Columnists

An interview with Klara du Plessis

“It’s Very Common for me to Constantly Switch Codes While Thinking.”The poems in Klara du Plessis’ debut collection, Ekke, treat translation like ekphrasis, exploring in English the impossibilities ...

Scarborough: A Setting

When I was growing up in Scarborough, I loved it and hated it. I don’t think it’s an uncommon feeling towards places where we grew up. But there are things about coming of age in a suburb as a racialized ...

Why Do We Keep Picture Book Authors and Illustrators Apart? - or How to Play Well With Others

I completely underestimated how emotional the whole process of creating a picture book would be. When my first picture book was being published, I became a horrible self-involved troll-person. I couldn’t ...

On the business of writing

In 2002, when I formed my writing group (still going strong!) with June Hutton and Mary Novik, we made a promise that we would always, always share our experiences with the business of writing—the shadowy ...

On Middles

Recently I sat at the booksellers’ table during a poetry reading. This is best-case scenario seating. You might feel a little nervous that you’ll spill your drink on hundreds of dollars of merch, ...

What I Wish Every Aspiring Children’s Author Knew About Publishing

It seems like book publishing is a mysterious, captivating industry to many people. It barely gets represented in pop culture and when it does get featured (Elf and Fatal Attraction come to mind), ...

“A poem discloses something,” an Interview with AF Moritz

If there is such a thing as an eternal place, poetry of AF Moritz inhabits it. In his work, history, myth and nature provide scaffolding that holds epic-minded verse, at once in awe of beauty and trembling ...

On racialized motherhood, writing, and sleep deprivation

The day before my son’s due date, I sent what I thought was the final draft of The Better Mother to my editor. The baby’s bedroom was finished: yellow walls, penguin stencil, gingham curtains. My ...

An Interview with Jeff Latosik

“A poem is an acquaintance with the contradictory complete experience and hopefully affirms human life.” The tender, humanistic poetry of Jeff Latosik can feel deeply refreshing at this particular ...

On respectable narratives and why diversity on the page matters

Growing up, I was very particular kind of Chinese girl. I attended Chinese school on Saturdays. I took piano lessons. My report cards were always the best in my class. I played first clarinet in my school ...