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June 21, 2021Playwright Makambe K Simamba on Fearlessly Exploring "How Far Characters are Willing to Go in Order to Live Their Truths"
CW: discussion of anti-Black violenceIt's a gutting image: a seventeen-year old Black boy, a child in a hoodie, dead far too soon because of hateful and unchecked anti-Black racism. Makambe K Simamba's Our ...
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June 19, 2021On Writing Essentials
Much as I admire highly regimented and disciplined writers, that's simply not me. Believe me, I've tried! However, no matter how unstructured my writing day might be, there are five essentials that I ...
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June 17, 2021"I Don’t Think I’ve Ever Been More Vulnerable in My Life" Brent LaPorte on His Raw, Moving Memoir & His Father's Difficult Legacy
CW: abuse, suicide, substance abuseSometimes, even questions without answers need to be voiced — to be heard and acknowledged, if only as a cry of the heart. Such is Brent LaPorte's wise, difficult, ...
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June 16, 2021Playwrights Team Andrea Mapili & Byron Abalos on Creating a Magical Adventure Story Where Filipinx-Canadian Kids Can Feel Seen
What book loving kid didn't dream of being literally transported into the pages of their favourite adventure? For 12-year old Philly, that dream becomes a reality when opening a mysterious old book whisks ...
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June 14, 2021Character Development Tips from Dungeons & Dragons
Full disclosure: I don't play Dungeons & Dragons, much as I'd like to. However, I've read a few D&D-based novels and enjoy watching others play the game, so I was pleased to stumble upon a fun ...
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June 14, 2021"Bison, Teeth, Talking Trees, Screaming Purses" The 2021 Griffin Prize Poets Tell Us the Images That Recur in Their Work & Share Recommended Reads
Every year, the poetry world turns its attention to Canada, to discover the winners of the Griffin Prize, the biggest poetry award in the country and one of the leading awards in the genre worldwide. ...
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June 15, 2021Rahela Nayebzadah, Author of the Powerful New Novel Monster Child, on Being Nicknamed "Revenge", Dream Trips, & Spike Lee
Rahela Nayebzadah's darkly magical new novel, Monster Child (Wolsak & Wynn), mixes the fantastical with the grimly real as siblings Beh, Shabnam, and Alif navigate a new world together. The children ...
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June 10, 2021GG Winning Poet Arleen Paré's New Collection Examines the Impact and Legacy of Early Friendships
Arleen Paré's First (Brick Books) appropriately takes us back to the beginning: both the beginning of identity and connection in the search for a friend from long ago (the first one she ever made), and ...
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June 09, 2021It Takes As Long As It Takes
Like many writers, I'd been writing for many years before I decided to pursue it professionally. It might sound like a cliché, but I've been creating stories for as long as I can remember. So when I ...
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June 09, 2021City of Water Author & Artist Team Andrea Curtis and Katy Dockrill Offer a Fascinating Glimpse into the Writer-Illustrator Relationship
For those of us in cities, it's all too easy to take water for granted. Turn on a tap, and there it is. But the privilege of clean and reliable water requires vast and intricate work by many, and water ...
