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December 06, 2022Sarah L. Taggart on the "What If" Question That Inspired Her First Book
In Sarah L. Taggart's stunning debut novel Pacifique (Coach House Books), Tia wakes up with a broken collarbone after a catastrophic bike accident and calls out for Pacifique, the lover she met just ...
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November 15, 2024Two Sisters Must Reckon with Deeply-Held Family Secrets in Louise Ells' New Novel, Lies I Told My Sister
After being named a Hawthornden Fellow, author Louise Ells was given the go-ahead to take the opportunity by her family, a crucial decision due to her caretaking duties for a husband living with dementia. ...
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January 20, 2022"Are You Sick or Not?" Read an Excerpt from Shayne McGreal's Tense and Honest Debut, Anthony: A Composite Novel
Shayne McGreal's debut novel, Anthony: A Composite Novel (Guernica Editions) takes readers deep into the experience of the titular character and all his complications, weaving in and out of the various ...
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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 ...
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January 24, 2017Teaching Teens to Write
Nora Ohanjanians is a retired high school English teacher who taught the Grade 12 Writer's Craft course at the school where I teach. One of my favourite people, Nora is a very warm, giving person. She ...
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January 14, 2021Achievable, Artistic Resolutions for Authors and Illustrators
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love coming up with new year’s resolutions. I love committing to some kind of regular creative activity … no matter the outcome! Last year, I said ...
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June 06, 2018"What's Your Story?" Read the Winning Texts of the 2018 OBPO Writing Contest Winners! Part Two: North York
What's better than reading brand new stories from talented Toronto authors? How about reading them for free? We're excited to present, exclusive on Open Book, the second set of winning texts from the Ontario ...
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March 17, 2016A Note on the Imagination
To thrive off the imagination, even if it affords only a dull light at the end of the day, is worth it; or not to thrive, even, but to loosely depend upon, keep the fires of imagining alive, in order ...
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April 12, 2022Read an Excerpt from Caroline van Rooyen's Any Girl, About a Teen Survivor Hunting Down a Predator
Content warning: sexual violenceCaroline van Rooyen's Any Girl (Mawenzi House) is the harrowing, fiery story of July, the unlikely 15-year old heroine who wages war on a rapist terrorizing her community ...
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July 25, 2023Read an Excerpt from Denise Da Costa's And the Walls Came Down, an Absorbing Portrait of East Toronto in the 90s
A diary can be a powerful portal. In Denise Da Costa's And The Walls Came Down (Dundurn Press), Delia Ellis returns to her childhood home in east Toronto, years after making her ways through the trials ...