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November 14, 2018
On Fairy Tales
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live…[w]e look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition ...
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February 26, 2019
When All Your Faves Are Problematic
Recently, at a dinner with several writer friends, I learned that a writer I’ve long admired has been known to behave rather smarmily around young women. This writer is now on the list of names that ...
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October 30, 2019
Prize Season
Earlier this summer, I had the chance to do some writing at the Banff Centre. It was a wonderful experience. I wrote, I slept, I went for long walks through the mountains. I ate too many pieces of cake ...
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July 17, 2019
"We Need to Celebrate the Efforts of Our Students" Author & Educator Larry Swartz on Teaching Creative Writing
As an instructor at U of T's prestigious teaching education program, OISE, Larry Swartz knows a thing or two about inspiring students. He's also written several teaching guides and textbooks, which focus ...
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April 06, 2021
"I Feel the Most Fulfilled When I Write About Love" Patricia Storms on Her Uplifting New Picture Book & Writing for Kids
Every morning, Dutch is excited to hear the Gardener wake up. He knows that once she's done her mysterious morning things, he'll get to go outside with her. The Dog's Gardener (Groundwood Books, illustrated ...
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January 31, 2010
The CN Tower
On September 21, 2009, as others may have celebrated Leonard Cohen’s 75th birthday, there was a ceremony at the CN Tower’s Horizons Restaurant, coinciding with the release of Guinness World Records ...
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April 26, 2010
Canadians in New York: The Chelsea Hotel
Despite parboiling myself in the shower a few times I began to like the hotel, or at least some of the residents, or denizens as some liked to call themselves. You could get high in the elevators on the ...
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November 09, 2020
Saumiya Balasubramaniam's Beautiful New Picture Book is a Pathway to "Appreciate the Magic in the New"
In a sea of endless Canadian snow, Ma misses the colours and warmth of home — so far away now it's hard to explain to her little girl as they walk home from school. But her daughter's joy in the cold ...
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October 30, 2018
Journalism and Fiction
While I am very fortunate to have established a career as a published author, it’s not my primary gig. I’ve been working as a journalist in a professional capacity for more than two decades, first ...
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April 09, 2017
My final two columns: Part Two
As rob has mentioned, this is the second part of his final column for Open Book. The staff at Open Book would like to share our appreciation for a decade of columns, and for rob's contributions to the ...