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December 11, 2019
The Lucky Seven Interview: George A. Walker Updates 'The Hunting of the Snark' with a Modern Twist
Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark centres around a gang of fools on a haphazard adventure to track the mythical beast known only as The Snark. Following Bellman, their reckless leader, they embark ...
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February 06, 2020
The Lucky Seven Interview: Joseph Maviglia Talks Authenticity, Rhythm, and His Gritty New Novel
Author Joseph Maviglia's new novel, The Sicilian Cowboys (Quattro Books), follows the story of Bobby DiRienzo, a young construction worker who flees to southern Italy after being involved in an on-site ...
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March 01, 2017
The Lucky Seven, with Kathy Stinson
If you've ever needed a second chance to achieve your dreams, you won't want to miss Kids' Lit favourite Kathy Stinson's newest book. The Dance of the Violin (Annick Press), illustrated by Dušan Petričić, ...
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July 08, 2024
The Magic of Letter Writing
Summer challenge: Write a letter to your favourite authorWhen I was in Grade 3, I loved Jean Little’s books. So I did what I always do: I wrote her a letter. I told her all of my favourite things about ...
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June 23, 2020
The Male Default in Children's Literature - What It Is and Why It Matters
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Bechdel Test for movies. A film that passes the Bechdel Test must have at least one scene in which two female characters are talking to each other – and not about a man. ...
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May 31, 2019
The Mindful Writer and the Desire To Publish
This is my last post with Open Book. I tried to approach my residency by writing about things that writers might find useful, or at least semi-entertaining. And I find it amusing that just like being ...
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November 20, 2017
The noir of Fury
No Fury Like That is the reason I started investigating noir. As I mentioned in my intro piece, I was a little taken aback by the fury in Fury! And I wondered, is it noir? And, if so, what kind of noir ...
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November 17, 2017
The noir playing fields of YA
Today we'll leave the scotch-soaked detectives of noir at the bar and move on to the dark playing fields of YA! We have the great pleasure of chatting to the über-talented Evan Munday, author of The ...
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July 30, 2018
The Part of It You Don't See
If you’ve been reading my dispatches over the last month, you might have inferred that making a go of it as a writer is hard. Bending reality, memory, knowledge and experience into believable fiction, ...
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June 26, 2017
The Pram in the Hall
There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall. – Cyril ConnollyMy son Gabe and his wonderful partner Anna got married on the weekend. It was a joyous wedding, a moving ceremony ...