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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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August 03, 2017
Improv Taught Me How to Craft a Story
I know a lot of people who want to write books who don’t actually do any writing. It’s a curious thing to want to do something you don’t do. I used to be one of those people, so I say that with ...
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May 23, 2018Talking Short Fiction with the 2018 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award Finalists
There is short list of literary awards in Canada that serve as reliable prognosticators of future CanLit heavy hitters. One of them is the $10,000 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award, awarded to fiction and poetry ...
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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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February 22, 2019Excerpt! Get Hooked on the Mystery in Ann Lambert's Dark Quebec Tale, The Birds That Stay
In the opening of Ann Lambert's The Birds that Stay (Second Story Press), Louis Lachance sneaks away while his wife is sleeping - not for an affair, but to take one more job as a handyman. Instead of ...
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May 12, 2016Strength in Brevity: A List for Short Story Month
Maybe it's fitting that I'm the Writer-in-Residence for May, since somebody, somewhere decided this is Short Story Month, and the short story is far and away my favourite literary form. In the past, Steven ...
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November 25, 2019Call for Submissions: The Writers' Union of Canada 27th Annual Short Prose Competition for Emerging Writers
Attention new and emerging short story writers!The Writers' Union of Canada is now inviting submissions for its annual Short Prose Competition for Emerging Writers. Now in its 27th year, the Competition ...
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April 17, 2018"Lipstick Day" by Toronto's Leah Mol Wins CBC Short Story Prize
Today CBC BOOKS announced the winner of the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize. The $6,000 award goes to Leah Mol of Toronto for her story "Lipstick Day", which beat out 2200 submissions from across Canada. ...
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April 29, 2021BC Novelist Corinna Chong Wins CBC Short Story Award for "Kids in Kindergarten"
This morning, CBC Books announced the winner of their juggernaut annual short story prize, which carries a $6,000 prize purse and has helped propel a number of CanLit favourites forward, including past ...
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September 13, 2022Leslie Kern's New Book Challenges Assumptions about Gentrification & Offers Hope in the Face of Rampant Housing Inequality
Gentrification, and the massive housing affordability crisis to which it is related, is an issue plagued with myths and misunderstandings. As we enter an era where housing has become unaffordable for ...
