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April 06, 2018
“In my poetry, I make room for what escapes stories,” an interview with Bänoo Zan
Bänoo Zan is one of those incredible poets that give back to poetry and community more than they take. As well as being the author of two collections of poetry, she is also an educator, translator and ...
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January 19, 2022"Where is Home?” Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith Processes the Trauma of the Sixties Scoop in Her Courageous, Powerful Memoir
It is impossible to calculate the trauma created by the so-called Sixties Scoop, which saw the large-scale, forcible removal of Indigenous children from their homes, families, and communities, often adopted ...
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February 13, 2019"I Put My Faith in Those Three Main Characters" Oakland Ross on His Intriguing New Novel Swimming with Horses
Sometimes the people who leave the biggest impression on you are the most surprising. In Oakland Ross's Swimming with Horses (Dundurn Press), Sam Mitchell is an average teen when he meets Hilary Anson, ...
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December 09, 2024Julie Salverson Takes the Reader on a Fascinating Journey Through Her Father's Life in A Necessary Distance
A multi-faceted creative, Julie Salverson has left a significant literary footprint over the course of her career, working as a nonfiction writer, playwright, editor, scholar and theatre animator. The ...
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March 13, 2017My final two columns: Part One
After nearly a decade, my time as a columnist for Open Book comes to a close. According to my email folder, it was May 2009 when Amy Logan Holmes first approached me with the idea of submitting pieces ...
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July 20, 2014Craving a Talent Not My Own
Those who work in London are all either going down with flu, recovering from flu or in the grip of flu—even though most of the people going down with flu, recovering from flu or in the grip of flu don’t ...
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July 13, 2014Modest Portraits of My Mother
So perhaps my mother doesn’t need to be my queen; simply being my mother is already a lot, even if the rare kisses I place on her cheeks aren’t so majestic. —Kim Thúy, Ru**As a statue:Bootprints ...
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March 05, 2018"Loss and Absence Challenge Us to Become Who We Are": Kathleen Venema on Her Unique Mother-Daughter Memoir
The impact of mother-daughter relationships is hard to overstate. In Kathleen Venema's Bird-Bent Grass: A Memoir, in Pieces (Wilfrid Laurier University) the extraordinary influence of the mother-daughter ...
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September 14, 2021Read an Excerpt from The Shaytan Bride, Sumaiya Matin's Powerful True Story of Escaping Forced Marriage
As a small child, Sumaiya Matin had heard about the Shaytan Bride. A woman with something wrong with her. Maybe she was crazy, or defiant. Or maybe she was possessed, trapped or seduced by an evil spirit ...
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March 25, 2023Was It Worth It?
Was it worth it? I get asked this a lot.I think they are asking if putting in all the time, effort and emotional labour to write a vulnerable and raw memoir about trauma, is worth it. Like, if I say yes, ...
