoting Your Book Online: Literary Citizenship
In my last column, I shared tips for promoting your book online without burnout. I covered making a marketing plan ahead of your book launch, defining boundaries around what you share online, and cultivating ...
