Monique Polak

Well, I guess it's your week for meeting children's writers, isn't it? Last night, I did a short presentation at Westmount Library, along with several other local writers who are launching new children's books this season. Today, I want you to meet Anne Renaud, who has published several non-fiction books for young readers. Her latest is called Pier 21, and it's part of Stories

I promised to tell you a little about Frieda Wishinsky -- a Toronto children's author who had dinner with us on Sunday night. Frieda is the author of over 40 books for children. Her picture book, Please, Louise! illustrated by Montrealer Marie-Louise Gay, was recently nominated for the TD Children's Literature Award, one of the country's most prestigious literary prizes.

So,

A few months ago, I got a comment on this blog from a young woman named MaryAnn. Well, MaryAnn was in touch again last week and it turns out she is a writer and blogger, too. A graduate of Concordia, Maryann Hayatian has published a book of poetry, a children's book, and a novella with the very cool name, Love Is Blind, But the Neighours Ain't. MaryAnn told me she started her own website

This is going to be a sad entry, so if you're not in the mood for something sad, better to take a pass on today's entry.

Don't have much time, but I wanted to tell you a little about my interview with Alanna Devine, acting director of the Montreal SPCA. Alanna knows a lot about guard dogs and she told me some heartbreaking stories. I'd heard that some guard dogs have been &

You know that research I'm doing about junkyard dogs? Well, this morning I'm headed to the Montreal SPCA. I'm going to interview the acting director, Alanna Devine, who tells me she knows "too much" about guard dogs. Hope to take lots of notes for my new book project. The rest of the week is going to be super busy -- my students are writing exams for me and one class is handing

I've been thinking a lot about courage lately. And instead of looking to older people as role models, I've been learning some big lessons from several young women in my life. So today's entry is dedicated to them. One's my daughter, who moved to New York in August to start a job in the fashion industry. As I keep telling her, I don't think I would have had the courage to do what

Recently I read that it is good to do something different every day. When I googled that line just now, I couldn't find exactly who had said it. But I did come up with a similar thought from Eleanor Roosevelt, who advised: "Do one thing every day that scares you."

Lately, I've been thinking about doing things differently. Not so easy for me since I am definitely a creature

I did a bunch of things before I went to teach this morning at 8:15. One of them was to read an interview with prizewinning Montreal author Heather O'Neill, which appeared in today's Gazette. In it, O'Neill talks about fighting the sort of demons writers have to contend with. Here comes my favourite quote from the story: "I still have that thing that I think I suck. It's this

Quick entry because I have to leave for school in six minutes. So I had my first interview about guard dogs yesterday. I met with a gentleman named Robert Des Ruisseaux, who is a longtime dog trainer. He has worked with guard dogs for almost 50 years. Here's an interesting thing I learned: dogs bare their teeth when they are frightened. Des Ruisseaux told me that dogs who are a little nervous

Whoa, Girl is the sort of thing you'd say to a lady horse, right? Well that mare is me -- and it turns out I need to "hold my horses." I sent the first three chapters of the new novel I've been tinkering with to the publisher at Orca Books, and though he likes my narrator, he doesn't think schools -- one of the main markets for their books -- will be comfortable with a story