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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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September 17, 2020
To Pandemic or not to Pandemic
Surely any period of upheaval and uncertainty is a difficult one to start a novel. And here we are, seven months into the pandemic and with no end in sight. Let’s say that you’re a novelist ...
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July 03, 2018
"What's Your Story?" Read the Winning Texts of the 2018 OBPO Writing Contest Winners! Part Three: Scarborough
It's summer and that means the best time to read - whether it's inside with a fan or out in a park or on a beach. So grab your refreshment of choice and find some shade to take in four brand new, exclusive, ...
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July 30, 2018
The Part of It You Don't See
If you’ve been reading my dispatches over the last month, you might have inferred that making a go of it as a writer is hard. Bending reality, memory, knowledge and experience into believable fiction, ...
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August 16, 2022
"What it Means to Be a Palestinian in Diaspora" Saeed Teebi on His Vivid & Wise Short Fiction Debut
Writer and lawyer Saeed Teebi's short story, "Her First Palestinian", an evocative, uncomfortable, brilliant gem of a character study, was shortlisted for the prestigious CBC Short Story Prize in 2021. ...
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January 08, 2024
Shawna Lemay Uses the Still Life Form to Explore Marriage, Beauty, and Time in Her New Essays
The still life is one of visual art's most enduring forms. From Picasso's revolutionary relief constructions to Van Gogh's iconic sunflowers, it is an artistic experiment that has been embraced, reimagined, ...
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November 02, 2015
Hello, Open Book Readers. I'm Happy to Be Here...
Hello readers. As you might have gathered, I am the incoming Writer-in-Residence for Open Book Toronto, and will be with you through the entire month of November. I’m happy to be here for the month, ...
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March 09, 2023
Artist & Poet Amy Ching-Yan Lam on Stories, Healing, and a Cheese-Based Universe
Stories are more than simply tales we tell ourselves and each other. They are lessons, conversations, cultural landscapes both collective and deeply personal – and in celebrated multi-discipline artist Amy ...
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September 25, 2019
Victoria's Jenny Boychuk Captures CBC Nonfiction Prize for "Slow Violence", a "Beautifully Written Story of Grace"
Today CBC Books announced that Jenny Boychuk of Victoria has won the grand prize in the 2019 CBC Nonfiction contest for her piece "Slow Violence", an exploration of family trauma and forgiveness through ...
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December 10, 2020
Bee Whisperer Jenna Butler Talks from Her Off the Grid Alberta Farm about Climate, Storytelling, & Healing
In recent years, we've learned to look to the bees as a metric of our world's failing health, and the results haven't been heartening. But there are those who are doing the work to support these essential ...