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October 30, 2018SK Dyment on Crafting Characters in Steel Animals, a Smart, Hilarious New Book of Queer Magic Realism
Jackie is a quiet loner who happens to secretly be a badass bank robber. Vespa is a artist who rides motorbikes and obsessively plans her revenge on an ex-partner. Together, they find love and a heap ...
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March 07, 2025Michaela Jeffery's The Extractionist is a Razor-Sharp, Neon-Noir Thriller
Calgary-based playwright Michaela Jeffery has been winning accolades and awards for her work for some time now, and has been exciting audiences with her stunning works that lean into themes of feminist ...
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September 25, 2019"Intimacy Was a Lost Country" Billy-Ray Belcourt on His Origin Story & Reading Like His Life Depends on It
In 2017, Billy-Ray Belcourt took the poetry world by storm with his debut collection, This World is a Wound. It went on to win the 2018 Griffin Prize (amongst many other honours), making Belcourt the ...
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February 02, 2016Poets in Profile: Majlinda Bashllari
Majlinda Bashllari published her first poetry collection in Albania in 2007. Less than ten years later the Toronto-based poet has released her first English language collection, Love is a very long word ...
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November 04, 2021"Who Were We, and Why Did We Live?" Diane Schoemperlen on Editing the 50th Edition of Best Canadian Stories
Diane Schoemperlen knows a thing or two about short fiction. The acclaimed Kingston-based author, who has been honoured with prizes including the prestigious Engel Findley and Matt Cohen Awards from the ...
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November 10, 2023Excerpt: Joe Pete, the Final Book from Ian McCulloch, a Staple of the Northern Writing Community
The star of Ian McCulloch's final novel, Joe Pete (Latitude 46 Publishing) is Alison, an eleven-year-old girl better known as the titular Joe Pete. Devastated by the death of her father Sandy, a descendant ...
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September 27, 2022The Joy of Literary Festivals – And Dreams Coming True
It’s hard to believe we’ve come to the end of September and that the time I have been privileged to spend with you on this Open Book platform is almost over. Looking back at what I have shared with ...
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October 27, 2018
Characters like family
One of my favourite parts of the writing process is creating and developing characters. I’ve always believed a story is only as strongly crafted as the people in it. Characters are the pillars of and ...
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September 28, 2021"To See the Extraordinary in the Everyday is a Super Power" Eliza Martin on Her Debut Children's Book & Its Hopeful Heroine
In Eliza Martin's Harvey and the Extraordinary (Annick Press, illustrated by Anna Bron), Mimi is determined to become the world's great mime. With her trusty hamster by her side, she practices her act ...
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June 29, 2023Read an Excerpt from Jessica Outram's Historical Métis Adventure Story, Bernice and the Georgian Bay Gold
In many ways, Bernice, the heroine of Métis author and teacher Jessica Outram's Bernice and the Georgian Bay Gold (Second Story Press), is like any other eight-year-old: she lives with her family, ...
