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November 23, 2017Catherine Graham's Path Through the Celery Forest: "A Great Book Alters You Physically"
In a world where the impossible has happened, the limitations of everyday logic are suddenly opened. When poet and novelist Catherine Graham was diagnosed with cancer, the world became a topsy-turvy place. ...
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November 14, 2017Stuart Ross on Experimental Novels, Big Ideas in Short Word Counts, & Juggling Multiple Projects
Stuart Ross' contributions to the Canadian literary scene are almost too lengthy to list. From his staggering 20 books of acclaimed writing in multiple genres to his work as part of the small press scene ...
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November 26, 2017
Graphic noir
It seems like a natural flow, to move from arcade noir to graphic noir.I have such a huge respect for graphic novelists and I feel they are such unsung heroes, particularly in this day and age. Back in ...
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July 25, 2016Service Industry Hell (Part 4): T-Shirts Wet and Dry
A lot of the inspiration for my new book, Congratulations On Everything, came from the things I saw while working in bars, restaurants, and hotels, and from the experiences of friends who did the same. ...
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September 06, 2018Anatomy of a Short Story, or Where I Get (Some of) My Ideas
I’m not one of those writers who makes everything up completely from scratch. And seriously, do those writers even exist? (If they do, I am jealous of them.)In my fiction, almost everything comes from ...
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March 19, 2019Writer at Work: Where I’m Writing From (On Dionne Brand, Black Earth Rising, and Writing with “Love”)
Books that change us challenge us and console us. They break our hearts, they make us think, but most of all, they make us see people as people. Aside from being a generalized and sentimental statement ...
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March 25, 2019How to Secure a Literary Agent
With spring just around the corner (we hope), there’s a renewed sense of optimism in the air. Writers are slowly emerging from the depths of their hobbit holes, and some have manuscripts ready to be ...
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February 07, 2020Book Therapy: The Wisdom of Children(’s Books)
“I’ll be okay…I’ll be okay…”—Akiko Miyakoshi, The Piano RecitalIt’s probably not surprising that, after eighteen months of extended maternity leave, I’ve found the return to full time ...
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November 24, 2010Inside the University of Guelph Creative Writing MFA at Guelph-Humber, with Catherine Bush
Catherine Bush, novelist and associate program coordinator of the University of Guelph Creative Writing MFA at Guelph-Humber, talks to Open Book about their unique writing program, the award-winning mentoring ...
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June 04, 2017Finding Your Material -- and This Time, Billie Holiday
The question is, how does a writer recognize what is uniquely her material? Save herself from wrong turns, dead ends, dead writing?The subject has always been central to me—an obsession—and years ...
