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August 04, 2022"All the Good Stuff [is] Inevitable" Ray Robertson on First Sentences, Epigraphs, & Bookstore Love
There have been a lot of unexpected casualties of the pandemic. For Phil Cooper, the protagonist of acclaimed writer Ray Robertson's newest novel Estates Large and Small (Biblioasis), who has battled ...
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November 22, 2018Calling All Aspiring Authors: Never Ask an Illustrator to Illustrate Your Picture Book for Free
A few weeks ago, I was in a local tavern with some friends—a few of them are professional illustrators. They were drinking overpriced mocktails and commiserating about the emails they get from aspiring ...
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August 15, 2024Mark Blagrave Takes the Reader on a Journey, and Questions Truth and Memory in His New Novel, Felt
Veteran novelist Mark Blagrave is back with another new work, and one that uses elements of his lived experiences to anchor a personal, heartfelt story.In his latest novel, Felt (Cormorant), we follow ...
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February 05, 2019Who I Think About When I Write … It’s Probably You: A List of Questions to Ask Yourself About Audience as You Write
I find it really challenging to write a picture book without imagining its audience. In whose hands will the finished book end up? What will make them pick it up? Will they find my story satisfying? To ...
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October 30, 2024Andrew Forbes' Debut Novel, The Diapause, is a Literary-Speculative Gem
Readers of Open Book may find our featured author of the day familiar, as the prolific Andrew Forbes has had an excerpt of his recent novella published on the site just this summer. Known for his stirring ...
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February 18, 2020What Do You Wish You Had Known Before Becoming a Children's Book Creator?
I’ve worked in children’s publishing for nearly fifteen years and I’ve been writing children’s books for about five years. All this to say, I learned a lot about the realities of publishing children’s ...
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October 26, 2020You, Too, Can Be a Mediocre YouTube Star
A few fun facts about me: When I was about five-years-old, I starred as Dopey in a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at camp and killed it. Everyone was laughing. I also studied improv for ...
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November 12, 2024A Small Ontario Town is Filled With Mystery and Danger in As We Forgive Others
Cobourg-based author Shane Peacock has been widely read for years now. His work has won the Junior Library Guild of America Selection seven times, the Arthur Ellis Award twice, and he has been shortlisted ...
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August 31, 2020How to Be Exceptionally Editable
When I first started writing children’s books, I possessed the strength and virility of a thousand strong and virile men. I believed in my ideas and held fast to them. While I was open to the editorial ...
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November 26, 2020Children’s Book Gift Guide for Little (and Big) Bookworms
I love buying children’s books for my niece and nephew. They all have such different personalities and interests and it’s so fun for me to find books I think they’ll enjoy. And I also love buying ...