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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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November 24, 2015On Writing Violence - An Addendum
I’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback and some questions about one of my first posts for Open Book, “On Writing Violence.” One reader, Susan, asked me in the comments about how this all ...
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November 20, 2015Taking Your Medicine in the Editing Room
In previous posts I’ve talked about the hard road to getting a book published, and even a bit about the effort that goes into just getting those first few stories done. I’ve talked about submitting ...
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November 18, 2015Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: Spotlight on 3 Picture Book Creators (2016 Blue Spruce Award Nominees), (Part 1)
How many Canadian picture books are traditionally published each year? Meghan Howe, Library Coordinator of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, estimates the number to be between 180 and 200.So imagine ...
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October 21, 2015Festival like a Pro at Toronto’s Great Big Literary Party
It’s October, the month when pumpkin fills our bellies, ghouls parade our streets and writers from around the globe flock like moths to the literary-festival flame. In Toronto (and many Ontario locations ...
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September 21, 2015A Love Letter to the Tpl and to Ya Fiction – and an Interview with Cameron Ray
If you've been reading along, you'll know I’ve been really interested in literature’s ability to help people to change, and the literature that I always felt changed me most was what I read when I ...
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September 18, 2015Storytelling in the Sciences: an Interview with Dr. Gwen Healey
When I decided that I was going to look into the link between science and storytelling, the first person that I contacted was Dr. Gwen Healey. She’s very connected to her Arctic community, and her community ...
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September 18, 2015Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: Q and A with 2015 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction Nominees, Part I
Welcome back to another year of kid lit updates, info, and author chats! First up, I want to share with you the list of the 2015 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Award nominees . The CCBC sponsors 8 ...
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September 16, 2015Daydreaming During the Sixth Mass Extinction: a Conversation with Chris Szego of Bakka Phoenix Books
The most horrifying things that I’ve been reading lately haven’t been horror fiction, but non-fiction. I’ve been reading about climate change that’s accelerating faster than anticipated, potential ...
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June 25, 2015The Lucky Seven Interview, with Ken Murray
William Oaks has managed to create the facade of a normal, even dull, man. But when his parents die in a car accident, that facade is shattered, and William's complicated family history, filled with religious ...
