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June 19, 2020
To Pre-read, or Not to Pre-read?
Should you be vetting your kids’ reading material? For many, the answer seems so obvious, you don’t even need to ask the question. To make sure kids are choosing books that meet their approval, ...
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November 12, 2020Susan Perly on Writing Grief, Reading Don Quixote, and Why Her Favourite Character is a Talking Octopus
Susan Perly's Giller Prize-nominated Death Valley drew comparisons to everything from Twin Peaks to Alice in Wonderland for its dark humour and compelling beauty. So her follow-up, Stella Atlantis ...
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September 29, 2020Matt James on Last Minute Edits, a Kitchen Table Studio, & How to Get the Most Out of Picture Books
Governor General’s Literary Award winner Matt James is well known for illustrating Northwest Passage (an acclaimed tribute to the Stan Rogers song of the same name) and writing and illustrating The ...
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November 25, 2020Read an Excerpt from Will Toffan's Watching the Devil Dance, a Fascinating True Crime Story of Canada's First Spree Killer
For younger Canadians, the name Matthew Charles Lamb may not ring a bell. But those who know it will never forget the man who was dubbed Canada's first spree killer after a bizarre and unprovoked shooting ...
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April 20, 2021"Children are Born as Little Scientists" Erin Alladin's Outside, You Notice Captures the Wonder of Exploring the Natural World
Erin Alladin's Outside, You Notice (Pajama Press, illustrated by Andrea Blinick) is just the sort of book we could all use right now. Thoughtful, joyful, and gentle, its celebration of the outdoors, ...
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April 21, 2021Read an Excerpt from Meghan Bell's Short Stories, Erase and Rewind, An Insightful, Darkly Funny Debut Collection
The young women of Erase and Rewind (Book*hug Press), the debut story collection by Meghan Bell, are funny, flawed, gutsy, and wonderfully compelling to listen to and witness.From the story of a superhero's ...
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February 01, 2021
LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID: The writing process Part 1 of 9
When I was first approached by Open Book about doing the author residency for the month of February, my first thought was that I would do a serialized short story and write a piece of fiction in the same ...
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February 05, 2021
LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID: The writing process Part 2 of 9
As an artist of colour, I am acutely aware of how underrepresented our work is in all areas of media. Many times, our work is not funded, ignored, or not reviewed but we forge ahead all the same. I once ...
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February 02, 2021Michael Grant on His (Naked) New Play & Creating a Fictional Small Town Across His Works
Norm and Ruth were just trying to get their marriage back on track. A simple idea: to head back to a place they knew they'd been happy and see if they can re-capture the spark there. But the struggling ...
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February 28, 2021
LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID: The writing process Part 9 of 9
One thing about the pandemic is that it has changed how we socialize and interact with other humans. Even before the pandemic people seemed to be becoming more engaged online and less actually connected. ...
