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Canadian Independent Bookstore Day
Saturday, April 30 is your chance to celebrate heroes of the Canadian book business, Canada’s independent sellers. Read my take on why they deserve celebrating, and I’ll then tell you what they’re doing to celebrate you, their customers. My friend says, “Books are cheaper somewhere else.” But when people buy cheaper, author royalties are correspondingly…
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“The Reader I Was, The Writer I Am”
How could I say no? It was an honour to be asked, back in February 2019, if I would “consider speaking at the Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books in Toronto” as the 33rd annual Helen E. Stubbs memorial lecturer in the fall of 2020. “This lecture series,” Martha Scott wrote, “is held in the…
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Today is World Giraffe Day!
June 21 is World Giraffe Day — a celebration of the animal with the longest neck on the longest day of the year. (Or the longest night, depending on where on the planet you live.) Did you know that a giraffe’s hooves are as large as dinner plates? Or that a giraffe gives birth standing…
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The First International IBBY Canada Meeting
Last weekend, over a hundred people gathered from around the world to attend an IBBY Canada meeting. As a program presenter I logged in early and to see faces rapidly filling the screen as others joined the meeting was truly exciting. There were the faces of friends and colleagues from across the country, many whom…
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I Read Canadian
I Read Canadian Day is a national celebration of the breadth and diversity of Canadian books for young people. Join the party on February 17 by encouraging any kids or teens in your life to read a Canadian book for 15 minutes or by reading one to them. You’ll be helping foster a love of…
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5 Highlights of the 2018 IBBY Congress
Kathy Goes to Greece – A Slideshow What made me decide to attend the 2018 IBBY Congress? It was in Greece. Canadian Deborah Ellis was delivering a keynote. Having been recently researching the life and work of Jella Lepman, I wanted to experience firsthand how such a conference would express the ideals that underpinned…
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“Let’s Read!”
My thanks to the Family Literacy Committee of Brant for choosing The Man with the Violin as the book they would plan events around to encourage family reading this year — and for purchasing 700 copies to support their efforts! Everyone’s enjoyment of the “Let’s Read” events in Paris and Brantford this weekend was greatly…
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A Happy Way to End (Almost) 2017
It was a traveling sort of December, most recently to Ottawa for the Canadian premiére of the musical adaptation of The Man with the Violin. Very exciting to celebrate this book once again with Dusan Petricic (its illustrator who came all the way from Belgrade for the event), Rick Wilks of Annick Press, Joshua Bell…
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5 Reasons You Want to Be Invited to the Knowlton Literary Festival
Danny McAuley — Owner of Brome Lake Books. I knew just from our emails beforehand that I was going to love Danny. He and his wife Lucy made sure they had a good supply of a range of my titles at the Festival. They told me a great story about a woman coming into the…
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Where you'll find me in Autumn 2017
The Eden Mills Writers Festival last weekend marked the beginning of a busy season of “being an author” (as opposed to actually writing, which I hope to be doing a fair bit of too). This photo is the audience for some other authors. My group was a tad younger. Coming up… September 14 – Reading…
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Kathy Goes To Korea – A Slideshow
Big thanks to the Canadian Embassy in Korea for inviting me to participate in the Seoul International Book Fair! Great fun to meet some of my Korean readers and discover how thoroughly they have embraced Red Is Best, The Man with the Violin, King of the Castle, and What Happened to Ivy. Thanks especially to…
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Standing Ovation for "The Man with the Violin"
The sold out audience in the four tiers of seats at the Kennedy Center rose to their feet with a roar on the afternoon of February 12, when the world premiere of the orchestral adaptation of the book, The Man with the Violin, ended. Behind the orchestra was a large wide screen on which was projected imagery created by…
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World Premiere – The Man with the Violin
The exciting news I shared last June — about the musical adaptation of The Man with the Violin in the works — is about to become a living thing. The man with the violin, Joshua Bell himself, will play the part of the solo violinist who was ignored by thousands when he played in a…
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So You Want to Write a Picture Book
This may be NaNoWriMo but two of my three current writing projects happen to be picture books and that’s where I’m focusing most of my attention this month. I’ll also, in the coming days, be offering practical guidance and (I hope) inspiration to others writing picture books. Tomorrow evening I’m offering a presentation on “Writing…
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A Busy Fall Ahead
Writer Sarah Ellis once gave a talk in which she distinguished between “writing” and “being a writer.” I may be busier “being a writer” in the coming months than I’ll be busy “writing.” Fortunately, I have a new picture book that’s finished which Annick has scheduled for publication in the spring of 2017. (More on…
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Storywalk with The Man with the Violin
Storywalk® is an innovative way to get people of all ages to take a stroll while reading children’s picture books. Pages of a book are transformed into wind-and-rain-proof signs that are then placed on a playground, at a fair or music festival. The project originated in Vermont and Storywalks have now taken place in every…
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First Book Canada
Many of the kids in this pic took home their first ever “mine for keeps” books yesterday thanks to First Book Canada. Owning a book is a new concept for some of them. When I handed one boy his copy of The Man with the Violin he asked me, “Do I bring it back tomorrow?”…
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Authors Support Indies Day
Saturday, May 2 is Authors Support Indies Day. It’s a great chance for readers to meet and chat with some of their favourite authors, who will be hanging out as “guest booksellers” in their local independent bookstores. Says one of Canada’s best known authors, Ann-Marie MacDonald, “Independent bookstores enrich our communities. They provide gathering places…
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Writing by the Sea Again
It won’t be long now before I’m writing by the sea again, in the fish house that inspired me last year to set up my “fish house” in the furnace room back home in Ontario. I wonder which of the writers attending our Seaside Workshop/Retreat this year will find the magic that can happen when…
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Read by the Sea
What a great way to kick off summer — with a Nova Scotia literary festival! Quite apart from the fun of reading The Man with the Violin accompanied by The Wild City Roses on fiddle, guitar, and accordion was the fun of seeing old friends like Sheree Fitch, Norene Smiley, and Trudy Carey. It was also great getting to know…
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10 More Days Till…
And the Wild City Roses and I are cooking up something that promises to be quite special. If you’re in the area, hope to see you there!
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Pleasant Memories of Book Week
A few people caught me out with my “Home Sweet Home” post last week. I wasn’t really home yet; I followed up my Book Week tour with a visit with friends in B.C. But I really am home now, and I’m busy with Book Week follow up, writing reports and so on. Here’s the “mini report” that may also…
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TD Children’s Book Week in Alberta
Canadian authors and illustrators are meeting with readers all across the country. I’m about half way through meeting with 18 groups of kids from Kindergarten right up to Grade 12 in Calgary and in Lethbridge and area, hoping to inspire them to read more and to write, too. These enthusiastic audiences inspire me to keep…
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“Music Tells A Story”
Today’s offering is a guest post from Paule Barsalou, Artistic Director of the Suzuki String School of Guelph. Thank you, Paule, for agreeing to being my first guest blogger! The Man With The Violin is going to the Suzuki String School of Guelph Spring Concert! On Sunday, April 27 at 3 pm at the River…
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Your Chance to Write by the Sea
Every morning that I’m free to work on my current project – to write a new section, revise an existing one, or bash out some notes to help me work through a logistical problem – I approach my writing desk with eagerness for what might happen there this time. This may be because I love…
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Our 7th Seaside Workshop/Retreat
Word is spreading across the country that the place to be in September is at the Seaside Workshop/Retreat that Peter Carver and I have been offering for several years now. Thanks to all participants who have shared their enthusiasm for the experience. We offer time to write free of interruptions, feedback on your current writing…
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“An Intimate Examination of Sock Fluff” Part 13
The next excerpt from my PYI keynote in a series that started in December 2011… Here’s one more bit of ‘sock fluff’, from my youth. Feel free to join me if you know it. Don’t you just love the rhythm, the language, the passion, and the innuendo in Part 1 of “The Highwayman” by Alfred…
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“An Intimate Examination of Sock Fluff” Part 12
The next excerpt from my PYI keynote in a series that started in December 2011… All the bits of sock fluff I’ve inspected so far have come from socks worn in the second half of my life. I’m now going to pull out a few bits of fluff from the first half of my life.…
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Golden Moments at the Golden Oaks Awards
Hackmatack and Silver Birch events this spring were fun. It’s gratifying to see hundreds of kids excited about reading. But the event surrounding the awarding of this year’s Golden Oak was downright inspiring. What makes the Golden Oak different from other “tree” awards is that the readers who vote to determine the winning book are…
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A Place for Group Creativity and Solitude
Groupthink: the brainstorming myth, an article in the New Yorker, got me thinking recently about my writing group and how we’ve benefited from occasionally inviting guest fellow writers to participate in discussions of our projects and to share their work for feedback. It also helped me understand better why the Seaside Writing Workshop/Retreat works so…
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“An Intimate Examination of Sock Fluff” Part 5
The next excerpt from my PYI keynote in a series that started in December 2011… That was “After English Class” from Hey World, Here I Am! by Jean Little. In 1987, I had the welcome opportunity to travel with Jean in England, when the Canadian Children’s Book Centre organized an exchange of Canadian and British…
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Photo of the Month #2
This month’s photo, like last month’s, was taken in Nova Scotia – this time on the beach at the Kejimkukik Seaside Adjunct. We’ve taken our Seaside Writing Workshop Retreat participants there each year, and hope to again this year, but in this photo it’s my lovely daughter enjoying the enormous sky and exploring one of…
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Do you ever visit book clubs?
I haven’t done it often, but within a reasonable distance from my home in Rockwood (which is near Guelph) Ontario, I do. So far I’ve only met with adult book clubs, but I think it would be fun to meet with mother-daughter, mother-son, father-daughter, father-son groups too. Depending on who your book club members are,…
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Will you come and speak at our conference?
If your audience is teachers, librarians, booksellers, writers, parents, students, or seniors, chances are I’d love to come talk about just about any aspect of writing, reading, or being a writer in Canada. I’m more than open to suggestions. In addition to the speaking fee, conference organizers should be prepared to cover the cost of…
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Do you speak to teachers on their professional development days?
Yes, and it’s always a pleasure. (I was an elementary school teacher myself, before I was a writer.) I can discuss how to motivate students to write, how to excite them about reading, or I can conduct a mini-writing workshop, as a model for how teachers might like to work with their students, at any…
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How can we arrange a visit to our school or library?
It’s easy. Just send Kathy an email! But before you do, it’s best to first read about audience sizes and the cost of hosting a visit. Also about the kinds of things I might do with your students and the impact our visit might have. Find answers to other FAQs here.
Read More...Do you write full-time now, or do you have another job, too?
I do my best to write full-time, but I don’t earn enough money from book sales to make a full income, so I do other things – related to writing – to make up what I need. I work as an editor. I lead writing workshops for adults and for children. I speak at conferences.…
Read More...Can you help me get published?
I have no ins with any of the publishers I’ve worked with as a writer or as an editor, so beyond encouraging you to continue honing your craft (by writing lots and perhaps attending classes or workshops), there’s nothing else I can do to help you get published. However, there are lots of websites that offer…
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The Fallen Canadian Soldier Project
I’ve blogged before about different ways Canadians have honoured fallen soldiers. But this winter I learned of another, after a neighbour attending a woodworking show with her husband came upon a display of portraits of Canadian soldiers who have fallen in Afghanistan. Stephen Gaebel describes the first time his paintings were exhibited publicly – on Remembrance…
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More Books (and Almost Books) by Seaside Retreat/Workshop Alumni
Having described the development of Jan Coates’s A Hare in the Elephant’s Trunk in a previous post, I want to give a plug to three other writers whose work has benefited from participation in the seaside workshop/retreat that Peter Carver and I offer each summer. Anna Kerz brought the manuscript for The Mealworm Diaries to Nova Scotia…
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Jan Coates, An Alumnus of the Seaside Writing Workshop
Jan Coates first came to our Seaside Writing Workshop/Retreat in 2008 to work on several picture book manuscripts she needed help with. Second Story Press had published Rainbows in the Dark in 2005, but since then, Jan had collected only rejection letters in response to her submissions. During sessions focused on her work, she got feedback from…
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Do you offer writing workshops?
I offer a number of workshop options – for children, teens, and adults; single sessions or a series of sessions; and in a variety of settings including libraries, bookstores, schools, and private homes. I’ve even conducted workshops in Liberia. (If you want me to travel that far to do a workshop, somebody (besides me) has to…
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Writing Communities
At this month’s CANSCAIP meeting, a former participant at the Seaside Writing Workshop/Retreat that my partner and I offer in Nova Scotia each summer announced that we are now accepting applications for this years workshop/retreat. Since it involves living and working with five other participants (plus Peter and me), a lovely sense of community tends to…
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Writing Workshops
This winter I’ve been rediscovering the fun of working with people who are just beginning to explore their interest in writing for children. The night of the first class (which I’m teaching through the Con Ed department of the Upper Grand District School Board), I wondered how I’d do with the fact that it runs…
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Writers by the Sea
They came and wrote – in the fish house, the old barn, the farmhouse, and on the beach. They wrote about kids who are lonely, who don’t fit in, kids curious, funny, or angry. They wrote all morning, and sometimes again in the afternoon or evening. When they weren’t writing, they were talking about writing,…
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“Babysitting Helen”
When I was introduced to teen writers at an event in Guelph last year, one of the participants said, “Kathy Stinson! Did you write “Babysitting Helen“?” It’s not the ending of the question ‘Did you write…?’ that I’m used to hearing! The girl had read the story in her grade nine English class – probably…
Read More...Editing Tips
1. Having trouble with a novel you’re working on? Or a picture book or short story? Try remembering what drew you to writing it in the first place. We often get so enchanted by our characters and new possibilities a story presents to us that we lose sight of why we wanted to write it.…
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Seaside Writing Retreat & Workshop
Sometimes, whether you’re a writer who appreciates a regular writing group or one who prefers going it alone, there are often points when working on a project, when you long for uninterrupted time to focus on it, or feel the need for fresh eyes to assess how it’s going. The workshop/retreat that Peter Carver and…
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A Writer’s Professional Development
The past month has involved me in three events that fall into the category of professional development. The Writers’ Union of Canada offered a Symposium called “Secure Footing in a Shifting Literary Landscape”. Betsy Warland and Ross Laird were two of the speakers. They explored the question of whether this is the best time in…
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Does Your Writing Life Need A Boost?
Peter Carver and I are now accepting applications to our week-long, seaside writing workshop/retreat, taking place in August this year, on the south shore of Nova Scotia. If giving a writing project of yours the time it deserves is one of your resolutions for the new year, why not consider submitting an application. You can find more…
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Students All in a Buzz
Nancy Evans is a teacher-librarian in London, Ontario. She sent me a thank you note recently that made my day and she’s given me permission to post it here, along with the accompanying photos. I wanted to sincerely thank you for sharing time with us. Our students are all in a buzz this week as…
Read More...A GG for Greener Grass
Last night Caroline Pignat received a Governor General’s award for her young adult novel, Greener Grass. Not surprising when you look at the reviews. And needless to say, she’s delighted. The book is set in Ireland, and she’s going to take her parents there with some of her prize money. What makes Caroline’s win sweet…
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Kathy Stinson & Cornelia Oberlander Visit Crofton House
Imagine having the chance to meet the author of a biography you were reading, and the person the biography was about, too? That’s what happened for a group of Grade Six students in Vancouver on the last morning of my Book Week tour. When I asked Cornelia Oberlander (about whom I wrote in Love Every Leaf) if…
Read More...Children's Book Week 2008 – A Few Highlights
Between November 17 and November 21 I met with roughly 900 kids and the many adults (teachers, librarians, and parents) who accompanied them to a total of 17 readings. Here are just a few moments from that week that I carry with me still, now that I’m home again. 1. When the bell rang to end…
Read More...Come See Me at "Word on the Street"
Yes, I’m back from summer holidays, have now moved house, and on Sunday I’ll be reading at Word on the Street in Toronto. Come find me there and you might even meet some of the inspiration for some of my books.
Read More...A Treasure for My Pocket
Two big surprises at the Literacy Conference in Burlington last weekend. The onsite bookseller, Different Drummer, had on hand a big stack of Love Every Leaf: The Life of Cornelia Hahn Oberlander – and it wasn’t scheduled for release till several days later! (It looks gorgeous, and after I spoke about it briefly during my…
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Summer Writing Workshop/Retreat by the Sea
How does this sound? Five days in August in a spectacular Nova Scotia setting – indulging in private writing time, walking the beach, getting feedback on your work from me, my partner Peter Carver (children’s book editor for Red Deer Press and teacher of writing for George Brown College), and a small group of fellow…
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