Ontario book news, interviews and more

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 ...

Podcasting about Indigenous books

The world of podcasting is already saturated. Even book podcasts are abundant, with various shows focusing on everything from reviews to an author’s body of work to genre. Although it seems a new podcast ...

Isolation Creation: How the Pandemic Improved My Writing

Do you remember the person you were before the pandemic? Do you remember making plans, getting excited?The end of 2019 seems like ten years ago, but a couple of things stand out: signing my book deal ...

Governor General's Literary Award Winners Announced, Including Another Win For Michelle Good

The Canada Council for the Arts today announced the winners of the 2020 Governor General's Literary Awards. Though delayed due to issues related to the pandemic, it was nevertheless an exciting announcement. Notably, ...

June 2021 Writer-in-Residence & Star Debut Novelist Samantha Garner on Skydiving, Kirtles, & Her Spy Passport

In a world where the gift of prophecy can turn you into a second class citizen, Freya loses everything when she has a dream foretelling her mother's death. Not only does she lose her mother when the premonition ...

Poetry: A Healing Tool for Dark Days

I started this month with mental health for writers, and I want to end it with a more personal look at the same topic.One of the many reasons I’ve been grateful to Open Book for offering me this residency ...

Michelle Good Wins Amazon Canada First Novel Award for Her Multi-Award Nominated Debut, Five Little Indians

Michelle Good's Five Little Indians (HarperCollins Canada) was undoubtedly one of the biggest books of 2020, snagging nominations for two of the largest fiction awards in the country: the Scotiabank ...

Jack Wang Awarded Writers' Union Danuta Gleed Literary Award for His Stunning Story Collection We Two Alone

Jack Wang's debut story collection We Two Alone (House of Anansi Press) made waves as soon as it was published, with Wang widely praised for his authentic, gripping, and finely rendered depictions of ...

The Writing Moment with... Word Service

“A waste of skin.”That’s what I am. At least according to the Starbucks customer who hurled this insult (and others) at me, when I informed her we were out of honey.According to various customers ...

Shortlist Announced for the 2021 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers

The Writers' Trust's Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers, one of the few prizes in the CanLit landscape to focus on queer writers, boasts an incredible track record, with a past winners ...