Congratulations to Donna Wootton, winner of our Focus On: Cobourg & Port Hope contest!
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Ontario Literary Landmarks
Ontario: Read it Here
A Guide to the Province’s Literary Landmarks
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Welcome to Open Book: Ontario, your connection to Ontario's literary scene! Fresh & Local: our fresh daily content includes news, profiles, interviews, features and event listings from across the province. We also invite you to explore Ontario's Literary Landmarks and our seasonal online Magazine. Ontario is a vibrant publishing and culture hub, and Open Book is committed to showcasing the people, places, writing and happenings of our literary scene. Enjoy!
Recently on Open Book: Ontario
Submitted by megan on May 24, 2013 - 12:59pm
In case you missed it, here is an update of all the interviews and features on Open Book: Toronto this week.
rob mclennan profiles the semi-annual Influency Salon courses and asks the founder, Toronto writer, editor and critic Margaret Christakos, a few questions. Read the article here.
Submitted by erinknight on May 23, 2013 - 6:54am
The WAR Series (Writers As Readers) gives writers an opportunity to talk about the books that shaped them, from first loves to new favourites.
Today we find out about the reading habits of Christopher Greig, a professor at the University of Windsor. As we head into the season of wood-chopping, fishing and car-washing, Christopher's book Canadian Men and Masculinities: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (CSPI), co-edited with Wayne J. Martino, will serve to prove that the activities and attitudes of Canadian men are far more complex than the beer commercials would have us believe. He delves into issues such as fatherhood in the 21st century, black athleticism and indigenous masculinities.
Christopher is a life-long reader with a broad range of interests that have included the work of Dr. Seuss, Lynn Coady and a sneakily procured copy of Roger Caron’s prison memoir Go Boy! Memoirs of a Life Behind Bars.
Location
Canada
42° 16' 26.6052" N, 83° 0' 29.8836" W
Submitted by megan on May 22, 2013 - 9:30am
By Megan Philipp
Riverside Drive (Dundurn Press) rumbles through the Border Cities during the difficult years following the Great War," says Windsor-born author Michael Januska of his debut novel and the first in his Border City Blues crime series. Scheduled to be released on May 25, 2013, the novel is set during the Prohibition era in six Ontario communities located along the Detroit River; they included the rural community of Ojibway, the town of Sandwich, the commercial centre of Windsor, the factory town of Walkerville, Ford City (the birthplace of Canada’s automobile industry) and the residential community of Riverside. Today, the Border Cities still exist as neighbourhoods within the city of Windsor. Januska is knowledgeable about the time period, explaining that before the 1920s, veterans returned home in search of opportunities in a time when there weren’t many — there had been a recession, an influenza epidemic, and food and energy shortages. This is where Riverside Drive begins, as Januska’s lead character Jack McCloskey returns home from the war, working jobs in factories and dockyards before turning to bareknuckle boxing for money and therapy. From there, a gang leader working a second job as a boxing promoter scouts out McCloskey for professional boxing matches, and later recruits him as his heavy, which Januska describes as “the kind of guy an ambitious bootlegger” would have needed “to get things done.” The early days of Prohibition, Januska explains, was a time when people were all about claiming territory, and veterans like McCloskey would have “found themselves back in the trenches, so to speak.” In contrast with Jack McCloskey is Vera Maude Maguire, a young librarian who wants to escape the industrialized Border Cities but lacks the will to do so; she instead plays the role of detective, suspecting a neighbour of being a bootlegger. “It was a time of great social unrest,” Januska enlightens, “and there were those who sought to exploit situations for their own material gain and political power. Towards the end of the story a new breed of criminal descends on the Border Cities posing new challenges not only for local law enforcement but also for the underworld’s establishment.”
Location
Canada
42° 16' 45.4368" N, 83° 0' 31.1544" W
Submitted by megan on May 21, 2013 - 8:27am
The WAR Series (Writers As Readers) is our newest interview series at Open Book, and gives writers an opportunity to talk about the books that shaped them, from first loves to new favourites.
Poet derek beaulieu’s newest book is Please, No More Poetry (Wilfrid Laurier University Press). With five books of poetry to his credit, derek’s new collection contains 35 selected works, an introduction by Kit Dobson and an interview with derek as part of the afterword. This book gives readers insight into the experimental poetry of derek beaulieu. Today, derek tells us about the lesser-known YA novels that were among some of his earliest reading interests, his first forays into adult fiction with Stephen King and the poetry book that would have been enough to get a 17-year-old derek beaulieu interested in poetry if only it was around at the time.
Submitted by megan on May 17, 2013 - 3:09pm
In case you missed it, here is an update of all the interviews and features on Open Book: Toronto this week.
Andrew Kaufman, author of All My Friends are Superheroes (Coach House Books), answers the Proust Questionnaire. He tells Open Book about the shores of Lake Huron, the office that he allows himself even though he could write in his living room, and he reveals his favourite flower, which is inspired by a well-known musician. Read the interview here.
Submitted by megan on May 17, 2013 - 12:07pm
Outlandish zine is calling for submissions. Edited by Lindsay Cahill, the founder of the recently extinct Dead (G)end(er) magazine, and Kelly Wydryk, outlandish is a new indie-run print magazine based out of New York City and Niagara, Ontario that accepts previously unpublished poetry, art and prose by world-wide contributors.
Highlighted Content
Submitted by erinknight on May 7, 2013 - 2:41pm
By Erin Knight and Megan Philipp
Picture a high-stakes game of pool. When the cue ball strikes, the carefully aligned balls rocket off in all directions, finding their mark, dropping into the pockets or hitting another ball, altering its course. This is what Windsor & Essex County is like: the inspiration the area gives writers starts them off in any number of ways, so that the style, genre and trajectory of every writer is unique. There is a multi-layered creativity at work here in Ontario's most southern region, and a visit to the area — either in person or through the written word — is an experience that won't soon be forgotten. In our Recommended Reads list, you'll find memoir, poetry, children's books, short fiction and novels, and you're gauranteed to come away from these books feeling like you've just won that pool game. For more on Windsor's local authors, check out Melanie Janisse's feature article, "In The Underbrush: The Literary Tribes of Windsor".
Location
Canada
42° 15' 22.212" N, 82° 58' 11.4564" W
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Featured Landmark
Windsor, ON
Biblioasis is an independent literary press based in Windsor, Ontario. They were founded as a bookshop in 1998. In 2004, owner Dan Wells first turned to publishing, after which the bookshop gradually moved online; since 2007 publishing has been the primary occupation of the company. In their first eight years Biblioasis issued over 100 trade books, chapbooks and limited hand-bound titles.
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recent comments
We love Bella's Bookshelf! Thanks for participating in our Behind The Books series, Steph.
... ”Love it! Can't wait for the drop.
... ”Thank you so much for having me! And for the kind words about my blog!
... ”Dictionaries are wonderful things! And, you are absolutely right! The possible title of your autobiography says it all.
... ”Your "dirty dozen" had me in stitches, Adrienne. I cannot wait to read your poetry!
... ”Good interview. And I enjoyed your recent appearance at http://bit.ly/ZwCdsp
Elly
... ”What a magnanimous interview! - Henry Beissel
... ”Gilles,
Goose Lane Editions is Deni's Canadian publisher. If you'd like to reach him,just send me an email.
... ”Wonderful piece rob and Frank. Does it really have to end?
... ”Hi Gilles, The best way to reach Deni Y Béchard is through his publisher, Milkweed Editions (http://milkweed.org/).
... ”