“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.”

Holly B. Gutwillinger won the Writers’ Spark Coaching Contest with a project born from a poem about her dogs. After fifty years of searching for her passion, she overcame a loud "inner critic" to embr...

YouTube video by The Science of Creativity with Dr. Keith Sawyer

The Barbara Spohr Memorial Award for Photography provides financial and creative assistance to a mid-career Canadian artist.

YouTube video by The DemystifySci Podcast

Author Julie M. Green discusses her memoir Motherness: A Memoir of Generational Autism, Parenthood, and Radical Acceptance. She explores how motherhood, autism, and radical acceptance shape the narrative, and how parenting an autistic child fueled a "seismic shift" in her work. She shares her love for lyrical prose, and her commitment to longhand drafting for emotional honesty. Julie also recounts her journey to publication, offering advice on overcoming the primal fear of failure.

In this interview, Canadian author Michael Mirolla is exploring the human condition in writing by examining the intersection of self-identity and society. He reflects on his formative years in Canada’s first MFA program and his "Holy Trinity" of influences: Kafka, Joyce, and Beckett. Mirolla emphasizes stripping away external labels to find what is essential, while expressing skepticism toward AI’s creative potential. Michael's latest book is How About This …?

A recommended reading list by the author of the thrillers Behind the Door and The Tenant. 

In this interview, Canadian author Michael Mirolla is exploring the human condition in writing by examining the intersection of self-identity and society. He reflects on his formative years in Canada’...

Margaret Atwood, writer, shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne.

Writing a book proposal can feel like building a business plan while navigating a storm of self-doubt and imposter syndrome. I’ve created this compreh...

On Creative Writing is a monthly podcast show exploring all things creative writing, including fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, scripts, and essays. Host Sheelagh Caygill interviews authors and w...

For Canadian author Carter Vance, the key question animating his writing is: what shall we do and how shall we live? Exploring generational ennui, Vance draws inspiration from authors like Sally Roone...

The novelist and writing tutor delivers bracing advice that demolishes familiar ‘stick to what you know’ nostrums

1. AIM AND PURPOSE OF THE CALL

Renee Nicole Good, 37, mother to a six-year-old boy, was murdered earlier today by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, a few blocks from her home. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune: [An ICE agent] s…

A good deal of what gets published already reads like a photocopy of a photocopy

Poet, fiction, and nonfiction author rob mclennan shares how four decades of daily practice have strengthened his writing; he views it as a muscle that has become denser and more complex. He emphasizes reading widely, studying Canadian writing history, and engaging community. rob avoids plotting, sees failure as essential, and generative AI as theft. His process involves continuous editing, moving between digital and multiple printed drafts until he feels a piece of writing is complete.

Here are our best poetry titles of the year, chosen by our contributors!