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June 10, 2020
"It's All a Leap of Faith, But the End Result Can Be Beautiful" Rick and Gideon Salutin on the Challenges and Rewards of Writing Their New Book
When Rick Salutin's son Gideon asked one day about the origin of his own name, neither could have predicted the question would spark years of important religious conversation. As the younger Salutin progressed ...
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May 05, 2023
Read an Excerpt from The Trauma Beat, Tamara Cherry's Call for Journalists to Change How They Cover Violent Crime
Imagine you've just experienced the worst moment of your life – the worst moment most people could imagine: the violent, unexpected loss of a loved one. In the shock-numbed minutes and hours that follow, ...
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September 18, 2021
On Painted Mountain Corn and Writing in Relation to Gardening
Winter is the time for gardeners to rest, and to begin thinking of the next season. Usually, by the time November arrives, I am so very grateful that the garden has lessened its hold on me, resting under ...
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September 20, 2022
Hannah McGregor on the Books That Shaped Her Writing and the One That Helped Her Break Genre Barriers
You can tell a lot about Hannah McGregor from the titles of her acclaimed podcasts, including Witch, Please and Secret Feminist Agenda. A writer and creator unafraid of a bit of cheeky fun with a serious ...
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October 16, 2020
Poets Becoming Novelists: On Trusting Leaps and Fragments
I finished the first draft of my novel in mid-March – in the first week of isolation. I hadn’t grasped the gravity of the pandemic then, so I was grateful for the sudden reprieve from the real world. ...
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November 08, 2017
"What's Your Story?" 2017 Obpo Writing Contest Winners! Part Three: North York
For the third edition of the 2017 Ontario Book Publishers Organization's and North York Arts’ What's Your Story? writing contest, we are presenting brand new, original work in three genres, exclusively ...
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May 11, 2021
"Characters are Complicated, Just Like People" Bruce McDougall on How to Build Authentic Characters
Bruce McDougall's writing career has spanned more than three decades and generated more than twenty books of nonfiction, covering biographies, sports, and more. But in 2014, he turned his talents to fiction, ...
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November 30, 2021
Daniel Scott Tysdal Examines the Darkness, Strangeness, & Flickering Hope of Life in the 21st Century in His Spectacular Debut Story Collection
Daniel Scott Tysdal is a beloved creative writing professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough and a decorated poet. And of course, Tysdal is also an Open Book columnist and the subject of one ...
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September 15, 2021
On making art and writing and the cover of Glorious Frazzled Beings
I like to draw, and collage, and paint with watercolours, and glue bits of lichen and bark I find in the forest onto the things I draw, collage and paint. Sometimes I make a painting and then I cut it ...
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May 11, 2021
Don't Write What You Know, Know What You Feel
‘Write what you know,’ must be one of the most common and boring bits of writing advice. I’d say, ‘Don’t worry about what you know – just know what you feel.’You can research most things ...