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September 18, 2019"My Belief in Fate and Destiny Got the Best of Me" Read an Exclusive Excerpt from Nur Abdi's The Somali Camel Boy
Nur Abdi's debut novel The Somali Camel Boy (Mawenzi House) follows Ali, a young boy who has lost everything to a violent clan targeting his family. Tough and determined, he walks from his empty home ...
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October 23, 2016
Poetic Inspiration III
This is the third in a series of posts highlighting inventive poems that have broadened my sense of what poems can be and do, and sparked me to stretch further in my own work. (The previous instalments ...
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June 28, 2023The Benefits of Being an Imposter
Like most writers, I’ve had a lot of rent jobs. When I was lucky, I worked in my chosen fields of editing and education. When I wasn’t so lucky, I worked in an institutional kitchen, as an ad mail ...
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September 25, 2018It Begins with the Body author Hana Shafi on Halloween, Karaoke, & Whether Die Hard is a Christmas Movie
Hana Shafi is the hilarious big sister you always wished for. Her frank, smart, relatable poems tackle everything from anxiety to unibrows, unemployment to rushing to throw up in a bar bathroom. It ...
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November 26, 2020Children’s Book Gift Guide for Little (and Big) Bookworms
I love buying children’s books for my niece and nephew. They all have such different personalities and interests and it’s so fun for me to find books I think they’ll enjoy. And I also love buying ...
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September 08, 2022Naseem Hrab's Adorable Snail Party Picture Book is a Love Letter to Homebodies of All Ages
While everyone loves a special occasion, we all have different ideas about the perfect way to celebrate. Some people may love a big, boisterous party, but plenty of people find that all a bit overwhelming ...
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August 22, 2023Marie-Louise Gay on Getting Personal about Tough Childhood Moments in Her Magical New Picture Book
For a kid, moving to a new house and finding friends in a new school can be extremely tough. In iconic KidLit creator Marie-Louise Gay's new picture book, Hopscotch (Groundwood Books), Ophelia uses ...
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April 27, 2021"I Didn’t Have a Word for it Back Then" Acclaimed Writer & Poet Laureate Louise B. Halfe – Sky Dancer on Her Writing Journey
Over storied her career, Louise B. Halfe – Sky Dancer (who was recently appointed Canada's parliamentary poet laureate), has proved she can do it all: her writing is powerful, raw, and wise. But ...
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April 08, 2014
Touch of Class
The other day, I agreed to read one of my own poems at a sixtieth wedding anniversary. There were fewer trees on the main street of the small town just north of Toronto than the last time I’d been there, ...
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May 05, 2020Writers As Readers: May 2020 Writer-in-Residence Derek Mascarenhas on His Favourite Books
Told through seventeen linked short stories, Toronto author Derek Mascarenhas' debut Coconut Dreams (Book*hug) traces the lives of a South Asian family through a series of shifting voices and timelines, ...
