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Pamela Mordecai

A Tale of Two Marys

Colm Tóibin recently spoke to Eleanor Wachtel on CBC’s “Writers and Company” about his new novel, The Testament of Mary.

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Posted: May 23rd, 2013 @ 12:12 PM

Upcoming Appearances

None listed on Open Book: Toronto

Creativity: that live-wire word. The words ‘creative’ and ‘creativity’ usually signal a yearning for the path not taken, a sense that a more interesting life lurks elsewhere. If only I... If only what? If only I had more time, fewer responsibilities...

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Posted: May 19th, 2013 @ 11:23 PM

Upcoming Appearances

None listed on Open Book: Toronto

Shaun Smith

SHAUN SMITH'S SUNDAY SUNDRIES

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD Hic! The cocktails of famous literary characters and other fictional creatures, presented graphically. Grilling

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Posted: Sep 30th, 2007 @ 01:13 PM Todd Babiak Goodbye, Toronto, Goodbye Every writer in the provinces wants to be in Toronto. I cannot live in Toronto, of course, because I have no money and I am scared of smog.	Posted: Jun 7th, 2009 @ 08:20 PM Gregory Betts Jon Paul Fiorentino's stripmalling	Posted: Feb 27th, 2008 @ 07:19 PM Rick Blechta Finding Home Most of us have known him only as a writer of police procedurals. As a matter of fact, Eric Wright is one of the grand old men of Canadian crime fiction.
Posted: Jan 30th, 2012 @ 01:13 PM John Brady Against the grain: networking Yogi Berra, Vaclav Havel, a liking for trouble. Murphy’s Laws have no statute of limitations. If there is no Murphy’s Law to fit the situation that crashes over you, it’s an easy matter to write a new Murphy’s Law. This I do regularly.	Posted: Apr 30th, 2008 @ 11:11 AM Barry Callaghan Everything changes. Nothing changes. (part four) Continued from Everything changes. Nothing changes. (part three). Final blog.... So what is the point? Well, not long ago a man...an icon, a legend, a very special figure in the world of Canadian writing, died.	Posted: May 13th, 2013 @ 11:23 PM Edward Carson A Poem is Disruption: Reading it Brings a Measure of Order When a poem is written and then read, it moves both away from and toward the reader, and the mind follows, converting the free flow of reading to the linguistic equivalent of Cubism; its sounds and shapes rearrange and reintegrate
Posted: May 1st, 2010 @ 01:01 AM Marta Chudolinska Free Comic Book Day Cometh! Hello Open Book Toronto and the internet at large! I am happy to kick off my bout/gout as Open Book's latest writer in residence by informing you about one of the world's most important events: May 1st...	Posted: Nov 27th, 2007 @ 06:18 PM Lynn Coady Harlan Ellison is my hero Do you remember some rap song from a few years back, the refrain of which was a lilting female voice asking: "Where's my money?	Posted: Nov 4th, 2010 @ 04:16 PM Joey Comeau "Try it before you buy it," as a book publishing model? I have a new book out called Bible Camp Bloodbath, and I published it using a print on demand service.
Posted: Jul 14th, 2011 @ 01:13 PM The Great Canadian Writer's Craft The Great Canadian Writer's Craft Interview: Gary Barwin This spring, Toronto high-school students from two Writer's Craft classes conducted interviews with some of Canada's finest poets.	Posted: Apr 12th, 2011 @ 03:15 PM Adebe D.A. Hanging Out with Lawrence Hill and Wayde Compton at the GritLit Festival There I was, sitting in the sunlit dining room of the mixed-race, best-selling author (multiple use of hyphens not intended) of The Book of Negroes, when a sense of uncanny serendipity fell upon me.	Posted: May 31st, 2009 @ 02:14 PM Ian Daffern Whazamo! Profiles: Eric Kim Name: Eric Kim Hometown: Toronto Website: http://www.inkskratch.com Role: Comic artist, illustrator, co-creator, aspiring creator Latest Work: Most recent was The Sidesteppers for Owl Magazine.
Posted: Jun 18th, 2009 @ 10:10 AM Nitin Deckha The benefits of literary festivals: A critique of Kriti I had the opportunity to partake on a multiple levels at the 2009 Desilit Kriti festival of South Asian literature and arts in Chicago last weekend (June 11-14) http://www.desilit.org/kriti.php.	Posted: Apr 30th, 2013 @ 11:23 PM Adam Dickinson ANATOMIC Now that The Polymers has been published and launched, I am currently working on a new and related poetry project, one that also explores the intersection between poetry and chemistry.	Posted: Nov 2nd, 2011 @ 11:11 AM Farzana Doctor Canadian Bookshelf Interview: an adventure in Trinity-Bellwoods Park I recently had the wonderful good luck to spend a late-summer afternoon with Julie Wilson, from Canadian Bookshelf.
Posted: Oct 6th, 2008 @ 12:12 PM Chris Eaton Something I found funny today Reinforcing how Nitin has started his month of residency here with a much more intellectual approach than my own, I felt strangely compelled to return for at least one more blog just to post this link to a skit on Saturday Night L	Posted: Mar 31st, 2008 @ 05:17 PM Deborah Ellis last entry This will be my last entry for the Writer in Residence blog. It's been a good experience and I'm very lucky to have had this forum.	Posted: Mar 28th, 2013 @ 07:19 PM C.B. Forrest Body & Words: The ballerina who learned how to write Simple ambitions, complicated tea. This is the story of a ballerina who stopped dancing so she could learn to write songs. Or perhaps she learned how to write songs because she stopped dancing.
Posted: Dec 16th, 2012 @ 12:12 PM David Groulx LRC Themed Issues The Literary Review of Canada recently announced that beginning in the new year, their submission policy will be of themed issues. Some of these themes will be poems on the elements—e.g.	Posted: May 12th, 2009 @ 07:19 PM Clayton Hanmer CTON does TCAF This past weekend was the comic event of the year in Toronto in terms of the type of comics I prefer.	Posted: Jul 28th, 2011 @ 09:09 AM Amy Lavender Harris Doug Ford's reading List Ever since Toronto Councillor and Mayoral advisor Doug Ford's humiliating revelation of the seemingly boundless extent of his illiteracy, the city has resonated with condemnation and ridicule.
Posted: May 28th, 2008 @ 10:10 AM Alexander Herman, Paul Matthews and Andrew Feindel On Copyright In an op-ed in the Books section of last weekend's Globe and Mail, John Degen, the head of the Professional Writers Association, argued that the panic over copyright in Canada is a false one.	Posted: Apr 29th, 2011 @ 09:09 AM Angela Hibbs "ducks, cottonwood trees, soap opera ladies, storms and lost yelps" in conversation with Winterkill author, Catherine Graham Catherine Graham is the author of four acclaimed poetry collections: The Watch and the poetry trilogy Pupa, The Red Element and Winterkill http://www.insomniacpress.com/title.php?id=978-1-897415-32-0 Vice President of Project Boo	Posted: Nov 26th, 2009 @ 11:23 PM Dalton Higgins Sleeping With The Enemy In one of Spike Lee's most enduring films, Do The Right Thing, one of the questions at the end of the film is whether Mookie 'does the right thing' when he throws the garbage can through the window, because he feels
Posted: Dec 29th, 2007 @ 04:16 PM Anne Hines Starts and Stops ( In which popping the cork leads me to reflect on kicking the can) We’re counting down the days until New Year’s Eve. Soon the whole world will be celebrating, making merry and dancing in the streets.	Posted: Aug 22nd, 2012 @ 09:21 PM Ava Homa ECHOES FROM EXILE: LIVING IN FEAR By Ava Homa ECHOES FROM EXILE: LIVING IN FEAR By Ava Homa I grew up seeing lash scars on my father’s back. I was a toddler when he was incarcerated and tortured. Why?	Posted: May 31st, 2012 @ 09:09 AM Susan Hughes Giving Back: A Chat with Kathy Stinson On this, my last day as writer-in-residence of Open Book Toronto, I’d like to say thanks for checking in throughout the month to read my chats with many of the people who sparkle within the world of children’s publishing.
Posted: May 23rd, 2013 @ 12:12 PM Ann Ireland Creativity: That Live Wire word Creativity: that live-wire word. The words ‘creative’ and ‘creativity’ usually signal a yearning for the path not taken, a sense that a more interesting life lurks elsewhere.	Posted: Oct 16th, 2012 @ 08:20 PM Sheniz Janmohamed Bringing Literature Home As a child, the library was my haven. A space where I could quietly read and let my imagination run free.	Posted: Sep 27th, 2011 @ 09:09 AM P.S. Jevanael TETHERED ROMANCE - New Novel Sample My novel TETHERED ROMANCE has been one that has been hugely anticipated. I've spoken about it before, but I'll just recap.
Posted: Jan 20th, 2010 @ 03:15 PM Amy Jones Favourite Short Stories It's super rare that I ever feel like writing about writing instead of actually writing (yeah, that's a lot of writings).	Posted: Dec 31st, 2008 @ 10:10 AM Kathy Kacer Saying good-bye! Time to sign off, folks. I must say, I’ve loved every minute of this gig – enjoyed the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas about the writing world, particularly from the Y.A. perspective.	Posted: Nov 16th, 2009 @ 12:00 AM Welwyn Wilton Katz Battle of the Blades Just voted my possible ten times for Battle of the Blades. I couldn't vote for just one pair.
Posted: Jul 7th, 2009 @ 12:12 PM Lauren Kirshner Q & A with Poet Michael Lista A few days ago I met poet Michael Lista at the Cafe Diplomatico on College Street, where we talked, among other things, about Canadian poetry, Bloom, his soon-to-be-published debut from The House of Anansi Press, and a preview of	Posted: Oct 17th, 2010 @ 09:09 AM Pj Kwong A Book Launch Tale - Taking The Ice - Success Stories from the World of Canadian Figure Skating Well...although it was 2 weeks ago, it feels like the launch was just yesterday for my first book Taking the Ice - Success Stories from The World of Canadian Figure Skating. (www.takingtheice.com)	Posted: Mar 25th, 2011 @ 10:10 AM Jeff Latosik Entry 7: James Langer and Joshua Trotter Joshua Trotter Books: All This Could Be Yours (Biblioasis, 2010) Cred: Widespread publication.
Posted: Nov 26th, 2012 @ 12:12 PM Stacey Madden CanFic Crash-Ups A CanFic crash-up is an experiment in which the first and last lines of a given work of Canadian fiction are put side by side. The effect can be extraordinary.	Posted: Jun 30th, 2012 @ 11:11 AM Pasha Malla The last post Here's a good list of 100 great novels. I'm not sure about "the best" -- two Dostoevsky titles, but no Brothers Karamazov, WTF?	Posted: Jan 30th, 2009 @ 01:13 PM Dennis McCloskey Everyday Heroes By Dennis McCloskey In a discussion of the concept of heroism, the late U.S. President, Ronald Reagan, said he had read a report that indicated John Wayne was the last American hero.
Posted: Sep 30th, 2009 @ 01:13 PM Jacob McArthur Mooney Last Post: Good Things in October Whereas today is the last day of September, it also marks the end of our time together. Sad, I know. All good things and whatnot.	Posted: May 23rd, 2013 @ 01:13 PM Pamela Mordecai A Tale of Two Marys Colm Tóibin recently spoke to Eleanor Wachtel on CBC’s “Writers and Company” about his new novel, The Testament of Mary.	Posted: Aug 20th, 2012 @ 10:10 AM John Moss Scenes of the Crime Scenes of the Crime It’s been a week now since the annual Wolfe Island Mystery Lover’s Festival, Scene of the Crime. This was my second go at it, the first as a speaker, panelist, and honoured guest.
Posted: Dec 31st, 2012 @ 11:11 AM Sachiko Murakami Literary Holiday Parties: Jack Kirchoff and Robert Dayton, The Canadian Romantic What? It's NYE? I guess this is my last OBT post, then. OMG. WTF. ETC. I've had a lot of fun blogging here this month. Thanks for reading!	Posted: Mar 23rd, 2012 @ 04:16 PM George Murray The Questionless Books Interview: Poet and Filmmaker David Seymour In The Questionless Books Interview, I get a whole bunch of books people (from authors to editors to publishers to sales / publicity / production people, booksellers, designers, librarians, readers, etc) to "answer" a se	Posted: Mar 31st, 2009 @ 10:22 PM Sheree-Lee Olson ‘IN FINLAND, LIBRARIES ARE HOLY PLACES’ It’s spring, and I am not thinking of Paris, or New York, or Barcelona. I am longing for Turku. Turku is Finland’s southern port city, across the Baltic from Stockholm.
Posted: Apr 2nd, 2013 @ 03:15 PM John Oughton The World's Longest-running Ekphrastic Collaboration? The headline may have you asking "What the heck is ekphrastic"?	Posted: Oct 31st, 2011 @ 08:08 AM Dorothy Ellen Palmer The Last Post It’s hard to believe that the entire month of October has gone by and this is my last post as Open Book Writer in Residence!	Posted: Feb 11th, 2013 @ 02:14 PM Basil Papademos When Trouble Comes Looking for You... A World of Villon... http://basilpapademoswriting.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-world-of-villon.html Not a Footprint in Sight.. http://basilpapademoswriting.blogspot.com/2013/02/not-footprint-in-sight.html Of Erotic Lit, Mommy Bl
Posted: Dec 24th, 2009 @ 10:22 PM Marianne Paul Looking for the Miraculous I haven’t seen an angel in a water spot on my ceiling, or the Virgin Mary in the shape of a potato, or the face of Jesus on a scorch mark on the bottom of my iron, or the Son of God in the lines and wrinkles of a cinnamon bun.	Posted: Oct 31st, 2010 @ 11:23 PM Shane Peacock The Best Job Ever During Q&As, I'm often asked why I became a writer. My favourite answer is that I did it because I didn't want to have a job.	Posted: May 29th, 2012 @ 08:20 PM Alessandro Porco "This one goes out to all the humans": An Interview with Alice Burdick Here is an interview I conducted via email with poet Alice Burdick. We discuss (among many other things) her latest collection of poetry, Holler, which I recommend highly.
Posted: Feb 4th, 2011 @ 06:06 AM Kate Pullinger First Person Narrators I’m currently reading ‘Lemon’ by Cordelia Strube (Coach House Books) and this has lead me to think about the perils and pleasures of first person narratives.	Posted: Jan 31st, 2008 @ 09:09 AM Corey Redekop Is this the end? Yup. My tenure as January's Writer-in-Residence has come to its inevitable conclusion. A friend suggested that I end on something controversial to get people talking, but that's not me.	Posted: Jun 11th, 2009 @ 12:00 AM Linda Rogers REVENGE OF THE NERD The nerd wore his pants up around his armpits and he tucked his polyester shirt into his underpants. He combed his hair with his mother's spit. He could add six columns but he didn't count. He wrote bad poems th
Posted: Oct 31st, 2009 @ 09:21 PM Damian Rogers Dance of the Last Shaker: A Short Film Well, this is my last post and I wanted to use it to highlight the short film my friends Rebecca Mendoza and Chris Murphy made using two of my poems.	Posted: Dec 24th, 2010 @ 06:18 PM Jeffrey Round IMAGINING PEACE In David Bergen’s Giller Prize-nominated The Matter With Morris, from HarperCollins, a man named Morris Schutt is having a hard time holding on to reality. At the heart of it lies the death of Morris’s son in Afghanistan.	Posted: Apr 26th, 2009 @ 02:02 AM Michael Rubenfeld Rational Irrational. At this point, its all just gobble-dee-gook. I'm writing this blog but I'm not sure what I'm trying or even need to say.
Posted: Mar 27th, 2013 @ 10:22 PM Elizabeth Ruth Ever Wonder What Our Children Think about Toronto? (I do, so I asked. Perhaps the mayor should take note) QUESTION #1: What's the best thing about your city, Toronto? That there's not a lot of pollution. (Sara, age 6) Toronto has more hardware stores than some other cities.	Posted: Jun 1st, 2011 @ 02:14 PM Devyani Saltzman The New Yorker at Luminato As part of Luminato 2011, we’re excited to partner with The New Yorker on a series of literary events over two days of the festival. As the Middle East enters a new chapter, David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, will lead a	Posted: Aug 31st, 2008 @ 08:20 PM John Scully Eight is Enuff!! Cottagers and tourists can take a hike, not into nearby Algonquin Park where terrorists disguised as bears and moose will surely lurk, but back to their homes in the city.
Posted: Dec 31st, 2009 @ 01:13 PM Karen Shenfeld Canoeing Song I go canoeing with Pauline Johnson. I take the bow; she, the stern. Port/starboard; stroke on stroke— we paddle in unison; our liquid song: wings dipped in silvered glass.	Posted: Jan 31st, 2010 @ 10:22 PM Emil Sher A Loss for Words Sometimes, a passing comment sticks like a burr. Recently, I bumped into Ralph and his dog as I was walking mine. Ralph’s son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter had visited from out of town.	Posted: Nov 13th, 2012 @ 10:22 PM Erin Shields O Canada O Canada My home and native land. Your leaves are falling and people are crawling back into their houses again. The days are getting darker, the nights are growing colder and Christmas has begun its’ abrupt commercial invas
Posted: May 19th, 2013 @ 11:23 PM Shaun Smith SHAUN SMITH'S SUNDAY SUNDRIES A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD Hic! The cocktails of famous literary characters and other fictional creatures, presented graphically. Grilling	Posted: Jul 30th, 2008 @ 08:20 PM Beverley Stone THE WALLFLOWER CONFESSIONS 16. The Secret to Living the Writing Life (and no, its not booze) I think, based on my limited experience to date, that the secret is patience -- many levels of patience.	Posted: Jul 17th, 2011 @ 07:07 AM Fraser Sutherland HOSPITALITY SUITE I have fond memories of the International Festival of Authors’ hospitality suite. In the days when I was acquainted with it, the suite was at the top of a tower in the Harbour Castle Hilton, now named the Westin Harbour Castle.
Posted: Apr 9th, 2012 @ 08:20 PM Sarah Tsiang Susan, a lesson in awesomeness (part 1) Whenever someone asks me who they should read, I ask them if they’ve read a Susan lately. There are so many wonderful poets named Susan in Canada that it borders on the ridiculous. Which, of course, delights me.	Posted: Apr 11th, 2013 @ 10:10 AM Aya Tsintziras Jennifer Close on Writing, Reading and Teaching Yesterday, as it seemed to alternatively rain and stop raining, I sat at a tiny table in the lobby of a Toronto Harbourfront-area hotel.	Posted: Aug 31st, 2012 @ 09:21 PM David Tucker Chance Encounters and Butterfly Wings Early in my career, I wrote and produced a television documentary that got some mail.
Posted: Mar 30th, 2010 @ 06:18 PM Paul Vermeersch A Parting Thought from Our March Writer-In-Residence: Toronto Is a Vibrant Literary City. Become a Part of It! Dear Toronto Book Lovers, It's been a pleasure blogging for you all here at Open Book Toronto. Thanks to OBT, I've had the chance to be political, nostalgic, optimistic and perhaps even (time will tell) prophetic.	Posted: Dec 30th, 2012 @ 10:22 PM Thom Vernon Year End Wrap Up 2012: Okay, take it easy on me this time. I actually got bullied by email (I won't name names —Charles—but you know who you are) after that last post about games.	Posted: Feb 27th, 2013 @ 05:17 PM Natalie Zina Walschots A Public Life This morning, I had the pleasure of speaking to an English class at Ryerson, led my instructor Sarah Henstra.
Posted: Jun 29th, 2011 @ 01:13 PM Jessica Westhead Deer in the Bloglights No More! Blogging is hard! Before Open Book Toronto so kindly asked me aboard, I had very limited blogging experience, having written exactly two posts for other people’s online homes (one on notebook love, for Rebecca Rosenblum, and th	Posted: Jan 5th, 2012 @ 07:19 PM Robert Paul Weston The Mysteries of Radio Back in fall, my book Dust City was nominated for the 2012 Red Maple Award, part of Ontario's Forest of Reading Program.	Posted: Jun 26th, 2008 @ 07:19 PM Nathan Whitlock Open and Close And so ends my reign as Open Book's Writer in Residence. Many thanks to Amy Logan Holmes and Clelia Scala and the whole OB:T empire for allowing me to hang around here for the month.
Posted: Oct 30th, 2007 @ 11:23 PM Zoe Whittall Zoe T. Leroy interviews Maureen Medved, author of The Tracey Fragments In 1999, my fabulous then-roomie, Mariko, recommended I read a slim blue book about an impetuous teen named Tracey.	Posted: Dec 28th, 2011 @ 05:17 PM Liz Worth Touring, Part Two: What to do, what to bring When I posted the first part of this topic, I didn’t expect there to be such a gap in time between part one and part two. But what’s my excuse? I was busy with readings and book fairs in and out of town.