Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Heliconian 2018-2019


This year's Heliconian was a great mix of authors known and unknown to me.

I continue to get there early enough to nab front row seats for the author talk. Sometimes having read the book beforehand and other times just arriving with the best of intentions.

I do enjoy hearing about the writers' process for getting words on paper. The imagining of ancestors' lives (Linda Spalding and Kim Thuy); a collaborative theatre-based approach (Catherine Hernandez); lived experience (Sileika); bringing characters to life based on current events (MacIntyre); passionately advocating for social change (Talaga).

And I do love Toronto! And to see it central to the plots and unfolding of several novels, unapologetically itself (The Only Cafe, The Barefoot Bingo Caller, Scarborough).

October: Michelle Winters, I am A Truck
November: Tanya Talaga, Seven Fallen Feathers
December: Linda Spalding, The Reckoning
January: Linden MacIntyre, The Only Cafe
February: Antanas Sileika, The Barefoot Bingo Caller 
April: Kim Thuy, VI
May: Sharon Bala, The Boat People
May: Catherine Hernandez, Scarborough
June:  Suanne Kelman speaking about Min Jin Lee's Pachinko

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