by Nathan Whitlock

2016: The year’s best and worst

Best of times, worst of times: Nathan Whitlock rounds up 2016’s great and terrible book news from around the world. Best Amazon spent the year opening brick-and-mortar stores and experimenting with near-instant delivery. The company ... Read More »

December 15, 2016

Kidlit Spotlight: After almost 10 years and seven books, graphic novelist Scott Chantler brings his Three Thieves series to an end

By Nathan Whitlock

Most writers, contemplating the end of a hugely popular fantasy series that has represented nearly a decade’s worth of work, would feel a little wistful. Not Scott Chantler. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Chantler is the ... Read More »

September 19, 2016

2015: The Year’s Best and Worst

By Nathan Whitlock

Best of times, worst of times: Nathan Whitlock rounds up 2015’s great and terrible news from around the world. Best Margaret Atwood penned the inaugural story for the Future Library project – which will unseal ... Read More »

November 30, 2015

Down the rabbit hole: David Day decodes Lewis Carroll’s kidlit classic

By Nathan Whitlock

Like the subject of his latest book, author David Day isn’t entirely what he seems. To skim through Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Decoded – which purports to uncover the “real” story that lies just beneath ... Read More »

November 9, 2015

Perish Publishing plays with the boundaries of art publishing

By Nathan Whitlock

In Toronto’s slowly gentrifying Bloor and Lansdowne neighbourhood, hip eateries and galleries butt up against strip bars, last-chance coffee shops, and alleyways where drug deals occur almost hourly. The area’s clash of scuzzy and artsy ... Read More »

February 23, 2015

Kenneth Oppel’s train dreams

By Nathan Whitlock

It's pleasant enough for a writer to hear that one of his books has landed on someone's Christmas shopping list. But there are shopping lists, and then there's the shopping list of the most powerful ... Read More »

March 6, 2014 | Filed under: Children's publishing

Kenneth Oppel

By Nathan Whitlock

Train dreams

March 6, 2014

Adam Sternbergh’s 10 tips for first-time novelists

By Nathan Whitlock

Adam Sternbergh, the Canadian-born culture editor for The New York Times Magazine, is accustomed to soothing delicate writerly egos and polishing raw prose. The tables turned when he set about writing his first novel, the ... Read More »

February 1, 2014

Fall preview 2011: books for young people

By Nathan Whitlock

In the July/August issue, Q&Q looks ahead at the fall season's biggest books. FICTION Kenneth Oppel has become a kidlit star while mostly steering clear of the genre end of YA fiction. His early 1990s ... Read More »

September 1, 2011 | Filed under: Book news, Preview