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March 13, 2017My final two columns: Part One
After nearly a decade, my time as a columnist for Open Book comes to a close. According to my email folder, it was May 2009 when Amy Logan Holmes first approached me with the idea of submitting pieces ...
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December 12, 2018Beyond the Possible: On World Building
Sometimes, I think about what would have happened to Frodo and Sam if, during their journey across the land to Mordor, Frodo had fallen down a jagged slope of rocks and broken his leg.Would Frodo, delirious ...
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October 24, 2013Writing Fatherhood
What do we know about pregnancy1.I shall begin, by speaking. Incubate, introduce a glossary. Just on the tongue. Unpaginated.2.Something is growing, inside. Occupant. Connects whole milk to healthy industry. ...
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August 27, 2024Danesh Mohiuddin's Debut Picture Book is the Story of Playful Monsters With a Heartfelt Parent and Child Relationship
Many authors have interesting life stories of their own, and unique pathways to becoming an artist. Our featured book today, Mummy and Me: A Monster's Tale (Owlkids Books), is written and illustrated ...
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October 29, 2019"When You Start Really Going with Writing, it Feels like Flying" Jess Taylor on the Freedom & Healing of Short Fiction
Jess Taylor's 2015 collection Pauls announced her as an innovative, creative, and fearless voice in Canadian short fiction. This fall she returns with a new book of stories, the memorably named Just ...
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May 31, 2016Special Feature! Talking About Poetry with the Griffin Prize Finalists
The Griffin Poetry Prize is a career-making honour, and has built itself into one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world, honouring the best in both Canadian and international poetry for ...
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June 26, 2025Read an Excerpt from The Midnight Project, a Riveting New Science-Fiction Novel by Christy Climenhage
The best science-fiction writers of our time have not only created imaginative and inventive worlds, but they've also managed to tap into the zeitgeist in terms of societal commentary. This leads to lasting ...
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June 17, 2016The Dirty Dozen, with Iain Reid
Iain Reid's debut novel I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Simon & Schuster Canada) is already gathering rave reviews. Known for his non-fiction, Reid is dipping into long form fiction for the first time ...
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December 15, 2021Robert Rotenberg on His Family's Lost Story of Heroism, A Memorable Opening Line, & Going Back to Chandler
Bestselling crime writer Robert Rotenberg, who is also a prominent criminal lawyer, knows how to craft a good story. But he got a serious surprise when two distant relatives wrote a story he'd never heard ...
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November 14, 2018On 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 ...