Author Archives: Erin

We’re excited to announce that the first winning entry of the Write Across Ontario creative writing competition is now online and ready to be viewed! Every Monday in March, the Open Book Magazine will feature one of the four winning stories. We are so looking forward to be able to share all of this Ontario talent with you.

This week, we present to you ”Persistence” written by Kathleen Chen, a student at the Toronto French School. Her entry was the winning story in the grade nine category. To read the full story, click here!

Thanks to the wonderful world of blogs, we stumbled upon a collection of photos from beautiful bookstores around the world. Click here to check them out!

So often our time spent with books is a solitary experience, that it’s nice to venture out to a bookstore, especially a beautiful one. Okay – so we still might not talk to anyone while we’re there, but that’s besides the point.

These photos make us want to pack our bags and pilgrimage to these places just to have a look around. At the same time, it’s a good reminder that we should explore what our own city/province/country has to offer. Along the road to IFOA Ontario, we have seen many beautiful stores, including Furby House Books in Port Hope, Books & Company in Picton and Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, just to name a few. If any one of you can direct us to more examples of Canadian bookstore beauty, please send a note to [email protected] or better yet, share a photo.

We are so excited to finally be able to announce the winners of this year’s Write Across Ontario creative writing contest. Thanks to everyone who participated and to our sponsor, Open Book: Ontario for all their support! Be sure to check back here regularly for upcoming contests and giveaways! To read the press release, click here.

So, without further adieu, congratulations to our 4 winners:

Grade 9:
Persistence by Kathleen Chen, Toronto French School, Toronto

Grade 10:
Untitled by Jessica Kim, Martingrove Collegiate Institute, Etobicoke

Grade 11:
The Key by Tamara Southward, Saint John’s-Kilmarnock School, Breslau (Waterloo Region)

Grade 12:
Untitled by Mik Opolski, St. Michael’s College, Mississauga