Stories shape the world, imposing order on chaos, and the stories we tell declare: I exist. Neil Bissoondath presses these assertions about narrative further. Stories are also, he says, forms of confession. Each time we tell a story, we reveal a little about our experiences, dreams, fears, desires, and fantasies. Unlike governments, which try to control and simplify narrative, fiction writers use narrative expansively, for exploration and discovery. Questions are numerous; answers are rare. Fiction is confessional; born of the writer's own visions, terrors, and obsessions, it is unique in its ability to affirm human existence and confirm human complexity. The Age of Confession is the first Northrop Frye-Antonine Maillet Lecture, sponsored by the Université de Moncton. It was presented on April 29, 2006, in Moncton, New Brunswick, during the Northrop Frye International Literary Festival.

Everyone knows that if Scarlett O'Hara had an unlimited text-and-data plan, she'd constantly try to tempt Ashley away from Melanie with suggestive messages. If Mr. Rochester could text Jane Eyre, his ardent missives would obviously be in all-caps. And Daisy Buchanan would not only text while driving, she'd text you to pick her up after she totaled her car. Based on the popular Web feature, Texts from Jane Eyre is a witty, irreverent mash-up that brings the characters from your favorite books into the twenty-first century.

Let’s face it, a lot of technical documentation reads as if it had been translated into English from Venutian by a native speaker of gibberish. Which is annoying for you and expensive for the manufacturer who pays with alienated customers and soaring technical support costs. That’s why good technical writers are in such big demand worldwide. Now, Technical Writing For Dummies arms you with the skills you need to cash in on that demand.  Whether you’re contemplating a career as a technical writer, or you just got tapped for a technical writing project, this friendly guide is your ticket to getting your tech writing skills up to snuff. It shows you step-by-step how to: * Research and organize information for your documents * Plan your project in a technical brief * Fine-tune and polish your writing * Work collaboratively with your reviewers * Create great user manuals, awesome abstracts, and more * Write first-rate electronic documentation * Write computer- and Web-based training courses Discover how to write energized technical documents that have the impact you want on your readers. Wordsmith Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts covers all the bases, including: * All about the red-hot market for technical writing and how to get work as a technical writer * The ABCs of creating a strong technical document, including preparing a production schedule, brainstorming, outlining, drafting, editing, rewriting, testing, presentation and more * Types of technical documents, including user manuals, abstracts, spec sheets, evaluation forms and questionnaires, executive summaries and presentations * Writing for the Internet—covers doing research online, creating multimedia documents, developing computer-based training and Web-based training and writing online help Combining examples, practical advice, and priceless insider tips on how to write whiz-bang technical documents, Technical Writing For Dummies is an indispensable resource for newcomers to technical writing and pros looking for new ideas to advance their careers.

You’re thinking of teaching a child to read. What a great idea! Now all you need is exactly the right blueprint. This easy-to-follow book is written with two people in mind; you, and the child you’re thinking of teaching. Mother and children’s reading specialist Tracey Wood gives you all the down-to-earth, honest information you need to give a child a happy, solid start with reading.  Teaching Kids to Read For Dummies is for parents of young children who want to give their kids a head start by teaching them to read before they enter school or to supplement their children’s school instruction, as well as teachers and caregivers of young children. Filled with hands-on activities that progress a child from sounds to words to sentences to books, this friendly guide shows you how to: * Prepare a child to read * Sharpen his listening skills * Correct her errors graciously * Choose the right books * Have kids read out loud * Find help if you need it Whether the child you want to teach is two or twelve; fast paced or steady; an absolute beginner or someone who’s begun but could use a little help, this empathetic book shows you how to adapt the simple, fun activities to your child’s individual needs. You’ll see how to make activities age appropriate, how to add more challenge or support, and how to make gender allowances if that’s relevant. Plus, you’ll discover how to: * Lay the foundation for good reading skills * Tell the difference between a reading delay and a reading problem * Help your child build words from letters and sounds, advance to short and long vowel words and conquer syllables and silent letters * Select entertaining workbooks, recycle them and make up your own reading activities * Get your child ready for sentences * Keep your child reading—with others or on his own Complete with lists of word families, phonics rules, and reading resources, Teaching Kids to Read For Dummies will help you make learning fun for your child as he or she develops this critical skill!

From the earliest settler policies to deal with the “Indian problem,” to contemporary government-run programs ostensibly designed to help Indigenous people, public policy has played a major role in creating the historical trauma that so greatly impacts the lives of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. Taking Back Our Spirits traces the link between Canadian public policies, the injuries they have inflicted on Indigenous people, and Indigenous literature’s ability to heal individuals and communities. Episkenew examines contemporary autobiography, fiction, and drama to reveal how these texts respond to and critique public policy, and how literature functions as “medicine” to help cure the colonial contagion.

Virginia Woolf began writing reviews for the Guardian 'to make a few pence' from her father's death in 1904, and continued until the last decade of her life. The result is a phenomenal collection of articles, of which this selection offers a fascinating glimpse, which display the gifts of a dazzling social and literary critic as well as the development of a brilliant and influential novelist. From reflections on class and education, to slyly ironic reviews, musings on the lives of great men and 'Street Haunting', a superlative tour of her London neighbourhood, this is Woolf at her most thoughtful and entertaining.

It's every novelist's greatest fear: pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into writing hundreds of pages only to realize that their story has no sense of urgency, no internal logic, and so is a page-one rewrite. The prevailing wisdom in the writing community is that there are just two ways around this problem: pantsing (winging it) and plotting (focusing on the external plot). Story coach Lisa Cron has spent her career discovering why these methods don't work and coming up with a powerful alternative, based on the science behind what our brains are wired to crave in every story we read (and it’s not what you think). In Story Genius, Cron takes you, step by step, through the creation of a novel from the first glimmer of an idea, to a complete, multilayered blueprint - including fully realized scenes - that evolves into a first draft with the authority, richness, and command of a riveting sixth or seventh draft.

Through his recollections we get an inside view of Canadian politics and publishing that rarely gets told, from Jack Hodgins' Vancouver Island to Harold Horwood's Labrador, from Alice Munro's Ontario to James Houston's Arctic. Doug Gibson takes us on an unforgettable literary tour of Canada, going behind the scenes and between the covers, and opening up his own story vault for all to read and enjoy. This new format edition includes a new chapter on Terry Fallis, as well as the Stories About Storytellers Book Club: intriguing questions (laced with Gibson's own analysis and behind-the-scenes insight) about each of five celebrated Canadian works of fiction discussed in Stories About Storytellers. These include Alice Munro's The Progress of Love, Mavis Gallant's Home Truths, Hugh MacLennan's The Watch That Ends the Night, Robertson Davies' What's Bred in the Bone, and Alistair MacLeod's No Great Mischief.

A biography of American novelist Stephenie Meyer, author of the best-selling Twilight saga.