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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 ...
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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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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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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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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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April 25, 2018On respectable narratives and why diversity on the page matters
Growing up, I was very particular kind of Chinese girl. I attended Chinese school on Saturdays. I took piano lessons. My report cards were always the best in my class. I played first clarinet in my school ...
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April 20, 2023"Conflict is the Engine that Drives Fiction" Leanne Lieberman on the Magic of Writing for Teens
When her dad hits rock bottom—again—Jess finds herself determined to change her stars and avoid going down the same dark path. She takes a job cleaning a beautiful country house, where part of her ...
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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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July 15, 2019"The More Fun I am Having, the Better the Writing" Novelist Susan Swan on Finding Joy in the Writing Process
In Susan Swan's newest novel, The Dead Celebrities Club (Cormorant Books), readers meet charismatic, high-flying financial conman Dale Paul. When Paul's empire is revealed to be an exploitative sham, ...
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June 21, 20226 Reasons Why Your Kids’ Book Was Rejected
After working in children’s publishing, sitting on various book selection committees, and judging writing for kids contests for 15+ years, I’ve read a lot of manuscripts. Here are the six most common ...
