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April 30, 2017
Failed Dreams
In my new poetry book Beautiful Children with Pet Foxes, there’s a series of poems called “Dream Specimens,” based on actual dreams that I’ve had over the years. I had some fun with these poems, ...
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February 01, 2017
Introduction, Academic Language & my dislike of genre
Greetings,My name is Dane Swan and I'll be your Writer in Residence for February. I'm sure that it's just coincidence that I'm the Writer in Residence for February, but since it is Black History month ...
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August 15, 2016You Pays Your Money & You Takes Your Chances
A ticker-tape parade broke out in my home the other day, when my basement excavations revealed a box of old paperbacks that contained my treasured copy of Robert Sheckley’s 1975 science-fiction novel ...
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August 05, 2016Debby Florence on Canadian Poetry
As someone who was crazy about a lot of American poets from a very young age, I'm still caught off-balance when an American turns out to be a big fan of Canadian poetry. debby florence is one such American. ...
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August 02, 2016THE Incredible Shrinking Writer
It’s almost six years now since, after nearly half a century in Toronto, I moved to Cobourg, pop. 18,500. My adopted home — "Ontario’s Feel Good Town" — is just a ninety-minute commute east by ...
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May 30, 2023Feed Your Brain, Read Widely
Writers are often advised to read within their genre to better understand it. And when it comes to readers, it can be tempting to stick to their favourite genre too⎯it’s a favourite for a reason!I'm ...
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June 24, 2024In Praise of Chapbooks
The first time I heard the word “chapbook” as a new poet, I was pretty sure I misheard things. It was a word that everyone working within poetry seemed to know—and because of that, I felt shy asking ...
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April 20, 2020
Love Letter to Lyric Poetry (!) and the Academic Adjacent
As a part of the promotional work for OO, I did a quick interview with Steven Beattie at Quill & Quire and one of the questions Beattie asked me was how my creative work relates to or reflects my ...
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January 15, 2020The Craft of Reading: How Reading 260 Books This Year Made Me a Better Writer
I was making a care package for a writer friend recently and wanted to include a book in it.“What have you been dying to read?” I asked her before heading out to the bookstore.“Fever Dream by Samanta ...
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May 25, 2017Talking about Poetry with the 2017 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award Nominees
The RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers (administered by the Writers' Trust of Canada) has an all-star list of past winners and nominees, including names like Madeleine Thien, Jeramy Dodds, ...
