Writer-in-Residence BlogTag

To the Moons, Alice

Earlier this week, on July 4, NASA announced that the spacecraft Juno had successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit. That it did so on Independence Day, and that NASA used the term “Mighty Jupiter” in ...

What is Literary Fiction? Ask a Romance Publisher

Years ago, I was the guest author at a summer camp for teen writers. The afternoon started well: I read a bit from my first novel, spoke in very general terms about how I became a writer, and outlined ...

Chasing Ghosts at Four in the Morning

I can only write fiction before dawn. Part of that is simple adaptive behaviour: most of the past two decades have been filled with children and day jobs that happen, by definition, during the day. The ...

Service Industry Hell (Part 1): One Angry Writer and Two Warring Bosses

A lot of the inspiration for my new book, Congratulations On Everything, came from the things I saw while working in bars, restaurants, and hotels, and from the experiences of friends who did the same. ...

How to Get Your Book Published (No, Really)

When I asked friends what they would want to know about the literary world, the consistent response I received was: How does someone get published?A quick Google search reveals that many, many articles ...

"We're All Teachers," an Interview With Michael Fraser

Michael Fraser is a high school teacher and author of two collections of poetry, The Serenity of Stone, and, most recently, To Greet Yourself Arriving. If you attended NOW Magazine’s Battle of the Bards ...

"Obsession Looks Different on Everyone," an Interview With Emma Healey

Emma Healey is the poetry critic for the Globe and Mail. Her book, Begin With the End in Mind, is a witty collection of prose poetry, a sort of Young Urbanist’s Guide to being Canadian, a 21st century ...

How to Give Good Read

In a month, I will be hitting the road to tour my new book of poetry, even this page is white. In addition to trying to manage the general anxieties that arise when putting art into the world, I have ...

Poet in Preview: Michael Prior

BT: Michael, in 2014 you released your first chapbook, Swan Dive, with Frog Hollow Press. Of course, before that chapbook was even published you were already a well-known, well-respected poet in the Canadian ...

Hermaphroditism and Literature

Kathleen Winter’s sumptuous, Giller-nominated Annabel, from House of Anansi, tackles the theme of hermaphroditism with gusto. Based on a true story, her book focuses on a child born in late-1960s Labrador, ...