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October 25, 2021WE MOVE
While doing life, Nigerians use the slang “we move” to capture the dogged determination needed to plow through difficult situations. It’s a clarion call for better.Over the years, I have come across ...
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October 22, 2021RIDING THE WAVES
Marigold stood, held up her fist and struck a defiant pose as she recited William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus.” Out of the night that covers me,Black as the pit from pole to pole,I thank whatever ...
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June 29, 2021How a Filipino Breakfast Changed My Writing
June is Filipino Heritage Month, and to close out the month and my time here as writer-in-residence, I wanted to talk about Filipino breakfast. Specifically, one that influenced both my novel and my life.The ...
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May 25, 2017Talking about Poetry with the 2017 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award Nominees
The RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers (administered by the Writers' Trust of Canada) has an all-star list of past winners and nominees, including names like Madeleine Thien, Jeramy Dodds, ...
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November 23, 2020
Comparing Myself with May from My Day With Gong Gong
Writing May, the main character in my kids book My Day With Gong Gong, was a joy! It was my first time writing from the perspective of a kid as an adult, and for kids as a main audience. A lot of her ...
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July 04, 2016Service Industry Hell (Part 1): One Angry Writer and Two Warring Bosses
A lot of the inspiration for my new book, Congratulations On Everything, came from the things I saw while working in bars, restaurants, and hotels, and from the experiences of friends who did the same. ...
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April 22, 2021CBC Short Story Prize 5-Writer Shortlist Announced, Including a Second Shortlist Appearance for Brooks McMullin
This morning, CBC Books announced the narrowing of their 33-writer longlist to the final five writers contending for the coveted CBC Short Story Prize. Three nominees from Ontario, one from Saskatchewan, ...
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March 31, 2017
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Being a Writer #10: Amy Jones
I was so happy to meet Amy Jones several years ago in Thunder Bay, and then again when our books were released in the same season, and we shared the stage at a few literary festivals. What is the one ...
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April 19, 2021Play to your strengths: a short guide to arts admin for emerging artists
And we're back! As promised, these last two weeks of Careful Inventory are a bit lighter, more directly applicable in the pandemic—thanks for sticking with me so far! We’ve covered online safety, ...
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March 25, 2018
There's a lot to be said for not knowing what you're doing.
I’ve been writing professionally for nearly 40 years now, across a variety of media, and even now, every time I start a new project, it’s as if I’ve never written anything before in my life. I generally ...
