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February 18, 2021Small gifts from writers: The power of writerly connections
On one especially sunny day when I was a young girl sitting at my kitchen table scribbling stories on the backs of old receipts my mother left on the table, I closed my eyes, looked into the future, and ...
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February 16, 2021Book Therapy: The Centaur’s Wife
“It isn’t just her own survival she’s thinking about. She’s thinking about everyone else. That’s how they’re all going to survive—by thinking about everyone else.”—Amanda Leduc, The ...
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February 12, 2021
LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID: The writing process Part 4 of 9
The creation of tension and suspense and mood shifts to me are just as important as creating characters and the plot themselves. Tension and suspense is what makes the story come alive. For the short ...
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February 11, 2021"I Like Inhabiting One Character": Philipp Schott on Telling Family Stories, Building Character, & "Invisible Scaffolding"
Philipp Schott's The Willow Wren (ECW Press) follows the complex and harrowing story of Ludwig, a child growing up in Hilter's Germany. Sent against his will to a Hitler Youth Camp, shy and gentle Ludwig ...
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February 09, 2021Read an Excerpt from Russell Banks' Stunning New Novel of Confession and Secrets, Foregone
Russell Banks is one of American letters' most treasured writers, exploring themes of violence, alienation, luck, and justice, often set against the backdrop of seemingly peaceful small towns in novels ...
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February 08, 2021
LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID: The writing process Part 3 of 9
As I stated before, the writing process for me is an intuitive one. Some people are afraid or intimidated by the blank page, but I see all kinds of possibilities in it. I am a visual writer, so I have ...
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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 04, 2021Read an Excerpt from Parliamentary Poet Laureate Louise Bernice Halfe's Newly Re-Released, Iconic Collection Blue Marrow
Louise Bernice Halfe - Sky Dancer is an icon of Canadian poetry, so it was a celebratory moment when, earlier this week, she was announced as the ninth Parliamentary Poet Laureate, one of the country's ...
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February 04, 2021A.G. Pasquella Shows Readers the City's Dark Side in His Compulsively Readable Toronto Crime Novels
Toronto's dark side takes centre stage in A.G. Pasquella's Jack Palace series. Season of Smoke (Dundurn Press), the newest instalment in the series, sees Jack backed into a terrible corner when his past ...
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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 ...
