“I wanted to suggest, not describe.”
“I am attracted to deeper work, not to bright, funny or commercial art. I feel I’m much more underground than mainstream…I like bringing the text to another level through its visuals. It’s a way to...
View ArticleFunny Odd Nice
Thank you to Quill and Quire for mentioning Virginia Wolf in their round-up of 15 Books that Mattered in 2012. I was really happy to see the book acknowledged, even if I found their text to be a bit...
View ArticleBend Words
Bend words. Stretch them, squash them, mash them up, fold them. Turn them over or swing them upside down. Make up new words. Leave a place for the strange and downright impossible ones. Use ancient...
View ArticleBooks for the Grown-Up Picture Book Lover
A few of my favorites: 1. On the street, everyone is rushing by, each person with their hidden thoughts and emotions, light or serious. (Marie is terribly jealous…Eric has a little music in his head.)...
View ArticleBring on the Bad Reads
At what point in our literary history did it become desirable to devour books, gobble them up, or have them go down smoothly? When did the idea of a “good read” come to connote something blandly...
View ArticleAdvance Copy!
My new picture book arrived by courier today. It’s a collaboration with the supremely talented Matte Stephens and I couldn’t be more thrilled. In fact, I want to vandalize my copy and plaster my walls...
View ArticleThe Counterpoint
Yesterday I attended a quiet memorial for a beloved graduate school professor—a wonderful and serious scholar named Roger Simon—who passed away last September after a difficult illness. It was both...
View ArticleIndefinite Tools
“We can express our feelings regarding the world around us either by poetic or by descriptive means. I prefer to express myself metaphorically. Let me stress: metaphorically, not symbolically. A...
View ArticleFlocks
I am not a flocker or congregator by nature. And yet, and so, I find myself mesmerized by these two images. The first was taken by my new friend Jack Breakfast, a Toronto-based musician and bird...
View ArticleThe Wolf God
The Wolf God by Anne Carson Like a painting we will be erased, no one can remain. I saw my life as a wolf loping along the road And I questioned the women of that place. Some regard the wolf as...
View ArticleWriting Demons
Demons. We all have them. Here are some of mine: Pride in Efficiency This may sound strange but I have to remind myself to be bad at what I don’t want to do (i.e. laundry, other people’s work.) Lazy...
View ArticleThis Story is Full of Holes
On the eve of my marriage, in August 1998, my father gave me a beautiful lacquer box with a black and white photo inside. It showed my father from behind peering out over a lunar landscape. Written on...
View ArticleTime Wasting Experiment
I came across this wonderful project the other day. From 2009 to 2012, Portland-artist Alyson Provax tracked time that she felt was wasted, and memorialized each moment on a letterpress card. I love...
View ArticleThe Boy Behind Mr. Flux
To celebrate today’s release of Mr. Flux I would like to introduce you to my youngest son—also known as the child who inspired the story. Mika is a sentry of sameness. He is a child who likes to sit in...
View ArticleSeeds
Spring. Soil. Seeds. Grow. I am trying to be patient with my own seedling project. It is growing ever so slowly and some days seems so fragile, I think it could be destroyed by the slightest breeze. So...
View ArticleFlotsam
Because writing means making something (more or less) orderly out of something disorderly. And because writing takes me through tides and currents, as I sift dubious treasure. And because writing at...
View ArticleCloudy
For those days when you’re not above the weather or below it but seemingly more of it, when the clouds seem to have entered you, fogging your thoughts and misting over your heart, and you wish you...
View ArticleBravo Isabelle!
Congratulations to Isabelle Arsenault on winning the 2012 IBBY Canada Cleaver Picture Book Award for Virginia Wolf! The jury’s comments on Virginia Wolf: “An un-precious treatment of depression that...
View ArticleThe Midway
Sometimes this happens. Sometimes change arrives unannounced. One moment, your life is a predictable place, and the next moment, everything is a wild carnival ride of flux. The midway is a sweet and...
View Article“Polka dots can’t stay alone.”
A few spotty memories: my mother’s Mary Quant stockings, the constellations at sleepover camp, the bikini I once stole from my friend Nancy, my Marimekko bag, the mysterious infestation of ladybugs at...
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