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August 23, 2024Breaking Down the Ontario Arts Council’s Literary Creation Projects Grant
For writers in Ontario, this is your reminder that the deadline for Literary Creation Projects (Works for Publication) is just around the corner. This grant gives $12,000 to work on your novel, poetry ...
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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 ...
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October 11, 2023Vulnerability 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 ...
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August 22, 2016On 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 ...
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February 10, 2021Treaty 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? ...
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May 17, 2021
The Writer's Voice: It's Not What You Say but How You Say It
‘It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.’ As a child and teen I heard this simply as a parent’s retort to the self-righteous whine, ‘But I only said…’As a writer I realise it’s ...
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March 19, 2024Writing a Love Poem
I’m writing this column on Valentine’s Day, which is important to note because the column will be published well after Valentine’s Day. Writing a love poem isn’t limited to a specific day, however, ...
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April 02, 2017
Happy National Poetry Month!
It’s April, so happy National Poetry Month. I’m honoured to be featured as Open Book’s Writers in Residence this month, and I’m looking forward to blogging about writing and books and publishing ...
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January 23, 2018"What Keeps Me Going is the Element of Discovery": Debut Author Djamila Ibrahim on Building Unforgettable Characters
Djamila Ibrahim's Things are Good Now (House of Anansi) is the kind of debut that can't be ignored. A vibrant, gutsy, thoughtful short fiction collection, it was called "an insightful and imaginative ...
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June 10, 2016On Writing, with James Laxer
Three men shaped one of the most influential decades of North American history. John A. Macdonald, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson, each an icon in his own right, all contributed in ways that are ...