BIPOC authorsTag
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April 04, 2023Erum Shazia Hasan on Exploring the Complex Moral & Emotional Landscape of International Aid Work in Her Brilliant Debut
It may be a universal truth that phone calls that come in the middle of the night never bring good news, and for Maya, a mother, aid worker, and the main character in Erum Shazia Hasan's We Meant Well (ECW ...
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March 03, 2023Excerpt from Harvesting Freedom, a Firsthand Account of What It's Really Like to Be a Migrant Worker in Canada
Growing up in the rural Mabouya Valley in St. Lucia, Gabriel Allahdua, "never heard anything bad or sad about Canada". When he made the difficult decision as an adult to participate in the Canada-St. ...
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February 22, 2023Anuja Varghese on Transformation, Literary Anxieties, and Writing for "Women Who Don’t See Themselves in Most Stories"
When it comes to genre, Anuja Varghese refuses to be penned in. Her debut story collection, Chrysalis (House of Anansi Press) is a highwire feat, balancing the surreal with the realist, the fantastical ...
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December 15, 2022George Lee on His Guernica Prize Winning Coming of Age Tale, Set Against the Cultural Revolution and Its Aftermath
In George Lee's Dancing in the River (Guernica Editions), Little Bright is only a child when China's Cultural Revolution upends his family and his life in a small, riverside town. As it wanes and ...
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September 22, 2022"Not Only Landmarks, But Vibration" Tanya Turton on Her Love Letter to Her Toronto Neighbourhood and Black Queer Womanhood
To lose a sibling as a young adult is a brutal experience. For Jade Brown, the protagonist of debut novelist Tanya Turton's Jade is a Twisted Green (Rare Machines/Dundurn Press), the tragedy is made ...
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August 16, 2022"What it Means to Be a Palestinian in Diaspora" Saeed Teebi on His Vivid & Wise Short Fiction Debut
Writer and lawyer Saeed Teebi's short story, "Her First Palestinian", an evocative, uncomfortable, brilliant gem of a character study, was shortlisted for the prestigious CBC Short Story Prize in 2021. ...
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August 11, 2022"Never Patronize or Hide Things" Nancy Vo Shares Her Philosophy of Writing for Kids & Her New Picture Book, Boobies
Why are we still so uptight about boobs? Long after Canadian women won the right by precedent (if not technically by law) to be topless in public anywhere men can be, we've still got debates raging about ...
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July 28, 2022"We Make Our Own Meaning" Gurjinder Basran on Her Novel of Loss, Community, and Navigating the Unknown
A brief video nearly tears a small community outside Vancouver apart in award-winning author Gurjinder Basran's new novel, Help! I'm Alive (ECW Press). After footage of teenager Jay's death is posted ...
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May 18, 2022"There’s What You See and What You Don’t" Read an Excerpt from Didier Leclair's Trillium-Winning Novel, Toronto, I Love You
In Toronto, I Love You by Didier Leclair (Mawenzi House, translated by Elaine Kennedy) Raymond Dossougbé thinks, at first, that he's found a sanctuary in Toronto.After fleeing corruption and violence ...
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April 19, 2022"Only a Grandma Could" Shenaaz Nanji on Joyfully Celebrating Identity & Culture Against Bullying & Prejudice
Everyone can remember the dread of walking in to a new situation as a kid – especially if you're the only one who's new. For Alina, in Shenaaz Nanji's newest book Alina in a Pinch, moving to a new ...
