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March 10, 2021
A "Book Behind Which No Part of Me Could Hide": Andrea Actis' Poetic Memoir of Grief & Loss is Stunning
Content warning: death in the family, grief. It's an unimaginable scene: returning home one night in 2007, Andrea Actis entered her Vancouver apartment to discover her father, lying dead. The aftermath ...
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August 26, 2021
The Writing Moment with SHORT FILMS
As writers, we draw inspiration and learn from other arts, whether painting, music, comics, or videogames. By offering inspiration beyond the written word, these arts can provide new experiences for us ...
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September 23, 2021
"It’s All About Having a Laugh and Experimenting" Poet MLA Chernoff on Affect Apocalypses, the Meaning of Squelch, and More
MLA Chernoff's debut full length poetry collection, the delightfully titled [SQUELCH PROCEDURES] (Gordon Hill Press) explores childhood and identity, touching on gender norms, trauma, poverty, and more ...
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February 28, 2022
七転び八起き ("Fall down seven, get up eight")
Hey there, Open Book reader! Let me start off by saying how honoured I am that you stopped by at any or all points in time this month. It’s been a blast delving into all my weirdness, and I’m so grateful ...
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October 24, 2022
Beatriz Pizano on Why Writing Fast Takes a Long Time & the Slow but Hopeful Evolution She Sees in Canadian Theatre
As a playwright, director, actor, and activist, Beatriz Pizano has made a name for herself creating theatre that is daring and emotionally complex. She's been highly decorated for her incisive, compelling ...
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December 19, 2023
Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu on Collecting 21 Answers to the Question "What is the Future of Blackness?"
In 21 Black Futures: The Anthology, Obsidian Theatre, Canada's leading theatre for Black art, imagines the future of Blackness. Gathering 21 of the country's most talented writers, the anthology collects ...
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January 18, 2024
Mariam Pirbhai Digs Deep to Find Profound Truths in Gardens, and Ourselves
We are surrounded by plantlife all the time, and yet, how often do we really think about the ways that we interact with even the most familiar vegetation? Perhaps it takes a person who has travelled far ...
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January 30, 2019
My Reading Year: What I Learned from Reading 275 Books in 365 Days
The other day I told a friend that I'd read 275 books in 2018 and he responded by laughing and declaring emphatically, "That's a reading year!"I think that's an excellent way to describe my past year. ...
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January 17, 2017
On Writing, with Richard Harrison
What do you do with a grief so complex it's impossible to write? If you're Richard Harrison, you write it anyway, and create something beautiful in the process. Harrison's On Not Losing My Father's ...
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July 04, 2019
"For Me, Voice is Everything" Talking with Michael Libling About Writing, Advice, & His Debut Novel, Hollywood North
Michael Libling's Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels (Chizine Publications) mines the rich - and largely unknown - history of a surprising Canadian film hotspot: Trenton, Ontario.Dark, smart, and ...