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July 27, 2022"This Incredible Period of Chaos and Change" Alexandra Mae Jones on Why She Loves Writing Young Adult Literature
In Alexandra Mae Jones' debut young adult novel, The Queen of Junk Island (Annick Press), 16-year old Dell is dealing with adult-sized challenges, both internal and external.In shock from the trauma ...
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June 21, 2021Playwright Makambe K Simamba on Fearlessly Exploring "How Far Characters are Willing to Go in Order to Live Their Truths"
CW: discussion of anti-Black violenceIt's a gutting image: a seventeen-year old Black boy, a child in a hoodie, dead far too soon because of hateful and unchecked anti-Black racism. Makambe K Simamba's Our ...
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March 11, 2019Writing and illustrating children’s books: All the surprises
The process of writing, illustrating and publishing a children’s book can be filled with surprises—good and bad! For example, I’m always surprised by how much my heart explodes when a friend sends ...
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February 08, 2016Kid Lit Can, with Susan Hughes: Sex, and Drugs, and Rock and Roll: Writing Edgy YA (Part 1)
Drugs, gambling, sexual harassment, suicide, sexual abuse, physical abuse, cutting, death, sex, drugs, body image issues, bullying, STDs, abduction...between them, YA authors C.K. Kelly Martin, Don Aker ...
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February 20, 2022
Dorkus Malorkus Alert 2: The Search for More Nerdiness
Hey there, Open Book reader. Good to see you again. Can you believe February is over 70% done? (I can’t, and it’s keeping me up at night.) I know my previous post went pretty heavy on the nerd factor ...
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June 27, 2018"How Do We Transform?" Susannah M. Smith on Her Unique, Imaginative Novel The Fairy Tale Museum
Susannah M. Smith's The Fairy Tale Museum (Invisible Publishing) is populated with a cyborg cyclops, fortune tellers and vampires, lovers with the heads of birds, and countless other characters who live ...
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October 26, 2020"I Didn’t Realize How Damaged I Had Become" Firefighter Bryan Ratushniak's Memoir is Powerful, Honest, & Moving
The image of a firefighter is an emotionally charged one: a person who literally exists to save us from one of the most inherently terrifying forces in the world. It's a heavy mantle both figuratively ...
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July 23, 2018David Ward, Back from 5 Years in a Tiny, Isolated Newfoundland Community, Shares Publishing Highs & Lows
For writers in Canada, Newfoundland is a special place. After five years living in an isolated Newfoundland community, ecologist David Ward understood that intimately. His story of that time, Bay of ...
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April 28, 2023Literary Secrets
And this is my last post as Writer-in-Residence with Open Book, and I’m grateful to you for reading and revelling in poetry-world with me. I didn’t know how to start this, or how to quantify the month’s ...
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September 29, 2020Matt James on Last Minute Edits, a Kitchen Table Studio, & How to Get the Most Out of Picture Books
Governor General’s Literary Award winner Matt James is well known for illustrating Northwest Passage (an acclaimed tribute to the Stan Rogers song of the same name) and writing and illustrating The ...
