Manahil BandukwalaTag

Locking In, Letting Go

I’ve thought of myself as a writer who loves revision. I rewrote large chunks of my two poetry collections between the ‘final’ version submitted to my publisher, and the version that ended up being ...

Finding a Press for Your Poetry Manuscript

In one of my first columns as an Open Book columnist, I shared my process of realizing I had a full-length poetry manuscript. Since then, I’ve written a number of columns about how to go about preparing ...

Audiobook Magic

Poetry books rarely come in audio format, and perhaps this is the reason it’s taken me until 2025 to discover the magic of audiobooks. In 2024, I began writing more fiction after several years of focusing ...

Bleak Futures & The Sheridan College Creative Writing & Publishing Program

“Heartbroken” is the word I would use to describe my reaction to finding out the Creative Writing & Publishing Program at Sheridan College is one of forty programs being cut. The suspension of ...

Preparing a Poetry Manuscript for Submission

In my last column, I wrote about preparing a cover letter for your poetry manuscript submission. Well, what about preparing the actual manuscript?As I mentioned in the last column, most poetry presses ...

Writing a Cover Letter for Your Poetry Manuscript

In the world of Canadian publishing, poets rarely have agents. Poetry collections are often published through small presses, and these presses have open submission periods where anyone can submit a manuscript. In ...

Breaking Down the Ontario Arts Council’s Literary Creation Projects Grant

For writers in Ontario, this is your reminder that the deadline for Literary Creation Projects (Works for Publication) is just around the corner. This grant gives $12,000 to work on your novel, poetry ...

Getting into Writing Book Reviews

Book reviews are a key part of the book ecosystem. Long after a book’s publication date, book reviews help keep titles in relevancy. They can be useful marketing tools for a writer’s arsenal. They’re ...

In Praise of Chapbooks

The first time I heard the word “chapbook” as a new poet, I was pretty sure I misheard things. It was a word that everyone working within poetry seemed to know—and because of that, I felt shy asking ...

In Praise of Literary Magazines

Within the small world of poetry readership in Canada, trade poetry collections are likely more widely read than other forms of publication. But publishing a trade collection of poetry through traditional ...