Diaspora Dialogues to Partner with TIFA for 2023 TOK Symposium

DD is thrilled to be partnering with the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) to present our 2023 TOK symposium. This years program will consist of five author conversations.

Beneath The Surface | Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 2pm

Mythology’s rivers, ravines and subterranean spaces suggest unconscious states and unexpressed desires. From Zalika Reid-Benta, the Giller-nominated author of Frying Plantain, comes an exhilarating magical realist novel about a millennial Black woman who navigates her quarter-life-crisis while embarking on a quest through the streets of Toronto. River Mumma is a powerful portrayal of diasporic identities and a vital examination into ancestral ties. And in On the Ravine, Giller Prize winner Vincent Lam explores the murky depths of addiction and the doctor-patient relationship. Moderated by Lalaa Comrie.

Re-Imagining Romance | Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 5pm

Looking for your happily ever after/second-chance romance? Or curious about the hottest segment in publishing these days? Join bestselling authors Uzma Jalaluddin and Chantel Guertin to discuss their latest novels: Much Ado About Nada, a modern-day romance inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion (“It is, in a word, brilliant.” – The New York Times) and Two For the Road, the story of a romance bookshop owner who embarks on the adventure, or misadventure, of a lifetime. (“A charming love story, and a whistle stop tour of England, too.” – Globe and Mail).

Sheltering In Place | Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 11am

Whether due to pandemics or major ice storms, Torontonians know what it’s like to be locked down, locked in, and left staring out at a wider world they’re barred from joining. Rebecca Rosenblum’s The Days Are Numbered is a love letter to community as well as the joy and compassion that can be found even amidst the most stressful of circumstances. Elizabeth Ruth’s Semi-Detached – part love story, part ghost story, part murder mystery – explores where and in whom we house our love and our yearning. Come shelter with us as we explore these fiercely compelling novels. Moderated by Ryan Patrick.

The Haunting of Us | Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 12pm

Recently nominated for the 2023 Toronto Book Award, and winner of the 2023 Fred Kerner Book Award for Fiction, Sophie Jai’s debut novel Wild Fires (“Exquisite, evocative prose.” – Quill and Quire) explores the ways we mourn and why we avoid the very things that can save us. In her debut collection of short stories, Suite as Sugar, Camille Hernández-Ramdwar writes of the violence wrought upon humans and animals alike – as well as the resilience and will to survive. These novels travel from the streets of Trinidad to Toronto and back, as well as Havana’s haunted streets and Winnipeg’s winterscapes. Moderated by Tiara Chutkhan.

The Sweep of History | Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 5:30pm

Spanning India, Uganda, England and Canada, Janika Oza’s A History of Burning (“A remarkable debut” – The New York Times) explores how one act of survival reverberates across four generations of a family as well as the eternal search for home. Based on a true story, William Seto Ping’s Hollow Bamboo blends memoir, biography, fiction and fantasy to recount with humour and sympathy the often-brutal struggles, and occasional successes, faced by some of the first Chinese immigrants in Newfoundland.