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March 24, 2019Writer at Work: Speaking with the Dead
A couple of weeks ago, I had the honour of speaking on panels at Room Magazine’s Growing Room Festival. During a Q&A session with the audience after the intersectionality, diaspora, and Asian-Canadian ...
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March 28, 2019Writer at Work: “Identity is a pain in the arse” (On Zadie Smith)
Last month, Zadie Smith said: "identity is a pain in the arse." She said this at a festival in the context of a discussion about identity politics and her (white) partner, Nick Laird. Here's a snippet ...
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July 24, 2020The Power of a Great Title
We all know about the power of a good cover, but what about the power of a great title?I’ve worked in publishing for nearly fifteen years now and attended upwards of seventy-five tradeshows across ...
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July 06, 2016What is Literary Fiction? Ask a Romance Publisher
Years ago, I was the guest author at a summer camp for teen writers. The afternoon started well: I read a bit from my first novel, spoke in very general terms about how I became a writer, and outlined ...
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February 01, 2017
Introduction, Academic Language & my dislike of genre
Greetings,My name is Dane Swan and I'll be your Writer in Residence for February. I'm sure that it's just coincidence that I'm the Writer in Residence for February, but since it is Black History month ...
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March 06, 2014
Novels vs. Serial Television
Novels are big. It’s something you recognize when you’ve got a draft and you need feedback – what a big favour it is to ask someone, a friend or acquaintance or agent, to spend a dozen or more hours ...
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October 31, 2017Halloween Special: Watching the World End with Peter Darbyshire
The title of Peter Darbyshire's Has the World Ended Yet? (Wolsak & Wynn) isn't false advertising - the stories, which contain all the wit, weirdness, and insight Darbyshire is known for, really do ...
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March 06, 2017
Kid Lit Can: Spotlight on Middle Grade Fiction - Part 2
Today I continue my chat with four terrific middle-grade novel authors. They’ll share more about their writing process, their aspirations for their writing -- and even reveal something … well, something ...
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May 07, 2024Wendy Orr Takes Readers to The Valley of Horses and Beyond in Her Newest Book
During the fraught and uncertain years of the COVID-19 pandemic, author Wendy Orr and her family found themselves in Australia, locked-down and away from family back in Canada. Worried about the ways ...
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November 27, 2015On "Fiction" - Writing from Real Life
Over the past while I’ve noticed a number of situations where an author is asked about the autobiographical or non-fiction elements in their books. It has always been something that people are interested ...
