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May 19, 20162016 CBC Shakespeare Selfie Writing Challenge Winners Talk Beyond and Trump
CBC's 2016 Shakespeare Selfie writing challenge asked Canadian students to write a monologue or soliloquy in the style of the Bard about a subject of current social, political, or economic interest. Each ...
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June 16, 2014Got Any Good Lit Jokes?
Several years ago, I spoke at a gala dinner at a writers’ festival in Thunder Bay. Picture a hotel ballroom filled with about a hundred people seated at tables for ten. I had tried to inject some humourous ...
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May 17, 2016On Writing, with Lisa Moore
Newfoundland author Lisa Moore's gorgeous, moving, and whip-smart novels and short stories have gained a devoted following across Canada (and beyond), but her newest offering is particular exciting as ...
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June 13, 2014The Art of the TV Show Recap
My first exposure to the 21st century art form known as the TV show recap came in 2003, on the ground-breaking website Television Without Pity (TWoP). Its motto: Save the Snark, Spoil the Network.My show ...
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May 16, 2016#WritingTips Mondays: Kurt Vonnegut on the Importance of Being Sadistic
Kurt Vonnegut was one of the best loved writers of the twentieth century, known for his wit and playfulness, as well as the strong socio-political undercurrent in much of his writing.Before his death ...
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June 11, 2014Something New: Where to Eat Now
A few weeks ago, the rockin’ and poppin’ newchoir I sing in backed up two of our soloists – triple threat performer Erin Tancock and Hello Canada! Editor-in-chief Alison Eastwood - singing the Nikki ...
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April 12, 2016Why Don’t We Take Sports Writing Seriously?
In February of last year, Canadian Notes and Queries publisher Dan Wells kindly approached me with a question. “Brainstorming a games issue of CNQ,” he wrote in an email. “Wondered if you might ...
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June 08, 2014Comfort Food, Comfort Reading, Comfort Movie
My new novel The Oakdale Dinner Club is very food-centric – it’s about a group of suburbanites who get together once a month to eat good food, drink good wine, and do other wicked things.One of the ...
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April 08, 2016Food for Thought: Hungry for #Diversecanlit
There was a homeless man standing on the side of the road the other day with a sign that read “Lost my job. Spare a bit of change.” I didn’t have change – I rarely do – but I had a banana, so ...
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June 04, 2014I'm so Hood: Toronto in Literature
The great and good Toronto Public Library recently introduced a cool new feature on their website.Toronto in Literature: Book Lists by Neighbourhood gives info – with a convenient map – on published ...