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July 13, 2018
Writing What You "Know"
I’m one of countless writers who found his way thanks to this old standby, and having just published a book of stories set in small Southwestern Ontario towns a lot like the ones where I grew up, it’s ...
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July 10, 2018
Did You Really Go Through All That?
I stole the title of this post from a scene late in the film Sideways, but I could’ve taken a similar line from nearly anywhere—for instance, the second of Orhan Pamuk’s Norton Lectures (collected ...
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July 30, 2018
On Staying Hungry
One night after a reading years ago, before any of us had published a book, I and another writer I know gave a third writer friend a pretty hard time about not wanting to submit stories to magazines. ...
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July 30, 2018
The Part of It You Don't See
If you’ve been reading my dispatches over the last month, you might have inferred that making a go of it as a writer is hard. Bending reality, memory, knowledge and experience into believable fiction, ...
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September 04, 2018
Shauntay Grant Brings an Important Chapter of Black Canadian History to the Page for Children
Africville was once a vibrant community in Halifax. For over 150 years, it was home to Black Nova Scotians. Due to neglect and targeting by the city government however, the community eventually shuttered ...
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December 15, 2016
The In Character Interview, with Philippa Dowding
Philippa Dowding's wildly creative, wonderfully strange stories are the kind of books that turn young readers into book lovers. With pages full of lovable misfits and regular kids caught up in otherworldly ...
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November 02, 2016
The WAR Series: Writers as Readers, with Katherine Ashenburg
Katherine Ashenburg's All the Dirt: A History of Getting Clean (Annick Press) gets pretty filthy, but it's still appropriate (and irresistible) for its middle grade audience, because this dirt is the ...
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July 12, 2022
Screenwriter Turned Novelist Claire Ross Dunn on Fire Phobia, Sleeping in a Coffin, & Her Drake Connection
After getting her start as an actor, screenwriter Claire Ross Dunn has written for Degrassi, Little Mosque on the Prairie, and numerous other acclaimed shows. This season, she's brought her witty, smart, ...
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April 03, 2024
"Try to Enjoy the Small Moments of Magic" - Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti Talk About a Writing Life and Their New Mystery Novel, Bury the Lead
In Bury the Lead (House of Anansi Press), mystery abounds when big city journalist Cat Conway moves to a small town in cottage country, and begins to uncover secrets lurking below the surface in the ...
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April 16, 2018
"A Book is a Window to the World": Biblio Bash Guest Authors on What Libraries Mean to Them
In a city with a lot of charity galas, Biblio Bash stands out, especially for book lovers - it's the only party in town that takes place in the stacks of the Toronto Reference Library.Through the course ...