Search
-
June 18, 2019All Booked Up - Pivot Reading Series
The roots of Pivot Readings stretch back to 1998, when poet Paul Vermeersch started a fiction and poetry reading series in Toronto’s adorably dilapidated I.V. Lounge. When that venue closed in 2008, ...
-
March 01, 2020On Photography
Writing, for me, often begins with an image. By this, I mean not an imaginary image that appears in the mind’s eye, but rather an actual photograph I stumble across in my daily life. A certain picture ...
-
March 05, 2020On Illness
When I was eleven, I was diagnosed with scoliosis, a curvature of the spine. It was my ballet teacher who first noticed that something was amiss; I could see it in the curiosity and concern that splashed ...
-
March 09, 2020On Book Collecting
My favourite place to write is lying on an overstuffed grey sofa, in what was once our attic. My propped-up knees, with a firm cushion over top, form a kind of makeshift desk, on which my notebook perches. ...
-
March 12, 2020On Family Secrets
Why does my writing tend to focus on family secrets? In particular, on children trying to unearth secrets tied to their parents’ pasts? I’m often asked these questions during interviews. The first ...
-
March 15, 2020On Research
I can be nerdy, at times. I love exploring libraries and getting lost in the archives, as one might expect of someone who’s written two historical novels. My first novel, After the Bloom, focuses on ...
-
March 19, 2020On Consolation
1.It’s early February, as I write this in my journal. I’m in Hong Kong at the peak of the coronavirus crisis. At least, it may be the peak. A week ago, I saw in the news alerts on my phone that a ...
-
March 23, 2020On Road Maps
Before beginning a project, is it worthwhile to do a detailed outline? Or is it preferable just to dive in? I’ve tried both approaches. In writing my first novel, After the Bloom, I outlined extensively. ...
-
March 27, 2020On Emergency Landings
A few years ago, I boarded a crowded plane to Asia. As I reached my aisle seat, I was dismayed to notice that the guy next to me had his arm all over our shared armrest, spilling over to my side. He was ...
-
November 25, 2019Special Feature: Book*hug Press
On November 2, 2019, a throng of enthusiastic word nerds gathered at Harbourfront Centre to toast Book*hug Press on its fifteenth anniversary. It was an appropriate venue in which to celebrate, given ...