Quill and Quire

by Q&Q Staff

Local Buzz: Skiing to school

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Set in a Finnish logging community near Thunder Bay, Ontario, in the late 19th century, Jean E. Pendziwol’s children’s book Marja’s Skis is a hit with the city’s sizable Finnish community. “I’ve had a very ... Read More »

September 26, 2008

Afraid of the dark?

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Though genre publishing has never really taken off in Canada the way it has in the U.S. and elsewhere, there have always been at least a few specialty presses around to publish, say, homegrown mysteries ... Read More »

September 26, 2008

Spellbound

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Everyone agrees that English spelling makes no sense. Think of all those weird inconsistencies. Words that sound the same but are spelled differently (threw and through). Words that look alike but are pronounced differently (through, ... Read More »

September 26, 2008

There goes the neighbourhood

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Two bookselling mini-chains are going head to head in Toronto this year. This past February, Book City opened a new downtown location on Queen Street West – just three blocks away from the two-year-old Type ... Read More »

September 26, 2008

Naming the dead

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At the Writers’ Union of Canada AGM in Vancouver in 2007, I was part of a panel called “The Moral of the Story.” It dealt with a writer’s ethical responsibility to his source material, and ... Read More »

September 26, 2008

School’s in for CanLit

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As a programmer at my university radio station, I was regularly admonished about failing to meet CRTC-mandated Canadian content levels, a duty that I admittedly resented. I think I’d have less trouble with it now ... Read More »

September 26, 2008 | Filed under: Book news

The wrong side of $30

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As I write this, the book trade is preparing for its second fall season with Canadian and American currency at par. And as Q&Q contributor Stuart Woods points out in a story in this issue ... Read More »

September 26, 2008