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October 06, 2017
Special Feature: Dundurn Press
Words and Photos by Elyse Friedman. In 1972, Kirk Howard was a young man living in Sarnia and teaching Canadian studies. He noticed a dearth of homegrown books to use in his history and literature classes, ...
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March 04, 2018
Oh, the horror!
Here's some self-gossip for you: A few years ago, in the months leading up to the release date of my book, I was pleased to take part in Naked Heart, Toronto’s LGBTQ literary festival, and to read as ...
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March 08, 2018
Write well, write better, write often.
In my introductory Q&A I gave an abbreviated account of how I write, and in particular how I wrote my first novel. I always find other writers’ processes interesting, so I thought I’d talk about ...
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April 05, 2016
How to Give Good Read
In a month, I will be hitting the road to tour my new book of poetry, even this page is white. In addition to trying to manage the general anxieties that arise when putting art into the world, I have ...
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May 25, 2016
How to Get Your Book Published (No, Really)
When I asked friends what they would want to know about the literary world, the consistent response I received was: How does someone get published?A quick Google search reveals that many, many articles ...
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November 03, 2016
The Art of Giving Feedback
In 2009, after I had finished an early draft of my first book, God Loves Hair, I gave some of my closest friends a copy of the manuscript for their feedback. It was a vulnerable experience, especially ...
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December 06, 2016
Ask & Answer Post-Tour
In the spring of 2015, I became aware that fellow multi-disciplinary Toronto artist, Chase Joynt, was publishing his first book, You Only Live Twice. A long time admirer of Chase's work, I immediately ...
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October 05, 2016
How To Make a Great Book Cover
The most important lesson I learned when I self-published my first book was that readers do judge a book by its cover. This is often framed as negative but as author and illustrator Annie Mok recently ...
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September 06, 2016
September: My Season of Jealousy
September marks the beginning of award announcements and big fall book launches. In recent years, September has also marked the beginning of my season of jealousy. I feel apprehensive typing these words ...
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March 11, 2018
Escape from reality: Conventions, conferences and expos.
I haven’t spoken about it a whole lot, but just a few months before the The Bone Mother’s release, my mother died. While not unexpected, it was unpleasant, and of course brought a lot of memories ...