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March 01, 2020
Blogpost #8: TRENDING CURRENTLY: Top 8 Diverse Middle Grade and Young Adult Themes I’ve Observed
Dear Reader:This is my final post as the February 2020 Open Book Writer In Residence. (And, did you catch that this is the 8th blogpost and I am listing 8 middle grade and young adult themes? Didn’t ...
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November 09, 2015
At the End of the "DEBRIS" Tour - Notes on My First Rodeo
It has been a few days since my last WIR post, but I promise that this is not because I was just playing video games and drinking beer in my Annex hobbit hole. In fact, I’ve been away at the Wild Writers ...
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June 05, 2023
"Tender and Smart, Sometimes Savage Poetry" A Conversation with the 2023 Griffin Poetry Prize Finalists
This week, on June 7, poetry lovers and publishers will be gathered, waiting to hear one of the biggest announcements of their year: that evening, the winner of the $130,000 Griffin Poetry Prize will ...
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November 27, 2015
On "Fiction" - Writing from Real Life
Over the past while I’ve noticed a number of situations where an author is asked about the autobiographical or non-fiction elements in their books. It has always been something that people are interested ...
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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 ...
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May 25, 2017
Talking 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, ...
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September 20, 2016
New Fall 2016 Children's and YA Books! Part 1
I’m delighted to be starting off my kid lit blog this season with a fun chat with five authors of exciting hot-off-the-press children’s books, including a picture book, a chapter book, a middle grade ...
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May 02, 2018
Geting to Know Carol Rose Daniels: Tasty Snack Ideas, Sky-High Plans, & Curling Celebs
Carol Rose Daniels' newest poetry collection, Hiaerth (Inanna Publications), mines a particularly painful period in Canadian history: the so-called '60s Scoop, where upwards of 20,000 indigenous children ...
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April 12, 2016
Why 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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April 13, 2017
Canisia Lubrin on Poetry Exercises
Next up in my interview series with poets on their relationships to poetry prompts and exercises is Canisia Lubrin. She was born in St. Lucia and serves on the editorial board of the Humber Literary Review ...