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March 18, 2018
A picture prompts a thousand words.
Readers of The Bone Mother will know that a significant part of the book’s effectiveness lies in the beautiful, unsettling archival photographs that illustrate the sections that are sent in and around ...
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March 06, 2014
Novels vs. Serial Television
Novels are big. It’s something you recognize when you’ve got a draft and you need feedback – what a big favour it is to ask someone, a friend or acquaintance or agent, to spend a dozen or more hours ...
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September 27, 2016Most Anticipated Books of 2017, Part 1
Some of my favourite writers have new books coming out next year, and I’m so incredibly excited to read them. I had a chance this week to interview Rebecca Rosenblum, about her new novel, So Much Love, ...
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September 16, 2016Interview with Zoe Whittall: a Conversation About Writing, Characterization and Empathy with One of My Literary Heroes
Zoe Whittall is one of my literary heroes. I remember the day that I discovered her first book, the feeling of relief and excitement as I read each page. I was studying Creative Writing, and feeling depressed ...
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December 01, 2015Eighty Feet Without a Net - Conversations with John Irving
About a year ago I got an email that I had to read about twelve times over before it really settled in. That email was from Janet Turnbull Irving, the wife and agent of one of the most famous literary ...
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September 29, 2016Interview With Martha Sharpe and Michelle Berry
Hi Open Book Readers,I’ve always had a fantasy about opening a bookstore. Aside from writing, it seems like the most perfect job in the world. Two amazing new bookstores have opened recently, Flying ...
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September 27, 2022The Joy of Literary Festivals – And Dreams Coming True
It’s hard to believe we’ve come to the end of September and that the time I have been privileged to spend with you on this Open Book platform is almost over. Looking back at what I have shared with ...
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May 25, 2022"My Life Happened and Then the Stories Followed" Dayle Furlong on Writing Her Gritty, Gripping New Story Collection
The yearning hope and baffled rage of those characters who haven't been lucky in life is a palpable presence in Dayle Furlong's gritty new linked story collection, Lake Effect (Cormorant Books). With ...
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February 26, 2019When All Your Faves Are Problematic
Recently, at a dinner with several writer friends, I learned that a writer I’ve long admired has been known to behave rather smarmily around young women. This writer is now on the list of names that ...
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February 16, 2020
Blogpost #4: START TO FINISH, The Story Behind the Story 2- A Likkle Miss Lou
In this second instalment of my START TO FINISH, The Story Behind the Story series, I focus on my latest picture book A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Found ...
