Announcements! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who tuned in to my #CanadaPerforms broadcast yesterday. I had such a great time celebrating The Boreal Forest with all of you! If you missed the livestream, no worries. You can watch the recording on the National Art Centre’s Facebook Page. And bear in mind that just because we can’t leave our houses doesn’t mean I can’t visit your virtual classroom! Contact me or visit Authors’ Booking Service…

Continue reading

Welcome to Teach Write! This column draws on my 20 years’ experience teaching writing to kids, university students, and adult learners. It includes ideas and exercises that teachers and students can use in the classroom, and creative writers can use to level up their process. For the last few months, we’ve been looking at the purpose of different genres of writing, and the way the purpose of a document affects our approach to the task.…

Continue reading

Happy Forest Friday! And first, some announcements: Thank you to everyone who tuned in to my Earth Day 50 livestream with the Ontario Science Centre on Wednesday! It was SO MUCH FUN. Don’t worry if you missed it – you can check out the recording on the OSC’s Facebook page.   You can also tune in next Thursday, April 30, at 3PM ET, when I’m going live for #CanadaPerforms! I’ll be doing an interactive presentation on…

Continue reading

Welcome to STEMinism Sunday! As a former woman in science, I have a deep and enduring interest in the experiences and representation of women in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). This series will be an opportunity for me – and you – to learn more about these intellectual badasses. Today – a special guest post by children’s author/illustrator and woman-in-STEM Marla Lesage. To learn more about Marla’s work, visit her website or follow…

Continue reading

Exciting News for Forest Friday! Next Wednesday, April 22, is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day! The Ontario Science Centre is cooking up a fabulous online event and I am thrilled to announce that I will be part of it. We are still finalizing technological details, so make sure to check the Public Appearances page for updates. I’ll also be posting details on Facebook and Twitter, so feel free to follow me there. And of…

Continue reading

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s writers! Today’s guest: Maram Taibah. Take it away, Maram! It’s called the Cerulean Universe because of the color of the sea around the lush archipelago, where the characters of Weathernose live. “Not quite tropical and only a touch Mediterranean” was how I’ve always described it. This world appeared to me as I stood looking out across an inlet of the Red Sea. It…

Continue reading

I hear it’s a long weekend? I’m not sure how to tell, really, since we will all (hopefully) be doing exactly what we’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks: preventing the spread of potentially deadly viruses by eating too much while watching Netflix in our jammies. Jammies are a long-standing Easter tradition in the Carmichael family, because the Grandparents Carmichael used to give my brother and me a new pair of PJs with…

Continue reading

Welcome to Mad Science Mondays, where we talk about depictions of science in movies, TV shows, books, and the media. We dissect the good, the bad, the comical and the outright irresponsible. Who says learning about science can’t be fun? Oh, Inhumans. I so wanted to like you, mostly due to my enduring crush on Anson Mount (or rather, Cullen Bohannon of Hell on Wheels). Sadly, I spent most of the time I was “watching”…

Continue reading

The Boreal Forest publishes in FOUR MORE DAYS. Kermit GIF from Kermit GIFs Oh, come on. There was NO WAY that Kermit gif wasn’t making another appearance, and you all know it. Breaking News: I will be doing an online reading from The Boreal Forest TODAY as part of the #KCPSpringReading Relay. The video will go live on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at 2:30 EST, but when it’s over, it’s gone. Don’t miss it!…

Continue reading

Welcome to Teach Write! This column draws on my 20 years’ experience teaching writing to kids, university students, and adult learners. It includes ideas and exercises that teachers and students can use in the classroom, and creative writers can use to level up their process. Personal statements and letters of intent… with the possible exception of the dissertation, there are no forms of academic writing quite as likely to turn an ordinary student into a…

Continue reading