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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 ...
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September 12, 2018
Notes on My Futile Attempts to Evade the Creeping Tendrils of Inescapable Progress
The other day, my six-year-old daughter told me that I’m on my phone too much.This was right after I’d grinned at a parking attendant and told him how thrilled I was to see a person at the gate instead ...
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September 10, 2018
On Kindness, and Generosity
The Toronto literary community has recently lost two very bright lights, mourning the deaths of Priscila Uppal and Ann Ireland.Though I didn’t know either Ann or Priscila all that well, I feel fortunate ...
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September 02, 2018
Show Me the (Writing-Grant) Money!
Hello, and Happy September! Thanks to the excellent folks at Open Book for inviting me here, and thanks to you for tuning in, lovely readers-who-I’m-guessing-are-mostly-also-writers.All right, let’s ...
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August 30, 2018
Meet our September 2018 writer in residence, short fiction wizard Jessica Westhead!
A Jessica Westhead short story is a magical thing. Her darkly funny, heartfelt stories of misfits, loners, and compelling weirdos have racked up numerous honours, including nominations for the ReLit ...
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August 28, 2018
Back to School: Authors on Their Favourite School-Centric Stories & Books
It sneaks up on us every year, but it's nearly that time - back to school time. Even if you've been out of the hallowed halls of learning for many years, you can't help but notice it every September.To ...
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August 21, 2018
"The Words Felt Right and Honest" Deep Underwater author Irene Luxbacher on Finding Her Way Through Tough Times with Writing
Irene Luxbacher's Deep Underwater (Groundwood Books) calls out to the wild imagination of young readers, those years when we were sure we could find mermaids, adventures, and secrets, if we could just ...
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August 16, 2018
J.E. Barnard on Her New Mystery Series, Julius Caesar, & How Floods Change People, Towns & Stories
Everyone in J.E. Barnard's When the Flood Falls (Dundurn Press) is having a tough time. From ex-RCMP corporal Lacey McCrae and her old university roommate, Dee, to even the Calgary foothills town they've ...
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August 13, 2018
Defending your writing
Ever since I can remember, I wanted to be a writer. As a kid, I read everything in my library from A – Z. I was the secretary of the Library Club and loved my after-school gig of sorting the books according ...
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August 09, 2018
Chadwick Ginther on Writing a Necromancer Who Longs for a Normal Life & Discovering His Themes
Corrupt morticians. Dead twins. Animated skeletons. And a necromancer named Winter who protects the city. This ain't your grandfather's Winnipeg. Instead, it's Chadwick Ginther's wonderfully dark and ...