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October 04, 2018An Interview with Shazia Hafiz Ramji
“My Instinct was to Listen and Notice in Order to Survive.” - Shazia Hafiz RamjiIn her debut collection, Port of Being, Vancouver poet Shazia Hafiz Ramji manages to take the personal and make it into ...
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September 10, 2018On Kindness, and Generosity
The Toronto literary community has recently lost two very bright lights, mourning the deaths of Priscila Uppal and Ann Ireland.Though I didn’t know either Ann or Priscila all that well, I feel fortunate ...
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June 30, 2019Behind the Title: "Frying Plantain"
This is my last post for Open Book and I’ve been thinking about how I should end my June tenure as Writer in Residence. I landed on writing about the title of my book. I’ve been asked a few times ...
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August 28, 2020Should Memoir be Considered Non-Fiction?
One of the things that makes this question so interesting is that the answer isn’t as obvious or cut-and-dried as it first appears. It varies from country to country, for one thing, changes from culture ...
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July 28, 2015
"...My Reading Pile Inevitably Grows: Books to Read, and Books to Read Again"
Several years ago a talented and passionate writer friend said to me, when I complimented her work, “Yes, but I want to be Virginia Woolf.”I said that if she wanted to be Virginia Woolf, then she ...
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April 30, 2015
On Blogging, Accompaniment, and Gratitude
This has been an interesting April of blogging for me. While I read blogs, I’ve never myself blogged before. It was more difficult than I’d anticipated, and more enjoyable. What I so value in the ...
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September 01, 2016The Word on the Street Interview Series: Jowita Bydlowska
On September 25, 2016, Toronto's favourite literary festival The Word on the Street will take over the Harbourfront Centre on Queen Quay West, with dozens of Canada's most talented writers reading, discussing ...
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August 24, 2016The Entitled Interview with Eric Beck Rubin
Eric Beck Rubin's School of Velocity (Doubleday Canada) marks the arrival of a talented new voice in CanLit.The novel follows Jan de Vries, whose virtuoso talent at the piano promised him a stunning career. ...
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October 22, 2015Finding Inspiration in Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol is arguably one of the most quotable artists to have lived.And although much mystery and controversy surrounds his powerful legacy, there is so much inspiration that can be drawn from his ...
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October 18, 2015
The Importance of Creative Rituals
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.”- Chuck CloseFor years now I’ve used a very simple way to mark the moment when it’s time to write: I light a stick of ...
