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Saima S. Hussain, editor of The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth started collecting stories on Muslim women after a work colleague suggested she was her only Muslim friend. “Our conversation made me realize that we don’t really know each other,” says Hussain. “We live side by side, but we don’t really live together in Canada.…
‘To the restless, the lonely, and those forever stuck in between,’ is the dedication of the new book Wherever I Find Myself, published by Caitlin Press Inc. and edited by Miriam Matejova, PhD student at the University of British Columbia (UBC). In the book, immigrant women describe their struggles of integrating into Canadian society in…
Simon Fraser University (SFU) linguistics and First Nations studies professor Marianne Ignace, her husband Chief Ronald Ignace, PhD and elders from their community – Skeetchestn in the Secwepemc Nation – took on a project to reclaim and teach their ancient stories in the Secwepemctsin language. One of the many First Nations ‘stsptekwll’ or oral traditions…
Jane Byers and Kara-lee MacDonald will be reading their poetry at the Notional Space in East Vancouver, on Feb. 22, along with Elizabeth Bachinsky and Leanne Dunic. Both poets found their form of expression through poetry that speaks of resilience. Byers writes about LGBT history in her new book, Acquired Community (Caitlin Press, 2016) while…
Celebrate with chocolate, celebrate chocolate itself or do both. Eagranie Yuh, author of The Chocolate Tasting Kit, as well as the popular blog The Well-Tempered Chocolatier, is happy to share her expertise. “The Chocolate Tasting Kit (Chronicle Books, 2014) grew out of the classes as I wanted to give participants something to go home with,”…
Vancouver’s Asian Canadian community will be hosting their annual literary event, literASIAN, from Sept. 21–25. The theme, History and Memory, will be presented through a series of panels, workshops and book launches from 18 knowledgeable and respected authors, including Jean Barman, Paul Yee and Joy Kogawa. Paul Yee, author of many works inspired by growing…
“I think I was really in awe of the fact that people could be so strong yet so vulnerable at the same time,” says two-time Vancouver Slam Champion Tasha Receno as she recalls the night she was inspired to explore spoken word poetry. Receno’s adventure into slam poetry began when she attended an event at…
North of Punjab India lies the Jalandhar District, one of the oldest cities in India. East of the district is a dusty village named Dosanjh Kalan. This land is where Ujjal Dosanjh’s ancestors settled 500 years ago, and where he called home for 18 years. Dosanjh relives his life in his memoir Journey After Midnight:…
Award winning author Yasuko Thanh will be reading from her newly published novel Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains at the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch on May 18 as part of Incite: An Exploration of Books and Ideas series presented in partnership with the Vancouver Writers Fest. At the heels of an early well-traveled…
Life coach Claire Yeung wants to help women become the heroine in their lives. She didn’t become the heroine in her own life until just recently. She will be speaking at the Canadian Immigrant’s first Multicultural Women’s Conference and Fair, which will be held Mar. 31 at the Croatian Cultural Centre. In September 2012, she…
Sussurri dall’Acqua, an Italian translation of Canadian poet Maureen Scott Harris’s Drowning Lessons by translator Alessandra Bordini, will be featured at the Italian Cultural Centre, Il Centro, on March 30. Bordini will read from selected excerpts in English and Italian, accompanied by the Toronto-based poet and 2005 Trillium award winner. Bordini first became interested in…
The newly appointed Poet Laureate for the City of Surrey, Renée Saklikar, incorporates her poet practice of place and community to connect people living in Surrey. “Being a Poet Laureate for the City of Surrey is both terrifying and wonderful all at the same time,” says Renée Saklikar. Saklikar, a local author, won the 2014…
Elinor Barr, a researcher on Scandinavian immigration to Canada, launched last month a comprehensive new historical book at Vancouver’s Scandinavian Community Centre. Swedes in Canada: Invisible Immigrants is the first comprehensive overview of Swedish-Canadian history. Born in Ignace, Ontario to Swedish parents, Barr, 82, lived in Port Arthur and Fort William, where she worked as…
