• Otomen: Revisiting the pure joy of shojo manga

    Otomen: Revisiting the pure joy of shojo manga

    I do believe that there is a time and place for all books. My love of storytelling far outweighs any scruples I have about prize winners, recommendation lists, or simply “what one should read”. Which is why during a recent move I struggled whether or not to give up the remaining sets of shojo manga…

  • Lattes with Ladies: Jessie Ho!

    Lattes with Ladies: Jessie Ho!

    Our first returning Lattes with Ladies guest: Jessie Ho! I first interviewed Jessie in 2017 while she was living in Hong Kong. We regrouped in March of this year—literally days before quarantine began—and it was fun to revisit what was going through our minds back then. You can follow her on Instagram at @iejessie or…

  • Pride Reading List

    Pride Reading List

    Pride month is over but that doesn’t mean that celebrations have to stop! Celebrate a second Pride month (or all year around if you like) with these LGBT2Q+ books. In this case, these are books that either are written by LGBT2Q+ authors and/or feature LGBT2Q+ characters, as recommended by members of the LGBT2Q+ community in…

  • Lattes with Ladies: Jessica Needham!

    Lattes with Ladies: Jessica Needham!

    In this edition of Lattes with Ladies we are celebrating Pride with the effervescent Jessica Needham! Jess shares her thoughts on queer books versus queering books and her fascinating research into queer media studies.

  • Resource List: Stories addressing anti-black racism

    “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” -Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. “The danger of a single story” In light of the recent cases of George Floyd and Regis Korchinski-Paquet, conversations about anti-racism and the history…

  • Lattes with Ladies: Elizabeth Scott!

    Lattes with Ladies: Elizabeth Scott!

    This is a long and lovely interview I did with the hilarious and indomitable Elizabeth Scott back in January when meeting up in a cafe was no big deal at all. All of the references to what she had been reading and how many books she read thus far were from when the year had…

  • How to read more during COVID-19

    How to read more during COVID-19

    It can be difficult to amuse yourself at home and frustrating, especially as nicer weather is approaching, but please stay in! Stay in and read! Reading has always been a way for me to travel the world–this one and many others–when I’ve felt stuck in one place. Read to get lost in another time or…

  • Lattes with Ladies: Justine Abigail Yu!

    Lattes with Ladies: Justine Abigail Yu!

    The triumphant return of Lattes with Ladies begins with the founder of Living Hyphen and magnificent marketing maven, Justine Abigail Yu! I learned about Living Hyphen shortly after they launched and was blown away with the creativity of emerging hyphenate-Canadian writers. Issue 2: Across Generations is in the works and you could be one of…

  • Hello, 2020!

    Hello, 2020!

    If you’ve stuck around my blog before you will know I’m no stranger to a self-appointed break. Last year was definitely a long, silent one on Hot Pepper Latte when I found myself well and truly burnt out. It was not just my blog that was silent but I pulled back on all my other…

  • The Boat People by Sharon Bala

    The Boat People by Sharon Bala

    Sharon Bala’s The Boat People is controversial, to say the least. Featured in the 2018 Canada Reads competition only to be ousted on day one, it takes an honest attempt to steer the course of Canadian conversation by directly addressing one of our hot-button issues of the moment. In this case, the refugee crisis. Starting in 2009,…

  • Lattes with Ladies: Erin Taylor!

    Lattes with Ladies: Erin Taylor!

    After much ado, (a year’s worth of it at least) I finally have another Lattes with Ladies interview featuring my good friend, writer, and globetrotter Erin Taylor. You can follow Erin on her Instagram and wait with bated breath like the rest of us for her first book. HPL: First off, what are you reading…

  • Top 5 podcasts to listen to if you like stories

    Top 5 podcasts to listen to if you like stories

    It can be tough to find the time to read. If you’re like me, you can use the time during your commute or wind down before bed with a book, but sometimes, after spending all day looking at a computer screen, reading a book can really irritate your eyes. When that happens I usually turn…

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