I keep thinking of people I met along the way who were incredibly talented. They could tap into a child’s perspective with ease, writing from an innocent yet knowing angle that never talked down to the child reader. They could express a child’s deepest concerns in a beautiful way that was accessible to the child […]

Had a very interesting conversation over the weekend with a lady originally from India. We were talking about The Breadwinner. I have a complicated relationship with this book. When it first came out, I hated it. Still do. Kind of. But…I really like the author Deborah Ellis and I think she had the best of […]

My family is unusual. Me, I am the sports fan whereas my husband could care less. It was one of the things I admired about him when we got married. He wasn’t into watching sports. So it is above ironic that I became the sports person. I see it as halal entertainment. There’s nothing kinky […]

We seem to be living in an age of outrage. An age of activism, an age of resistance. It’s about time. My goodness, I’ve been an activist for going on 30 years! I’ve been resisting for about that long too. I’ve made no secret of the fact that yes, in addition to trying to tell […]

What possessed me to embark on three trips in six weeks? Towards the end of September I visited Sharjah UAE for about three days. Yup. I traveled on a plane for 13+ hours to stay at a hotel in Sharjah for three days and come back. It was for an international storytelling festival. But the […]

but that does not mean that Islam is being promoted in any way. Islamic Heritage month is like Asian heritage month or Pride month or Black History month, simply a chance for schools to recognize the contribution of the disparate members of our community. Canada really does try to be ‘multi-cultural’. We try to include […]

I’m a firm believer in leaving yourself open to experiences. You never know when something you experience will make its way as an integral part of a story you will one day write. Everything you experience is grist for the mill and it’s important to live your life really engaged in what is happening to […]

It’s always such a blessing to usher in this incredibly special month. What a year it’s been since last Ramadan. Last year I was feeling so shaken with regards to my writing craft and skills, but not my faith, and this year I’ve managed to slough a lot of that trepidation off. I feel more […]

I just finished a mini-tour of four rural schools about an hour outside of Ottawa. Sometimes I think I must look like some sort of exotic iguana rolling my presentation case up to the venerable doors of these tiny schools. I guess if I thought much about it, I’d get nervous, but you get a […]

Propaganda is the dissemination of information that is politically charged to promote a certain viewpoint. It’s usually state-sponsored. I have long felt that a lot of children’s literature consists of different, albeit at times benign, forms of propaganda. One thing I’m still processing from the international storytelling festival in Iran is an offhand comment someone […]