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November 30, 2021Daniel 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"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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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 ...
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April 10, 2024Mentorship: Part I
I’m deep in the weeds on a WIP and have been struggling to figure out what it needs, and what I need to get it to where it needs to be. My writing group is amazing, and I’m so grateful to my beta ...
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November 24, 2011So You Think You Can Dance Write?
An investigation of the writing of characters engaged in the physical act of dancing for an extended period of time in poetry and fiction by Nathaniel G. MooreHow does a writer choreograph the movement ...
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June 30, 2022Remembering Steven Heighton and the Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference
One of the jokes I have with myself is that my first exposure to the public world of poetry was so traumatizing that I had no choice but to accommodate what I saw, however subconsciously. Ten years ago, ...
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June 10, 2019"Compassion, Imagination, Enthusiasm, & the Freedom to Make Mistakes" Humber Summer Workshop Instructors Giles Blunt & Michelle Winters on Workshopping & Writing Advice
Is this the summer you kick start that writing project you've been thinking about for so long? The Humber Summer Workshop, part of the prestigious Humber School for Writers, is a short, intensive program ...
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December 29, 2017The Canlit Year in Review: 2017 Can Suck It
I remember the moment when I realized that 2017 was going to irrevocably change Canlit. It was early in June, and I was sitting on a stage, speaking at a panel on diversity and the appropriation of voice. ...
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August 03, 2018"What's Your Story?" Read the Winning Texts of the 2018 OBPO Writing Contest Winners! Part Four: East Toronto
It feels too fast every year - the end of summer is once again in sight. Make the most of our remaining warm days by packing in great summer reading - and today you can discover brand new reads right ...