Ontario book news, interviews and more

"We are What We Read" Jason Camlot and J.A. Weingarten on the Power of Exploring Personal Libraries Throughout History

Our bookshelves say a lot about us. They reveal what fascinates us, what we value, and where we've been. And so the personal libraries of literary, political, and historical figures can function as a ...

"An Act of Freedom and a Precarious Practice" Tanis MacDonald on the Politics and Culture of Taking a Walk

Taking a walk is a deceptively simple thing. To walk around outside can do wonders for our mental and physical health, sense of community, and stress levels. And yet "taking a walk" also exists at a fascinating ...

Screenwriter Turned Novelist Claire Ross Dunn on Fire Phobia, Sleeping in a Coffin, & Her Drake Connection

After getting her start as an actor, screenwriter Claire Ross Dunn has written for Degrassi, Little Mosque on the Prairie, and numerous other acclaimed shows. This season, she's brought her witty, smart, ...

Read an Excerpt from Bree Galbraith's Wednesday Wilson Fixes All Your Problems, an Inclusive Story of Ingenuity & Facing Fears

Wednesday Wilson, the heroine of the Wednesday Wilson early chapter book series by Bree Galbraith, is nothing if not resourceful. And she's at her best when her brainy ingenuity is called on by the ...

Beyond Flight: Etta Kaner Helps Kids Love Birds with Her Fascinating, Funny, Strange Book of Bird Habits

Anyone who is or knows a bird lover, knows that bird watching can be its own free, endless source of entertainment. In Etta Kaner's Dig, Dance, Dive: How Birds Move to Survive (Owlkids, illustrated ...

Liana Cusmano on Welcoming Readers to See Themselves in Catch and Release, Their Debut Novel

There is a quote attributed to Aristotle which says that "knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom". This idea—that self-knowledge opens us up to discover and understand more—is elegantly illustrated ...

Insomniable Grief

Many moons have fallen this way since last did I stand here,the stairwell yawning before me,my naked feet cold and full of pain in the night surrounding meand beneath me gaping back an ocean brackishly ...

Remembering Steven Heighton and the Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference

One of the jokes I have with myself is that my first exposure to the public world of poetry was so traumatizing that I had no choice but to accommodate what I saw, however subconsciously. Ten years ago, ...

"Would It Be That Easy to Find a Bomb?" Read an Excerpt from Catherine Graham's Ireland-Set Novel, The Most Cunning Heart

Catherine Graham is known as a decorated writing instructor and poet (indeed, her most recent collection, Æther: An Out-of-Body Lyric, was just nominated for the Trillium Book Award and recently won ...

"After-the-Fact and Too Late" Kent Roach on Why We Can't Wait to Reform Canadian Policing

With public confidence in police forces eroded by violence and corruption, including cases like the murders of Eric Garner and George Floyd, both Black men murdered by police officers—just two examples ...