Search
-
February 22, 2016
Read Around The World: Part Two of The Extravagant JT Reading Program That Will Never Be Started or Finished
In my last post, I discussed why I think we all (or at least me in particular) live, read, and write: to develop mutual understanding with other people. I’m someone who has often felt alienated, and ...
-
November 13, 2015On Navigating the Literary Landscape - Part 1
Over the past few years, in order to buy peanut butter and bread and pay rent, I’ve taken on a number of manuscript assessments for various readers. I was first put on to them by my friend Michelle ...
-
February 24, 2014
Multimedium Publishing and the Future of the Literary Press (Part 1)
It's 5:30 AM and I haven't been able to sleep, so I've decided to begin posting my final series of the month. Personally, I blame my buddy Andrew -- a DJ and record producer based in Germany. Due to time ...
-
September 23, 2016For All the Men...A Playlist
Hi Open Book Readers,Music has always been a huge part of my writing process.It helps me tremendously when it comes to entering the mind of a character, or an experience, and staying there for as long ...
-
January 10, 2019Daylighting Chedoke Author John Terpstra on Scattering Seeds for a Great Title
Hamilton is well known for its natural beauty, from waterfalls to parks. However, one natural feature in the city is more hidden than the rest: Chedoke Creek runs through Hamilton but is mostly covered ...
-
September 01, 2020When Your Father is Your Biggest Fan
I don’t believe that any father was more proud of having a son for a writer than my own dad. Whenever I met somebody who knew him—it might be a waiter in a restaurant—the person would say, “Oh, ...
-
June 09, 2015
On the Benefits of Not Writing (Surfing)
It isn’t (usually) wise to blame other people for things that happen to you, but I blame Dr. Kary Banks Mullis for everything.Dr. Mullis is a Novel Prize-winning biochemist who devised paradigm-shifting ...
-
May 16, 2020Readings...that feeling never goes away.
I always get that feeling right before reading my work in public. You may know it: the urge to simultaneously faint, throw up, and run out of the room. My first few readings were terrifying. I was fortunate ...
-
May 23, 2013
A Tale of Two Marys
Colm Tóibin recently spoke to Eleanor Wachtel on CBC’s “Writers and Company” about his new novel, The Testament of Mary. I tuned a close ear since I have for a while been meaning to write something ...
-
December 14, 2016Madeleine Thien on Language, Music, and Asking the Unaskable
2016 has been Madeleine Thien's year. It's not often that the world of writing and publishing can agree so enthusiastically on a writer's achievements, but Thien's breathtaking Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Knopf ...
