ReadingTag

Cut Road Author Brent van Staalduinen on the Books That Became His "Masterclasses" in Writing

Hamilton author and writing coach Brent van Staalduinen has a long list of honours for his writing, with three novels under his belt and more than a decade of publishing short fiction in some of the ...

"I’ve Read What I’ve Wanted... No Regrets" Ayaz Pirani on the Books That Shaped Him, from S.E. Hinton to Kabir

Ayaz Pirani's third poetry collection, How Beautiful People Are (Gordon Hill Press) builds on his reputation as a meditative, skillful, and wise writer rooted in the Indian ginan poetic tradition. Capturing ...

The Books on My Desk, Time, Habits, Children, and Orderliness

I feel like I need to mention that I just found out this morning that Glorious Frazzled Beings has been long listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize because it has taken up most of my morning with a hullaballoo ...

To Pre-read, or Not to Pre-read?

Should you be vetting your kids’ reading material? For many, the answer seems so obvious, you don’t even need to ask the question.  To make sure kids are choosing books that meet their approval, ...

Bring Back the Good ‘Ol Days of Getting Lost in Fiction

“The anonymous woman in bed beside me adamantly shakes my shoulder.”—Amber Dawn, Sodom Road Exit“Sometimes we would hide in the closet when the drunks came home from the bar.”—Tanya Tagaq, ...

When My Mind is Frenzied, I Don’t Read—I Listen

Being read to is a luxury.Growing up, there were no bedtime stories in my household, at least none that I can remember. There were true stories traded around dinner tables of course, but there was none ...

What Wolves Are You Missing? How Writing Communities Improve Our Writing

“The Yellowstone river is healthier today than it was in 1995. The wild part about this positive ecological trend (which cuts against so many other ecological trends in the world) is that we understand ...

Making Time: Making Randomness & #SSCLUB

When 2020 began, I’d been off most social media for about twenty-two days. My decision wasn’t deliberate. In fact, it was reactive. The night before I went offline, I read a short story: “Innards” ...

The Craft of Reading: How Reading 260 Books This Year Made Me a Better Writer

I was making a care package for a writer friend recently and wanted to include a book in it.“What have you been dying to read?” I asked her before heading out to the bookstore.“Fever Dream by Samanta ...

Why you should re-read books

I am a big reader, but I am an even bigger re-reader. Yes, I have a mountainous stack of to be read books, but I believe that it’s important to my writing practice—and to my basic existence—to dive ...