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October 30, 2018
SK Dyment on Crafting Characters in Steel Animals, a Smart, Hilarious New Book of Queer Magic Realism
Jackie is a quiet loner who happens to secretly be a badass bank robber. Vespa is a artist who rides motorbikes and obsessively plans her revenge on an ex-partner. Together, they find love and a heap ...
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June 14, 2018
Father's Day at Open Book: Six Unforgettable Fathers in Literature
Just as in real life, there are no two dads exactly alike in literature. From the terrifying to the brave, the disinterested to the inspiring, father characters have been some of the most interesting ...
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July 09, 2020
On Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city
Music has always been part of my DNA. I consumed it with the same intensity as I did literature, and at no less voracious a rate. Large swaths of my adolescence were spent lying on the floor, eyes closed ...
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May 07, 2021
Kids' Books - More than just learning to read
In my previous life as a pediatric occupational therapist, I’ll guarantee I was never asked, ‘Do you think you’ll ever work with real patients?’ But as a children’s author, I’m equally sure ...
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June 09, 2023
Affirmations for Writers
Pursuing a career as a writer can be hard on your self-esteem. It requires incredible stamina, faith, and unbelievable amounts of patience. Here are some things I like to remind myself of when the urge ...
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March 01, 2020
Blogpost #8: TRENDING CURRENTLY: Top 8 Diverse Middle Grade and Young Adult Themes I’ve Observed
Dear Reader:This is my final post as the February 2020 Open Book Writer In Residence. (And, did you catch that this is the 8th blogpost and I am listing 8 middle grade and young adult themes? Didn’t ...
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August 05, 2016
The Lucky Seven Interview, with Eve Zaremba
The Toronto Women’s Bookstore, Interval House, Rape Crisis Centres, and Broadside: A Feminist Review — Eve Zaremba's legacy for women in Toronto and beyond is so far-reaching it's hard to summarize. ...
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February 20, 2020
The Kids Club Interview: Jennifer Maruno Explores the Complications of Tween Friendship In Her New Book
For kids enjoying their first years of social independence, negotiating new friendships can be overwhelming. Bonds are quickly made and broken, leaving confusion and tears in their wake. In her newest ...
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March 01, 2021
Writing violence (again)
On violence and trauma and repetition...When I was nineteen, I went to dinner at a friend’s, and afterwards, her father invited us all upstairs to see his attic art studio.There were so many canvasses ...
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May 08, 2022
Something New Under the Sun
"Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself—it is the occurring which is difficult."~Stephen Leacock, Canadian HumoristI recently attended ...