Search
-
May 12, 2023Read an Excerpt from Discipline n.v by Concetta Principe, a Wry Lyric Memoir of Navigating Academia's Prejudices
The academic world's nickname—the Ivory Tower—is meant to communicate that it's an environment where scholars can be cut off from everyday concerns while they pursue deep knowledge. But that removal ...
-
February 17, 2022"Sometimes People Think Children Just Bounce Back" Sarah Howden on Her Thoughtful New Picture Book Helping Kids Navigate Loss
Talking to kids about tough subjects, including grief and loss, is one of the most disorienting parts of being a parent or caregiver. Children need a way to navigate sadness, but the language and concepts ...
-
September 14, 2018"I Could Only Find the Answer as I Wrote" Mina Athanassious on His Collection of Coptic Egyptian Coming of Age Stories
Mina Athanassious's A Face Like the Moon (Mosaic Press) gathers eight deeply personal stories of Coptic children growing up in Egypt, including a story set in the largely-Coptic neighbourhood where the ...
-
November 30, 2021Daniel Scott Tysdal Examines the Darkness, Strangeness, & Flickering Hope of Life in the 21st Century in His Spectacular Debut Story Collection
Daniel Scott Tysdal is a beloved creative writing professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough and a decorated poet. And of course, Tysdal is also an Open Book columnist and the subject of one ...
-
July 30, 2016The Problem with First Books
In an interview with New York magazine’s Vulture blog, comic book creator Brian K. Vaughan makes clear his feelings about his early work:Do you go back and read many of your older books?Oh, God, no. ...
-
May 15, 2017The Dirty Dozen, with Catherine Hernandez
Catherine Hernandez's Scarborough (Arsenal Pulp Press) is a force to be reckoned with. Filled with the vibrant voices of a struggling but tight-knit community in the titular city, the story immerses ...
-
April 24, 2017
Margaret Christakos on Poetry Exercises
Today's feature on poets and writing exercises, the final in this series, is Margaret Christakos. She's the author of nine collections of poetry, including Multitudes (2013), Sooner (2005) and What Stirs ...
-
January 10, 2023Read an Excerpt from Chelsea Wakelyn's Darkly Funny, Deeply Moving Story of Grief, What Remains of Elsie Jane
Grief comes with a lot of "supposed to" attached to it. You're not supposed to be a mess. You're not supposed to ever laugh. And you're definitely not supposed to solicit a space-time wizard on Craigslist ...
-
August 03, 2023Read an Excerpt from Michel Jean's Kukum, a Fictionalized History of His Innu Great-Grandparents' Extraordinary Love Story
Almanda Siméon, an orphan raised by her aunt and uncle in the tiny Quebec community of Saint-Prime, changes her life when she falls in love.Thomas a young Innu man, and both his and Almanda's families ...
-
October 13, 2020"Writing is One Way to Help to Build a More Livable World" A Conversation with the 2020 Dayne Ogilvie Prize Finalists
The Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers was established by Robin Pacific to honour a beloved friend. Ogilvie was a respected editor, writer, and literary manager and his death was devastating ...