Search
-
April 08, 2016
Food for Thought: Hungry for #Diversecanlit
There was a homeless man standing on the side of the road the other day with a sign that read “Lost my job. Spare a bit of change.” I didn’t have change – I rarely do – but I had a banana, so ...
-
April 05, 2016
How to Give Good Read
In a month, I will be hitting the road to tour my new book of poetry, even this page is white. In addition to trying to manage the general anxieties that arise when putting art into the world, I have ...
-
April 02, 2016
The Proust Questionnaire, with Andrew Forbes - Open Book's May 2016 Writer-in-Residence!
We are thrilled to announce that Andrew Forbes is our May 2016 writer-in-residence here at Open Book. Andrew is the author of The Utility of Boredom: Baseball Essays and the short story collection What ...
-
April 01, 2016
Writing in Public
Harlan Ellison would occasionally set up a typewriter in the front window of a bookshop and crank out a story on public display for anyone who cared to watch him. The point he was making (other than the ...
-
March 31, 2016
Gearing Up for National Poetry Month
It has been such a pleasure and honour to be the Writer in Residence for OBT this past month, and especially in light of the fact that next month is also one that I take pleasure and honour in: April, ...
-
March 25, 2016
Through My Window
It's hard for me to believe that one of my favourite children's books in the world, one that I grew up on and read practically everyday, is turning 30: Through My Window, one of the first books (if not ...
-
March 24, 2016
Writing Tips (Tips Also Appreciated)
1. It’s now or never or you’ll have to wait for the sublime to hit you, which might take centuries, or seconds, so might as well start now.2. Write for no other place than heart—and not only out ...
-
March 16, 2016
Writing "Well"
Illness spoils any story that desires a certain romanticism of adventure or self-discovery, the solitary act of Manifest Destiny. Many of history's beloved novels have entertained (and sometimes genuinely ...
-
March 12, 2016
Writing as a Way "In"
I think many writers would agree that, in the beginning stages when we first pick up the pen, writing is a "way out" for us. It offers something therapeutic, or in more dramatic cases, the promise of ...
-
March 09, 2016
Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: Sex, and Drugs, and Rock and Roll: Writing Edgy Ya (Part 2)
They’ve written about it all: drugs, gambling, sexual harassment, suicide, sexual abuse, physical abuse, cutting, death, sex, drugs, body image issues, bullying, STDs, abduction...Today I continue my ...