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January 28, 2020"That Change, That Troubled Look, Was What Started Me Writing" Hannah Brown on Her Heartwrenching New Novel, Look After Her
International Holocaust Awareness Day passed just yesterday (January 27th), giving us an opportunity to remember its victims, meditate on its personal and global impact, and discuss why its lessons are ...
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April 19, 2017Giller Nominee Alix Hawley Wins CBC Short Story Prize
CBC Books announced this morning that the winner of the 2017 CBC Short Story Prize is Alix Hawley of Kelowna, British Columbia for her story "Witching". The story was selected from more than 1800 ...
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September 25, 2018YOSS in 2018—and Beyond
It amazes and annoys me that short stories don’t get more respect.There is a certain face that too many literary agents and publishing people make when you mention short-story collections.<iframe ...
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February 18, 2020What Do You Wish You Had Known Before Becoming a Children's Book Creator?
I’ve worked in children’s publishing for nearly fifteen years and I’ve been writing children’s books for about five years. All this to say, I learned a lot about the realities of publishing children’s ...
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June 23, 2020Five Tips for Writing About Tough Topics for Children and Teens
The best comedy often comes from life’s darker moments. Read up on any comedian and you’ll likely learn about their tumultuous beginnings, middles and ends. (Especially, on Twitter. Literally. At ...
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November 22, 2018Calling All Aspiring Authors: Never Ask an Illustrator to Illustrate Your Picture Book for Free
A few weeks ago, I was in a local tavern with some friends—a few of them are professional illustrators. They were drinking overpriced mocktails and commiserating about the emails they get from aspiring ...
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February 05, 2019Who I Think About When I Write … It’s Probably You: A List of Questions to Ask Yourself About Audience as You Write
I find it really challenging to write a picture book without imagining its audience. In whose hands will the finished book end up? What will make them pick it up? Will they find my story satisfying? To ...
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July 24, 2020The Power of a Great Title
We all know about the power of a good cover, but what about the power of a great title?I’ve worked in publishing for nearly fifteen years now and attended upwards of seventy-five tradeshows across ...
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August 31, 2020How to Be Exceptionally Editable
When I first started writing children’s books, I possessed the strength and virility of a thousand strong and virile men. I believed in my ideas and held fast to them. While I was open to the editorial ...
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April 03, 2019Small Victories: How to Keep Writing When the Odds Seem Stacked Against You
Everyone thinks that once you get a book deal it’s all sunshine and rainbows: a beautiful book, great reviews, book launches! … But it’s not. Getting published often introduces you to a host of ...
