Q&Q Omni Category: The Last Word
The most recent 250 items in this category are below. To find something specific, please use the search box.
Vampire Camp: For Michael Rowe, finding inspiration for his decidedly adult vampire novel meant reaching back to the golden age of horror
In the fall of 1972, the Holy Grail for my friends and me was a Saturday afternoon bike ride to the Kilborn Shoppers confectionary in... Read the rest »
Historical friction: Novelists who use real events and figures as grist for their fiction come up against some very real ethical issues
The consummate Canadian short story writer Peter Sellers once gave me a piece of good advice. He said – and I’m paraphrasing heavily here –... Read the rest »
Becoming the story: Writing about her time as a hostage in Afghanistan may have been the hardest thing journalist Mellissa Fung has ever done
As a television journalist, I’ve made it one of my golden rules never to insert myself into a story unless absolutely necessary. It was one... Read the rest »
Launches gone wild: What with fights, snowstorms, and no-shows, book events can be a rough business, writes Shaun Smith
By the time you read this, the launch of my first novel, Snakes & Ladders -– held in January at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel – will... Read the rest »
Mine, mine, mine: The hardest part of writing a first book is letting go, Kenneth Whyte discovers
In August, after five years of work, I delivered to my publisher the final manuscript of my first book, The Uncrowned King, a biography of... Read the rest »
The eleventh hour: While writing a book about an ongoing war crimes trial, Michelle Shephard uncovered a last-minute bombshell
There were moments when the tension and drama inside the courtroom on the hill overlooking Guantanamo Bay were worthy of Hollywood. Nobody snarled that we... Read the rest »
Izzy and I: A fascination with power (and a shared love of jazz) led Peter C. Newman to take on a media tycoon
I am often attacked for expressing neither drooling admiration for, nor fanged loathing of, Canada’s business princes, who have provided fodder for two dozen of... Read the rest »
Crime (fiction) begins at home: Canadian authors who want to write about crime don’t have to look very far, writes John McFetridge
A little while ago, there was an article in the Calgary Herald about how Canadian crime writing is really coming into its own internationally. A... Read the rest »
Making it work: Mary-Ann Kirkby had to publish her memoir herself. It turned out to be a bestseller
“You obviously don’t have a clue about the publishing industry!” hissed the e-mail from a medium-sized publisher. We were in the middle of contract negotiations... Read the rest »
Growing up in public: Switching from YA to adult fiction means discovering a whole new category of character, writes Gayle Friesen
Your main character’s voice is a little arch,” said my writing prof. “Oh,” I said. He looked at me over his glasses.... Read the rest »
Sympathy for the author: Former publisher Hugh Brewster starts writing – and finds that “difficult author” is a relative concept
“Oh, I know why you’re ca-aw-lling” trilled the editorial assistant in her best Noo Yawk tones, “You’re ca-aw-lling about that thing, that thing you sent... Read the rest »
In the Red Zone: Writing about the war in Iraq without being overwhelmed by anger is difficult but necessary
As I wrote my memoir, The Orange Trees of Baghdad: In Search of My Lost Family, I found myself on the horns of a dilemma.... Read the rest »
YA and the big why: Christine Walde didn’t intend to be a YA author, but she’s getting used to it
In the beginning, my first book was supposed to be a collection of postcard stories about candy. It all started while I was living in... Read the rest »
From both sides now: BookExpo Canada is a very different beast when you attend as a first-time author, writes bookseller Robert J. Wiersema
I can admit it now: I was nervous. No. Not nervous. Petrified. I don’t usually get stage fright. As events co-ordinator... Read the rest »
God loves a joke: Religious writers have two choices, writes Anne Hines: despair or laughter. She chooses the latter
“He who sits in the heavens laughs.” – from Psalm 2:4 In this column, I intend to explain the meaning of life. So... Read the rest »
Love and remains: Alissa York on the dead animals found in her fiction
My father was demolishing the front porch when he found them. He tore away the last of the old steps and there they were –... Read the rest »
Collecting history: Historian Ted Barris on a hidden source of historical secrets
Some men browse in the power tools section of a do-it-yourself outlet, while others prefer secondhand stores. I can easily lose myself in Grenadier Militaria,... Read the rest »
Inside job: Zoe Whittall on being a writer who works in publishing
I’ve held many jobs in the book and magazine industry – from receptionist to bookseller to freelance editor to columnist to publicist to author. A... Read the rest »
In praise of sticklers: Lawrence Scanlan on the unsung heroes of book publishing – the copy editors
How do books come to be? It is a question often asked of me when I meet people unfamiliar with the world of non-fiction publishing.... Read the rest »
Border guard blues: Wayne Johnston on the obstacles that face a writer crossing the American border
Two years ago, I was offered the Distinguished Chair of Creative Writing at Hollins University in Virginia. As the duties involved would be minimal and... Read the rest »
Building the brand: Author Kenneth J. Harvey on the benefits of Internet self-promotion
I have been a writer since the age of 10. From that point forward, a day has not passed when I did not make writerly... Read the rest »
A tragic comedy: Lynn Coady on the perils of identifying too closely with your subject
It’s hard to go back to the poet John Thompson. When I do, I’m reminded of a job I had when I was 24. I... Read the rest »
Life on a distant planet: Charlotte Gill on moving back and forth between writing and treeplanting
I was told, before my first book emerged, to expect a time of irony. I might find myself awash in opportunity, yet with less money... Read the rest »
Children of the dust: Hadani Ditmars on years of writing on – and in – Iraq
On a cold night in Toronto during the International Festival of Authors, where I’d been invited to read from my book Dancing in the No-Fly... Read the rest »
Meet the Girls: Lori Lansens on knowing when to abandon one novel and start another
My first novel, Rush Home Road, was launched just a few weeks before I gave birth to my second child, a daughter. She came on... Read the rest »
Serendipity: How a sense of discovery is at the heart of a writing life
As with all my first drafts, I’m writing this piece longhand, not in my office but on a table in the kitchen of a restored... Read the rest »
There is a place: How nature writing teaches us about ourselves
“There is a great deal of talk these days about saving the environment. We must, for the environment sustains our bodies. But as humans we... Read the rest »
A parade of memories: How VE Day celebrations in Holland brought research to life for historian Ted Barris
Ann Vos has lived in Canada for most of her life. She left her native Holland a few years after the end of the Second... Read the rest »
Songs of experience: Paul William Roberts argues that a writer is most present in the story when he’s invisible
My friend, the writer Martin Amis, with whom I shared a house when we were students, is the sort of person who occasionally seeks corroboration... Read the rest »
The kindness of strangers: How a public reading lit the spark for Joan Barfoot’s new novel
Recently, the big shiny piano that once upon a time was supposed to transform me into a concert pianist finally rolled out the door and... Read the rest »
Ontario’s night to remember: How author Steve Pitt engineered a Hurricane Hazel reunion
Ten-forty-five a.m., October 15, 2004. Heavy rain, gusting winds, and near-freezing temperatures are making this autumn morning absolutely miserable. “Well, at least the weather is... Read the rest »
Off the road: On knowing when to stop travelling and start writing
I’m one of four half-corked revellers in a pickup truck screaming through the desolate reaches of North Dakota, and I’ve just been stricken by a... Read the rest »
Midnight’s memories: Rediscovering a lost world by writing about it
Just when I think I’m going to dream about Canada, I dream about India. After all, it has been over 21 years... Read the rest »
Workshop lessons: The dangers of purple poeticisms, and other off-campus creative writing tips
I doubt that any writer in his or her right mind would deny that they can and have derived benefit from criticism of their work... Read the rest »
There and back again: Ray Robertson’s long journey back to his original small-press publisher
One writer, five books, four different publishers. Admittedly, the situation doesn’t look good. The numbers, as politicians around election time are fond of saying, don’t... Read the rest »
Looking for Eyewitnesses: A chance encounter opened a window into Canada's history
We were both in the right place at the right time. I didn’t expect to discover anything noteworthy standing in line at my... Read the rest »
The elk on the staircase: Why does the mixture of fiction and fact cause so much consternation?
Two years ago I had the nerve to publish a book about Emily Carr in which I not only mentioned myself but willfully mixed genres.... Read the rest »
The workshop: Reality TV meets Canadian publishing at SFU's intensive two-week course
I keep waiting for the hidden cameras to be revealed. It’s day three of Simon Fraser University’s book publishing immersion workshop. Already sleep-deprived and overworked,... Read the rest »
Pieces of Canada: Alanis Morissette and Al Purdy collide in a classroom in Italy
Siena, by trade route, is only about three hours from Rome, but by two-child caravan, it takes 17 days. Or at least it feels as... Read the rest »
Lifting the veil: The pitfalls of writing about family
My uncle in England, whom I interviewed six years ago with nebulous ideas for a book, keeps calling my mother to inquire about the progress... Read the rest »
The good, the bad, and the wealthy: Novelist Elizabeth Ruth has seen every kind of book club
I have just returned home from my most recent book club excursion and am reminded of the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of... Read the rest »
What I wish every author knew: Some words of advice from a chain bookseller (and fellow writer)
I’ve been working on and off in retail book sales for 20 years, in stores of all sizes and descriptions. At the moment I work... Read the rest »
Mordecai and who?: How a 30-year obsession became a book
Last summer, as I corrected the proofs of my manuscript, Mordecai & Me: An Appreciation of a Kind, I experienced a feeling common among jittery... Read the rest »
Recipe for success: For cookbook authors, cooking is the easy part
When people find out that I write cookbooks, they always tell me it must be so much fun. It’s true that cooking is my passion,... Read the rest »
Publish and then perish: Sometimes writing a book can be life-threatening
Why do we write books? There are many reasons: For love or a broken heart, because of a commitment to a cause, to make a... Read the rest »
In defense of the ivory tower: Professors help turn enthusiastic readers into good ones
A few months ago Ray Robertson wrote something in this space that ticked me off. And I’ve been promising myself since I read it that... Read the rest »
New horizons: Sometimes the only way to write about home is to leave it
“One could never make a novel out of these people, they haven’t got any insides to them, to write about.” (D.H. Lawrence on Australians)... Read the rest »
In praise of older writers: It’s time the geezers got their due
It isn’t enough for writers merely to be bursting with potential, they need a hook, some intriguing twist to their personal histories or early life... Read the rest »
So much bobe-mayse: The challenge of mixing Yiddish and English
Gevalt! The problems of using Yiddish in a manuscript! So many things to decide: how to pell those transliterated words and phrases; what dialect to... Read the rest »
Critics wanted: Why don’t more Canadian writers consider book reviewing the art form that it is?
In the grand scheme of things, what could be more culturally negligible than a weekend edition book review? As Cyril Connolly says in The Unquiet... Read the rest »
The never-ending story: For novelist Kristen den Hartog, fairy tales are bred in the bone
In my baby book, under the section “Special Talents,” my mother wrote, “Kristen likes to draw pictures and write stories. Her pictures are very good.”... Read the rest »
Trading places: With the publication of her first novel, critic Kate Taylor may get a taste of her own medicine. She’s ready.
A few years ago, while looking for someone who would shop around the second draft of my first novel to prospective publishers, I approached a... Read the rest »
Frankfurt on the cheap: Surviving the world’s biggest book fair on $10 a day
It was a trip born out of necessity. We had printed 3,000 copies of our literary magazine, and we owed the printer 13,000 euros.... Read the rest »
Motherhood: It’s altered my headspace – and my workplace
So, I’m a mommy now. Last year while I was pregnant, Barb Pope, who is a bookseller and mother of two grown children, told me... Read the rest »
Confessions of a night writer: The quiet’s nice, just don’t tell my German translators
I became a night writer not long after I moved to Toronto from St. John’s in the summer of 1989. Night writing had its advantages... Read the rest »
What have I done?: I ask myself this after every novel
Twenty years ago I put away my electric guitar and began to write fiction full-time. I’d been lucky in the music business, making bags of... Read the rest »
Sending words into flight: Publishing’s stomach-churning thrills
Whenever I’m asked the question, “Do you have any advice for young/aspiring writers?” I have an answer already prepared. “Enjoy yourself now,” I say. “You... Read the rest »
R-e-s-p-e-c-t: Novelists get it, screenwriters don’t
I used to write screenplays. When people would ask what I did, I’d shrug and say I was a screenwriter. The inevitable next question: have... Read the rest »
The sadist and the suck: Two kinds of editors you don’t want to work with
I worked as a book editor for more than 15 years. Then a year or so ago I had a novel accepted for publication and... Read the rest »
Lost in translation: Joel Yanofsky was flattered by the prospect of being translated into French. Then he found out about the book tour
This isn’t the kind of thing I admit proudly, but if a poster boy were needed to represent the English side of Canada’s “two solitudes,”... Read the rest »
Taxicab confessions: Turning a radio play into a novel
How does a person who has been writing theatre, television, film, and radio drama for 30 years approach writing his first novel? In my case,... Read the rest »
Such a long journey: Theresa Kishkan’s novella Inishbream was 18 years in the making
In my early twenties I lived for a year on a small island off the west coast of Ireland. I had planned to live there... Read the rest »
Notes from the underground: What zines can do for you
Most writers are familiar with the traditional publishing route, a slow but well-travelled road. The landmarks and mile markers include getting accepted into the UBC... Read the rest »
What’s luck got to do with it?: Being a published writer under 30 has its pitfalls
“You have a book?” My dentist asked, incredulous. (He was a closet poet, he’d told me previously. Very few get published in the closet, I... Read the rest »
Changing history: Is it wrong for a novelist to alter the “facts”?
In his essay “Writing Historical Fiction,” American novelist Thomas Mallon makes a distinction between science fiction and fiction about the past by claiming, “The science... Read the rest »
Why I will never get a Canada Council writing grant
I am coming to terms with the fact that I will probably never get a Canada Council writing grant. I’ve worked through the emotions –... Read the rest »
You can go home: Writing the Great Canadian Novel in the U.S.
Americans don’t have a clue about curling. I was in a graduate fiction workshop at Columbia University, the only Canadian amidst a throng of Yanks,... Read the rest »
Truth and consequences: The perils of writing fiction from real life
Like most other novelists, I am sometimes asked about my work, “Did that really happen? Is that character really you?” With my last... Read the rest »
Invisible woman: Prejudice has many forms
I’m black. I’m also female, fat, 40, wear my hair in blue dreadlocks, and have body piercings. I figure that makes me a member of... Read the rest »
Hand to mouth: On connecting the pleasures of food with fiction
I admire cooks. Chefs down to line cooks. People who work sauté pans and grills. People who bake bread in the back corners of hot,... Read the rest »
Notes of a native daughter: Aboriginal writing is not above criticism
Over the last four years, I have reviewed every major book written by or about aboriginal people in Canada, which makes me a specialist of... Read the rest »
The wickedest city in the Dominion: Allan Levine on Winnipeg’s seamy literary reputation
Slums, drug dealing, prostitution, drunkenness in the streets, gangsters and hoods: all the nastier and seedier elements of any big American city. They were also... Read the rest »
Travel, writing, and the sometimes unexpected links between them
Last summer, as I prepared to leave for a long trip through southern Mexico, my friends were certain they knew why I was going... Read the rest »
Fiction should set me free: Anita Rau Badami on the absurd expectations writers face
After a book is published, comes the strange and unsettling experience of being out there in the limelight (an extremely temporary phase), and of receiving,... Read the rest »
She writes fiction!: Annabel Lyon on learning a craft
I’m a piano teacher. When people ask me what I do, that’s what I say. Until my book was published in May I was... Read the rest »
The importance of being earnest: Where are all the funny Canadian writers?
Every writer is familiar with the aggravation of rejection. And I’m not talking about photocopied slips initialed by an indifferent editor. I mean that really... Read the rest »
The truth is out there: How to research a novel on the Net
On the final page of one of my published short stories I mistake a shotgun for a rifle. Easy enough mistake for someone who has... Read the rest »
My first “e” experience: Getting published electronically isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
Imagine standing at the nursery window of a hospital maternity ward, looking at the two-day-old babies, and thinking, “That one’s going to be a successful... Read the rest »
Working with Al Purdy: A fanfare for the uncommon man
Al Purdy, who died of cancer in April at the age of 81, was one of the greatest poets this country has ever produced. Equally... Read the rest »
Where did my grant go?: Molly Morin on what $1,500 from the Canada Council can do
Last year, I applied to the Canada Council for the Arts for an Emerging Spoken Artist grant in the amount of $2,500, and received $1,500.... Read the rest »
What took you so long?: Catherine Bush on the daunting second novel
Twice I’ve lived in a country at war, although war was not being fought in that country. During the summer of 1982, I was in... Read the rest »
Love, valour, compassion: What poetry brings to the world of medicine
How great is the distance between medicine and poetry? C.P. Snow, the English physicist and novelist, described his scientific and literary communities as two distinct... Read the rest »
Novel lite: The short story’s clamour for respect
I confess I have begun a novel. This is not a true confession, for I am smug about it. For eight years I have gallantly... Read the rest »
A room of my own: And my need to escape it
Nietzsche says somewhere that “genius is the will to stupidity.” Like most people, I realized early in life (in my case, approximately one minute after... Read the rest »
The story of O (and P and Q): Why don’t our letters have real names?
When the English language began to emerge, sometime around the sixth century AD, the lexical authorities either forgot, or more likely, never thought of naming... Read the rest »
A career in sweatpants: The advantages of working at MeInc.
In my last year of high school, every graduating student was obliged to meet with a guidance counsellor. This was to make sure all of... Read the rest »
Letter from Caracas: The inspiring work of Banco del Libro
The scene is a departure lounge at Caracas International Airport. We are all bound for Miami and there is weather. The departure time comes and... Read the rest »
Our vanished past: English-Canadian literature makes too little of Canadian history
Having recently marked three patriotic holidays (Canada Day, Independence Day, and Bastille Day), I’m wondering why there is such a dearth of historical fiction about... Read the rest »
Making where out of here: Dionne Brand on Austin Clarke’s unique literary achievement
Austin Clarke is the winner of the $15,000 W.O. Mitchell Literary Prize, awarded annually to a Canadian writer who has produced an outstanding body of... Read the rest »
Prose and cons: A children's book author argues that writers are con artists, but also breadmakers and ringmasters
The fiction writing life is a con game, a swindle. The writer continuously cons herself into believing that all the inventing, the counterfeiting, the make-believe... Read the rest »
Thrills are not enough: Publishers of commercial fiction are looking for more than a great yarn
Look at the back of Kathy Reichs’ 1997 bestseller Déjà Dead and you’ll find the usual orgy of superlative endorsements: Lowell Levine, William Rodriguez, Michael... Read the rest »
Making the grade (or not) on the Freedom to Read report card
With challenges to school books still common, the Book and Periodical Council has chosen 1999 Freedom to Read Week to issue a report card on... Read the rest »
The politics of publishing: Give book buyers a chance to decide
Predicting what will sell has always been central to determining which manuscripts will be published. With literally hundreds of thousands of titles on the shelves,... Read the rest »
Balancing my double life as a parent and writer
On the window sill of my home office are two bowls overflowing with odds-and-ends, the silt of a child’s imagination: pine cones, stones, paper clips,... Read the rest »
The distressing truth about mega-retailers: Relations with authors have taken a turn for the worse
Anyone who sells, writes, or buys books in Canada knows how rapidly book retailing has changed. In just a few years, superstores have moved into... Read the rest »
Giving your literary papers away
About 20 years ago, in the late 1970s, I happened to attend a writers' conference in Calgary, and one of the items on the program... Read the rest »
Privacy beyond the grave
Andrew Marvell and his Coy Mistress notwithstanding (“the Grave’s a fine and private place, /but none I think do there embrace”), the dead have no... Read the rest »
My first time... (at CBA)
Here’s the scenario. The first-time author arrives at Canada’s biggest book event, the 1998 Canadian Booksellers Association (CBA) convention and trade show. The first-timer’s book... Read the rest »
I slept in Sylvia Plath's bed (for free) and lived to write about it
Before I went to Yaddo, the artists’ colony near Saratoga Springs, New York, I knew something of the place. I knew that John Cheever had... Read the rest »
The story behind the story
As a writer who makes a living through literary journalism, I meet and interview a lot of other writers. We are, on the whole, a... Read the rest »
The difficult choices required of translators
Recently I received the galleys of a novel I'd translated for Stoddart Publishing. Be it a book you've written or translated, the day the galleys... Read the rest »
Fictional ethics at the Summit Salon
My third novel, Kondor, deals I with the subject of wartime Germany and describes acts of extreme inhumanity. In creating a novel of suspense, a... Read the rest »
Inventing the truth
Following is an excerpt from the keynote address given by Barbara Greenwood on October 18,1997 at Packaging Your Imagination, a day of workshops in Toronto... Read the rest »
Why nobody's a critic: Andrew Pyper examines fear and loathing in Canadian literary review circles
These days, when party banter turns to the subject of I Canadian fiction (once debate over paparazzi culpability has been exhausted), two matters are raised... Read the rest »
The luck of the Irish
Writing, said Jules Renard, is the only profession in which one can make no money without looking ridiculous. During all the years I’ve spent trying... Read the rest »
Hello to arms
I have just completed a year as chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada, a year which – due entirely to the hard work of... Read the rest »
Visions of Susanna: The return of Atwood and Pachter's vivid creation
I was talking recently with a young woman who was biographically inclined. (By “young,” I mean about 35; that is, she didn’t remember panty girdles,... Read the rest »
Riding on the MTA: The Writers' Union quest for minimum contract terms
It seemed like an attractive proposal when we put it forward a few years ago. The Writers’ Union of Canada, now some 25 years old... Read the rest »
Of babies, bathwater, and hugging the walls: Greg Kramer on the trials and tribulations of writing the second novel
I have seen the enemy. It is the second novel. My first was an easy birth. I had never written a full-length... Read the rest »
On top of the world: It's rare that authors are treated like rock stars
Recently I returned from a 10-day book tour of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It was an amazing experience. Everywhere I went, there were huge... Read the rest »
The accidental sexpert
Some of my friends, so-called, have started referring to me as “Dr. Love.” This is their idea of a joke, the equivalent of calling a... Read the rest »
No more writers' garrets: Robert Priest makes a case for fixed incomes
Poverty among Canadian writers is a serious and growing problem. A recent Statistics Canada survey found that writers earn an average of just $15,000 annually... Read the rest »
Innocent abroad: A Canadian writer begins to learn the power of cultural oppression
It is difficult to write from the midst of an intense experience. I therefore ask leniency in advance: this missive will not tie up neatly... Read the rest »
Writing’s magic lie
We writers are travellers – all travellers travelling through time from the time that we were born till the time we reach a common destination... Read the rest »
The faces of exile
Hong Kong is so much in the news these days that I am drawn to a recent anthology edited by Andrew Parkin entitled From the... Read the rest »
The hard sell
You thought it was tough getting your book published. And then you met the publicist. She stares down at me through clouds of... Read the rest »
Speaking one's mind
"Miss Swan, your perfectionism is getting in the way of your story-telling,” Hugh MacLennan thundered at me after one of his McGill University creative writing... Read the rest »
The long march from journalist to author
I had words to burn. Or so I thought. My contract for Red China Blues gave me 150,000 of them. After a newspaper career spent... Read the rest »
Researching fiction out of fact
In fiction, facts in themselves are clay without breath; it’s the implied connections between fact and character that create meaning. Often I will carry arcana... Read the rest »
Copeland's fictionary
The following is a selection from The ABC’s of Writing Fiction (1-884910-12-2, Story Press/McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Apr.), by Ann Copeland. Beanbag Chair I... Read the rest »
Re-creating the vampire myth
Both my first books were what booksellers in Britain (where I live) call “contemporary literary fiction.” Although neither book had much in the way of... Read the rest »
The fiction in non-fiction
Denise Chong, author of The Concubine’s Children, delivered the fifth annual Merle Shain Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the Writers’ Development Trust and York University’s Centre... Read the rest »
In debt to an era
On tour: Karma and keeners
Libel chill? Black’s biographer doesn’t believe in it
One of the first things people invariably ask when you tell them you’re writing an unauthorized book on Conrad Black is: “Who’s your libel lawyer?”... Read the rest »
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