Search
-
September 06, 2019
I Joined a Writing Group and I Liked It
When I moved to Kingston two years ago I was transitioning to the happy stage of life after raising kids that I’d been anticipating for a few years—tidy house! Lower grocery bills! The reality of ...
-
April 07, 2023
I Just Got Published - So, Why Don't I Feel Great?
When I was 18, I resolved to be a published writer one day. It was something I’d dreamed of even before then. As a younger teenager I wrote simple books inspired in varying degrees by The Outsiders. ...
-
June 03, 2019
I Promise You, It's Fiction.
Full disclosure, I had another post planned to kick off my Writer in Residency here on Open Book but I decided to change topics after seeing a write-up/review of my forthcoming short story collection. ...
-
November 27, 2023
I think I have a manuscript
This is what I said to myself about four years into publishing my poems in journals, magazines, and through chapbooks. Sifting through folders to put poems into a single Word document, I saw the page ...
-
December 18, 2020
I Wrote 100,000 Words in a Month: Or When Productivity is Really Crip Grief
(This is not a ‘How To’ article. This is also not an inspiring story about a disabled person doing an extraordinary thing. There is nothing extraordinary here. There is only a dispatch from a place ...
-
June 04, 2014
I'm so Hood: Toronto in Literature
The great and good Toronto Public Library recently introduced a cool new feature on their website.Toronto in Literature: Book Lists by Neighbourhood gives info – with a convenient map – on published ...
-
September 14, 2015
I’D Prefer to Describe My Recent past Using the Genre of Horror Fiction
The above title probably makes it sound like I’ve been unhappy, but that isn’t at all the case. I’ve been through a major life change, though, and it’s hard to describe what that has felt like. ...
-
March 27, 2017
I’m an Immigrant and I’m Going to Take Your Job
A few months ago somebody I know—a Polish immigrant—tried to convince me—an Iranian immigrant—that immigrants are taking all the jobs. Putting aside that this assertion has been proven wrong, ...
-
September 21, 2023
I’ve been invited to present at a literary festival, now what?
From the Brigadoon-esque setting of The Eden Mills Writer Festival to the hustle and bustle of TIFA Kids, it’s literary festival season. Everyone loves an invite to a party, but make sure you have all ...
-
June 01, 2021
Ian Hamilton on Digging Deep into Family Stories & Secrets for His Compelling New Novel, Bonnie Jack
Ian Hamilton, known for his two beloved series, the Ava Lee mysteries and their companion Uncle Chow Tung books, is branching out to new territory with a stand-alone novel that delves deep into a family's ...