From Homecoming:
. . . so I'll take my bike - yes, I'll go tearing down Dundas Street and imagine
that I'm late on my way to see him, snarled in Bangkok traffic just so I can hear myself shout about the boreal winds:
there by the flames trees! there I'll meet you
- Chang Liu
Seeking new writers and / or cutting-edge work? Look no further than Diaspora Dialogues and its latest publication, TOK5: Writing the New Toronto, an anthology containing the freshest poetry and short stories from some of the GTA's most talented emerging and established authors (who worked together creating original pieces throughout the year participating in the not-for-profit organization's mentoring & commissioning programme).
TOK5 showcases a dynamic mix of voices from across the city and its colourful communities - stories and poems alive with journeys to fantastic places driving deep into the heart (as well as those occasionally uneasy spaces one occupies among multiple identities) - by Mayank Bhatt, Allyson Blood, Kearie Daniel, Anthony De Sa, Amy Dennis, Emma Donoghue, Chelsea Gamble, Kyle Greenwood, Nalo Hopkinson, Michael Fraser, Karishma Kripalani, Chang Liu, Sandy Pool, Dawn Promislow, Shyam Sevadurai, Leslie Shimotakahara, Marni Van Dyk and M. G. Vassanji.
Programme and Marketeer Coordinator Aisling Riordian enthusiastically elaborates: "Have you ever seen such a happy group of writers :-)? Well, the writers in the above picture - all from different cultures and backgrounds - have recently seen their work published, many for the first time, in Diaspora Dialogues' latest release, TOK5: Writing the New Toronto, an anthology containing new short stories and poetry from Toronto's talented up-and-coming writers. The group came to work together; and, the resulting collaborations produced writing guaranteed to open your eyes to worlds you must read to believe (and believe you will), from a father's rampant infidelity and violent episodes to an alternate Toronto where lizards thrive and it's legal to keep chickens in your backyard, TOK5 contains it all (and then some!). The young gay narrator in Shyam Sevadurai's Gaugin's Chair is neither at home in the gay community nor on the isolated campus of York University in the 1980s nor, especially, in the conservative Sri-Lankan community where having a gay son ruins a family's position."
Do visit DD's website; or, should you require more details, feel free to contact Aisling Riordan. (BTW, that's pronounced Ashling and is Irish for "a dream.")
Sláinte Mhath!
Caption for photo at top:
Front Row TOK5 Spontaneous Readers on the Rock L-R: Sandy Pool, Dawn Promislow, Chelsea Gamble
Back Row TOK5 Spontaneous Readers on the Rock L-R: Leslie Shimotakahara, Chang Liu, Nalo Hopkinson, Michael Fraser, Mayank Bhatt
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The always entertaining and captivating Guernica Editions cordially invites each and all to celebrate summer @ Toronto's Bar Italia (582 College St.) with the launch of three new works - Michael Mirolla's Light and Time, Julie Roorda's Floating Bodies and Implicate Me: Short Essays on Reading Contemporary Poems by Elana Wolff - Tues. July 13 @ 7 p.m. Bonus? Guitarist Larry Lewis serenades attendees lounging at the marble-topped bar under the skylight with his mellifluous musical interludes. (For further 411, punch up 416.535.3621.)
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First he won this year's T. S. Eliot Award; now, Glamorgan University professor Philip Gross takes the prize for the Wales Book of the Year for his paean to the footings of electricity pylons, The Water Table. The Guardian's Alison Flood - who else? - pours on the praise for the UK's version of Canada's Karen Solie.
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Notable Quotable: "Canadian identity will not be undermined by multiculturalism. Indeed, we believe that cultural pluralism is the very essence of Canadian identity. Every ethnic group has the right to preserve and develop its own culture and values within the Canadian context" (Government of Canada, 1971).
Homecoming, world-exclusive to The Globe and Mail, © 2010 Chang Liu.
Group photograph, "Writers @ The Rock in Yorkville Park" © 2010 Ron Smith. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved.