Online Exclusives
What is Beth Downey Reading?
Recently, I was out with a clutch of friends—all readerly-writerly types, which tells you something of how spoiled I am in life—when one of our party asked, ‘how do you guys cope with how much there is to read out there?’ How, indeed. In a world heaped with outstanding books, articles, poetry, film, and with […]
What is Paola Ferrante Reading?
As someone who actively writes both poetry and fiction, I alternate between reading poetry and fiction regularly. I find that reading poetry really makes me think about sound of my sentences, often to the point where I make sure I read my fiction out loud and will spend sometimes half an hour or more on […]
Finding the Form with Stephanie Harrington
“I think “Blackberries” divided people, which in retrospect, isn’t a bad place to start. At least I provoked something in readers.” “Blackberries” started as an assignment for a creative nonfiction class at the University of Victoria. Our professor, David Leach, asked us to write a “Modern Love” essay like those published in the long-running New […]
Finding the Form with Eleanor Sudak
This poem began its life as an idea for a short story, a screenplay-like vision peopled by characters who can never quite come together in ways hoped for by the reader. I am so fond of the works of Mary Lawson, Anne Tyler, and Donna Morrissey that their themes flavour my thoughts. Or, maybe their […]
Finding the Form with Susan Vernon
Perhaps I am an intuitive poet who doesn’t really want to know exactly how she does it. Even if, at times, a poem doesn’t come easily, it always seems miraculous: to begin, to carry on and then to find an ending. In my early thirties, I wasn’t writing much poetry even though I had thought […]
Launched: Watermark by Christy Ann Conlin
Christy Ann Conlin’s short story collection, Watermark, was published by House of Anansi in August. Based in Nova Scotia, she is the author of two acclaimed novels, Heave and The Memento, as well as the co-creator and host of the CBC radio series, Fear Itself. Our correspondence began with a postcard and quickly shifted to […]
Finding the Form with gillian harding-russell
“Although the square or rectangle of a sheet of paper – short or long, small or large – may influence the shape of the poem, I like to allow the words to find their own voice and presence on a sheet of paper.” I allow the form to rise from the fall of the words […]
Jeanie Keogh’s Writing Space
“When I’m working late into the evening, I can watch the sunsets that the Flemish painters captured so well as the light dies out over my garden. The landscape connects me to the ebb and flow of the seasons (which often matches my writing process), and the view somehow helps me to weed out scenes […]
Terence Young’s Writing Space
“I’m okay with clutter when it all serves a purpose.” One of the key components of my writing space is music. I have a fondness for old stereo equipment and vinyl, and I also enjoy several of the local FM stations. So, my room also houses my record collection and several amplifiers, turntables and tuners. […]
What is Mahak Jain Reading?
“It’s not possible, in the audiobook format, to get caught up in the words or language because there’s no space to reflect on or ponder them.” I have always resisted audiobooks. I am able to read faster than the speed of audiobooks, so the latter never seemed efficient. I also become easily distracted and daydream […]