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August 16, 2018
J.E. Barnard on Her New Mystery Series, Julius Caesar, & How Floods Change People, Towns & Stories
Everyone in J.E. Barnard's When the Flood Falls (Dundurn Press) is having a tough time. From ex-RCMP corporal Lacey McCrae and her old university roommate, Dee, to even the Calgary foothills town they've ...
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June 27, 2019
"I Wanted to Show What an Ongoing Juggling Act It All Is" Lisa de Nikolits on Her Writer for a Year Video Series
Plenty of writers, emerging and established, have questions about how to handle the professional aspects of the writing life. How to approach social media? Are festivals important? What about reviews? ...
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August 31, 2018
On the future of Canlit
You guys, this is my last Open Book column.I have been writing this column for a year now and I’ll admit I didn’t know what I was going to write about when Holly Kent and Kevin Hardcastle asked me ...
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February 03, 2020
Blogpost #1: Meet Nadia L. Hohn, or selected musings of a Black-Canadian djeli
Here ye! Here ye! My name is Nadia L. Hohn and I am proud to be the February 2020 Open Book writer-in-residence. Not only do you get to read my posts about writing, #kidlit, and Canadian publishing ...
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May 26, 2019
The Devil is in the Details - Researching and Writing Your Novel
If you’ve been reading my other posts you’ve probably noticed that my upcoming book THE LOST SCROLL OF THE PHYSICIAN is set in Ancient Egypt. The Second Intermediate Period, to be precise. Unfortunately, ...
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March 05, 2018
"Loss and Absence Challenge Us to Become Who We Are": Kathleen Venema on Her Unique Mother-Daughter Memoir
The impact of mother-daughter relationships is hard to overstate. In Kathleen Venema's Bird-Bent Grass: A Memoir, in Pieces (Wilfrid Laurier University) the extraordinary influence of the mother-daughter ...
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May 13, 2019
5 Reasons You Need a Writing Buddy
I hope everyone who celebrates enjoyed their Mother’s Day, fêting and being fêted! Just like no one will love you like your babies love you, when it comes to your career, no one will get you like ...
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October 07, 2016
How to keep a small chapbook press alive for twenty-three years (a primer)
By the time you read this, above/ground press will most likely be two or three items away from an accumulated eight hundred publications. How does that happen? Even I find it strange and remarkable that ...
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September 09, 2020
"Your Past Inhabits Your Present" Emily Urquhart on Why Creativity Has No Age Limit
There's no age limit on creativity, and yet there's often an assumption that the most innovative and vital work comes from the young. Bestselling author and journalist Emily Urquhart doesn't buy that ...
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June 14, 2016
The Pitch
Submitted by kevin on June 14, 2016 - 1:26pmI spent the last three weeks in a writing room with some of the most talented comedy writers I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.One of the most exciting ...