Ontario book news, interviews and more

Kids Club: Thao Lam on Bookmaking, Talking It Out, and the Inspiring Stories of Refugees

In award-winning author and illustrator Thao Lam's newest picture book, The Paper Boat (Owlkids), a child escaping warn-torn Vietnam finds some unlikely kindred spirits.After finding a group of ants trapped ...

A Great Year for Independent Publishing: Ian Williams announces 14 Title 2020 Giller Longlist

This morning via livestream, the Scotiabank Giller Prize announced their 14 title longlist. Hosted by 2019 winner Ian Williams (author of Reproduction), the announcement ushered in the 2020 fall literary ...

My One Week on the Bestseller List

On Saturday, June 21, 2014 I opened the Globe and Mail to the books section (back in the time when newspapers had book sections) and after reading the reviews I began to idly scan the bestseller list.            ...

Read an Excerpt from Farzana Doctor's New Novel, Seven

Sharifa, the main character in author Farzana Doctor's new novel, Seven (Dundurn), is getting more than she bargained for when she decides to dig into her family's history.After landing in India alongside ...

How To Become That Kind of Bitch (or, One-Night Stands and New Selves)

Before the pandemic, I had a one-night stand with a person I met at a rave, Tyler. The morning after we slept together, I was buttering my toast and he began to ask probing questions about my life and ...

Combat Populism with an Excerpt from Jonathan Manthorpe's Restoring Democracy in an Age of Populists and Pestilence

It's been hard to miss the rising tide of populism that has crept into democratic discourse in North American and Europe in the past decade. What to do about it and what it means are trickier challenges, ...

When Your Father is Your Biggest Fan

I don’t believe that any father was more proud of having a son for a writer than my own dad.  Whenever I met somebody who knew him—it might be a waiter in a restaurant—the person would say, “Oh, ...

Meet Our September Writer-in-Residence, Cary Fagan!

We're thrilled to announce our September writer-in-residence, Cary Fagan!A prolific author of books for both kids and adults, his critically-acclaimed work has earned him accolades such as the Vicky Metcalfe ...

How to Be Exceptionally Editable

When I first started writing children’s books, I possessed the strength and virility of a thousand strong and virile men. I believed in my ideas and held fast to them. While I was open to the editorial ...

The Nature of Truth in Art

For my final post as writer-in-residence, I’d like to devote a bit of space to one of the subjects I love to chew on: the nature of truth in art. (As a friend of mine recently noted: ‘You always go ...