The Toronto International Film Festival From an Indie Perspective
I’m an indie novelist used to looking at the traditional film and publishing world from the outside in. Some love the allure of Hollywood. Some of these same people follow their favorite movies from theatres to DVD and streaming video. Others want to see films that make viewers see, feel and think about a slice […]
Where do writers get ideas for books?
Writers are often asked—Where do you get your ideas and how do you get a whole novel from them? I can’t really explain where the ideas generally come from, except my imagination. But I can tell you where the ideas for The Drawing Lesson came from, or how the story came to be. The Drawing […]
Barbara Kay from The National Post likes ‘portraits of evil’
Barbara Kay, a well-known weekly columnist for The National Post in Toronto, just reviewed the third book in The Osgoode Trilogy, A Trial of One. Here’s what she says: “This author has a lively imagination, great narrative energy and an inquiring, philosophical mind. I was absorbed by the story and the exploration of the theme […]
Shock, awe and Banksy
My friend, Marjolyn, was reading The Drawing Lesson when she received the following in the mail from Canadian painter Robert Genn. It captures his interaction with the audience at a speaking engagement. He has graciously given me permission to reproduce it here. My state of confusion August 3, 2010 Dear Marjolyn, “You don’t understand, Mr. […]
The Human Rights Commission and Homophobia
Whenever I read about the battles over same sex marriage, I think of homophobia. That fear of the “other” or the “different” led me to write “A Trial of One,” the third in The Osgoode Trilogy. Here’s an article I wrote at the time it was published. MATTHEW SHEPARD, JAMES BYRD AND A TRIAL OF […]