Open to the irritation, grit forms a pearl it’s been said. Fish for mermaids, dive for pearls . . creativity@maryannmoore.ca

A Poet’s Nanaimo

This Has Always Been a War

Lori Fox, based in Whitehorse, Yukon, describes their new book of essays, This Has Always Been a War (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021), as a “scrappy, angry little book” with its sub-title of “The Radicalization of a Working-Class Queer." In an interview with Yukon News for...

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Writing in Community

Writing in community is something I’ve done for a long time – at workshops, retreats and in writing circles I’ve offered since 1997. Even during the pandemic, I facilitated weekly women’s writing circles via email and Zoom. It was a way for us to feel connected, part...

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If You Are Reading This

If You are Reading This is Sheila Norgate’s a/mem.oir/ish, a book of personal essays published under her own imprint: LIP (Ladies Institute Press). As Sheila told me in a phone conversation, she’s a “one girl band” having written the book, designed it (including the...

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Death at the Savoy

I’m a fan of mysteries particularly detective fiction by the likes of Elizabeth George, Peter Robinson, Val McDermid, Michael Connelly, Jonathan Kellerman, David Baldacci, Louise Penny, Kate Atkinson and so many more going back to P. D. James and Agatha Christie....

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Memoir as Medicine

Nancy Slonim Aronie is the founder of the Chilmark Writing Workshop on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts where she lives.  She’s been facilitating Writing from the Heart workshops for forty-five years at various venues such as Kripalu, Omega and Esalen. In her new...

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Artists in Residence

Artists in Residence (Chronicle Books, 2021) is a book that features the homes of seventeen artists "and their living spaces, from Giverny to Casa Azul." I really appreciate Melissa Wyse’s writing with her enthusiasm for and fresh approach to her subjects. And the...

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Let’s stay connected!

My blogs are about upcoming writing circles, books I’ve appreciated, and other aspects of a creative writing life.