Search
-
June 09, 2015
On the Benefits of Not Writing (Surfing)
It isn’t (usually) wise to blame other people for things that happen to you, but I blame Dr. Kary Banks Mullis for everything.Dr. Mullis is a Novel Prize-winning biochemist who devised paradigm-shifting ...
-
August 06, 2024
Getting into Writing Book Reviews
Book reviews are a key part of the book ecosystem. Long after a book’s publication date, book reviews help keep titles in relevancy. They can be useful marketing tools for a writer’s arsenal. They’re ...
-
February 10, 2021
Treaty Words Author Aimée Craft on Why She Wants Her Young Readers to Know They are "Part of Something Bigger Than Them"
At the heart of Anishinaabe/Métis lawyer Aimée Craft's wise and engaging Treaty Words: For As Long As the Rivers Flow (Annick Press, illustrated by Luke Swinson) is a question: Just what is a treaty? ...
-
November 24, 2015
On Writing Violence - An Addendum
I’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback and some questions about one of my first posts for Open Book, “On Writing Violence.” One reader, Susan, asked me in the comments about how this all ...
-
March 20, 2017
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me about Becoming a Writer #3: Russell Smith
Russell Smith is most recently the author of Confidence, but has written a total of ten books, and is a regular arts columnist for The Globe & Mail. Here's what he had to say for the Q&A series.What ...
-
October 11, 2023
Vulnerability is a Writing Tool
My most reflexive apology is, “I went to theatre school.” Usually delivered with a shrug or a knowing smirk as if to say I can’t help it, it gets a laugh from the creative set about 82 percent of ...
-
August 22, 2016
On Writing, with Hugh Segal
The question of exactly what role Canadian foreign policy should serve is a complex one. Should our focus be protecting our borders and citizens? Maintaining our international identity as a nation of ...
-
October 06, 2020
"There is Something Universal in How Children Connect with Stories" Bahram Rahman on Literacy, Equality, & Collective Memory
It's easy to forget how powerful reading can be, but when the right to literacy is denied, it is a chilling reminder. The children in Bahram Rahman's The Library Bus (Pajama Press, illustrated by Gabrielle ...
-
March 10, 2017
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me about Becoming a Writer #2: Elisabeth de Mariaffi
In my early 30s I went back to school to do my MFA at the University of Guelph-Humber. I was afraid I'd be older than everyone else in my cohort, and thus I was happy to meet a contemporary in Ken Babstock's ...
-
December 18, 2016
17 for 2017: Lauren Berlant recommends Long Division and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America
7. Long Division and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon recommended by Lauren BerlantThroughout my tenure as the December Writer-In-Residence, I will be assembling a list ...