Search
-
March 05, 2020Book Therapy: Shani Mootoo’s Polar Vortex
“The body is always in the moment. It doesn’t care if it was warmer or colder any other time. It’s concerned—a matter of survival, naturally—only with how it is in the present.”—Shani Mootoo, ...
-
March 03, 2020Read an Excerpt From Dayle Furlong's Powerful New Collection, Lake Effect
Set in the Great Lakes region, the stories of Toronto-based author Dayle Furlong's new collection Lake Effect (Cormorant Books) follows those on both sides of the border as they struggle with love, fear, ...
-
March 01, 2020
Blogpost #8: TRENDING CURRENTLY: Top 8 Diverse Middle Grade and Young Adult Themes I’ve Observed
Dear Reader:This is my final post as the February 2020 Open Book Writer In Residence. (And, did you catch that this is the 8th blogpost and I am listing 8 middle grade and young adult themes? Didn’t ...
-
February 27, 2020Making Time: How Ondaatje Taught Me To Show Up For Myself, or Plotting vs. Pantsing
There are some books whose images stay with us long after we’ve read them, far more than the stories or the characters themselves. An image that has stayed with me over the years is from The English ...
-
February 27, 2020The Entitled Interview: March 2020 Writer-in-Residence Leslie Shimotakahara Finds Inspiration Through Family
Reading Toronto-based author Leslie Shimotakahara, you get the sense that family, and history, have always been important to her work.Her first book, the Canada-Japan Literary Prize-winning The Reading ...
-
February 27, 2020
Blogpost #7: DOES WRITING KID’S BOOKS MAKE CENT$? Part 2 Financing your Writing
Since 2015, I have been a published author of books for young people and present my stories to hundreds of children each year. Some of the most common questions I am asked by this audience are ...
-
February 26, 2020My Story: Prudence Emery On Writing Her Memoir, Making New Discoveries, and Looking Back
Saying Prudence Emery has had a unique ride through life would be an understatement. Born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, she left behind her family and their expectations to attend art school in London, ...
-
February 25, 2020Read an Excerpt From Paddy Scott's Darkly Funny Debut 'The Union of Smokers'
Kaspar Pine, the irreverent and foul-mouthed twelve year-old protagonist of Paddy Scott's debut novel The Union of Smokers (Invisible Publishing), tells you right away that he is going to die today. What ...
-
February 21, 2020On Trying Not To Fly By the Seat of My Pants
I’m a writer who regularly finishes projects, but I wouldn’t describe myself as a writer with a regular practice. This is something I feel I should be able to correct and yet somehow writing continues ...
-
February 20, 2020The Kids Club Interview: Jennifer Maruno Explores the Complications of Tween Friendship In Her New Book
For kids enjoying their first years of social independence, negotiating new friendships can be overwhelming. Bonds are quickly made and broken, leaving confusion and tears in their wake. In her newest ...