Ontario book news, interviews and more

"I Recall, Reimagine, Contemplate" The Word on the Street Guest Authors Andrew Faulkner, Michael Fraser, D.A. Lockhart, & Shani Mootoo

The Word on the Street is a literary festival that features over 150 writers and speakers participating in readings, interviews, panels, workshops, book signings, and more. With children's programming, ...

Getting Started the Long Way Around

I didn't always want to be a writer, mind you, I didn't learn to read or write until I was about 12. I have this auditory learning disability that makes learning things a challenge, most things I can ...

"The Terror That is Everywhere" Read an Excerpt from A Knife in the Sky, Marie-Célie Agnant's Story of Haiti’s Brutal Despot

Prize winning Haitian-Québécoise writer Marie-Célie Agnant is celebrated for her rich, complex, moving portraits of women living through colonial power structures. Elegant in its examinations of ...

"Where It Belongs" The Word on the Street's Rebecca Diem on Community, Homecoming, and What You Can't Miss This Year

An event long treasured by book lovers, publishing professionals, families, and aspiring and emerging writers, The Word on the Street is the anchor event of the Toronto literary calendar, and this year ...

On Becoming an Acquiring Editor

For thirty years I was on the other side of the desk: submitting books to editors who didn’t reply or who took six months to reply, who replied with no-thank-you formulae, or who replied with suggestions ...

Patrick James Errington and Teya Hollier Join the Ranks of RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers Winners

Last night, at an event hosted at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music, 18 emerging writers were honoured as the Writers' Trust of Canada welcomed all the nominees for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 editions ...

Janet Calcaterra on Crafting a Powerfully Intimate Novel Exploring the Legacy of War and Secrets

The myths and silences that grow up around family secrets can be like knots – tightening, fraying, and tangling over time until they seem impossible to unravel. In Janet Calcaterra's riveting family ...

So I Nearly Died

So I almost died and in doing so discovered that dying has the strange effect of stealing my creativity and passion for art and writing, but not because they no longer move me, instead it was because ...

Pik-Shuen Fung Wins 2022 Amazon Canada First Novel Award

It was a good night for Penguin Random House Canada's new Strange Light imprint last night, when Pik-Shuen Fung took home the 2022 Amazon Canada First Novel Award for Ghost Forest. The imprint identifies ...

Excerpt: Merilyn Simonds Explores the Spectacular Life of Louise de Kiriline Lawrence, a Woman Ahead of Her Time, in a Meditative New Biography

There are some lives that are so fantastical, so packed with passion and strange turns and reinventions, that they are hard to summarize. Such is the life of Louise de Kiriline Lawrence, a Swedish aristocrat ...