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May 22, 2019Picture Book Author & Paper Artist Thao Lam on the Books that Shaped Her & the Canadian Illustrator Whose Work Taught Her to Draw
When you read the title of My Cat Looks Like My Dad (Owlkids Books), the latest picture book from acclaimed writer/illustrator Thao Lam, you immediately know you're in for something funny, charming, ...
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August 18, 2023Picture Book Trends
Picture books, like all art forms, are subject to trends and shifts in theme, style and format. I don’t necessarily recommend writing to trend, but it’s always good to be familiar with what’s working ...
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November 30, 2020
Playlist for How Do I Look?
To wrap up my Open Book Residency, and to lead us into December, I thought I’d leave with a little goodbye present: a good ‘ol playlist! I don’t ever listen to music while I write - I get distracted ...
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February 21, 2024Playwright Jeff D'Hondt On Facing the Truth About a Life Quietly Falling Apart, and Learning How to Heal
After being revived from a coma, Megan lives with traumatic injuries that spur her on to violence. Her physician seeks outside help, finding an Indigenous clinician to treat Megan and to seek innovative ...
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June 01, 2021Podcasting about Indigenous books
The world of podcasting is already saturated. Even book podcasts are abundant, with various shows focusing on everything from reviews to an author’s body of work to genre. Although it seems a new podcast ...
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March 06, 2019Poem-phobia? Read an Excerpt from Adam Sol's How a Poem Moves: A Field Guide for Readers of Poetry
More than any other genre, poetry seems to inspire anxiety in readers about exactly how we should be reading. But maybe it's not as scary as it feels - maybe all it takes to read and love poetry is ...
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January 24, 2018Poet & Artist Judy Lowry on Her Reading Life, from Wordsworth Woes to Beat Poet Surprises
Judy Lowry's unforgotten dream (The Brucedale Press) is a poetry collection informed by the stark beauty of Grey County, where Lowry (who is also an artist) lives. The poems range freely, living up to ...
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April 01, 2023Poetry as Joy: A Retrospective and Introduction
April in Ontario is unpredictable. There can be warmer days to soak up the sun by a river, or ice storms to coat everything with a perfect translucent film. In any case, April feels ideal for poetry—the ...
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February 28, 2019Poetry School: Dana Gioia on the matter of poetry
Twenty-eight years ago US poet Dana Gioia’s essay “Can Poetry Matter?” was published in the Atlantic, sparking “a firestorm of debate and discussion” over the role of the poet in contemporary ...
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February 20, 2019Poetry School: Rilke’s advice against advice
My aversion to the poetry workshop grew quickly many years ago. Let me correct that: my aversion to the untutored, undisciplined poetry workshop.Although I’ve been writing poems off and on since I was ...