Diaspora Dialogues

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Open Call for Kid Lit Submissions

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 About Us: 

Diaspora Dialogues (DD) supports diverse writers turn their craft into a career through mentorship, professional development and opportunities to publish and present their work. Our focus is on the development of both artist and audience, and on working toward redefining the “mainstream” in the arts sector, ensuring it is as diverse as the country itself. Further information: www.diasporadialogues.com

Mentorship Program:

Diaspora Dialogues invites picture book submissions from emerging writers for ages 3-7 and 4-8 between 500-1000 words in length. 

Selected writers will receive feedback from a writer-in-residence at Diaspora Dialogues, over the course of a month, and will be invited to attend professional development workshops throughout the year.

The writer-in-residence will address issues of story, character, structure, pace, writing style, structure and substantive aspects of the work. No copy or line editing will be provided until the time of publication.

  • The work must be original and not previously published or produced.
  • Submissions must be in English.
  • Submissions must be between 500-1000 words.
  • Submissions must include a one-page description.
  • Submissions must include a short biography in paragraph form (no more than 250 words).
  • Each writer may submit only one piece.
  • A completed submission form must be included. Submissions will be accepted by email.
  • Commentary/feedback is not available on submissions.
  • Writers must not have a previously published full-length manuscript, although appearances in magazines and/or anthologies are acceptable.
  • Any writer of any age can apply. 

Deadline: November 30 2022 at 11:59 pm. 

Please read all of the guidelines carefully before submitting. If you have questions, email: zalika@diasporadialogues.com 

Find out more info on the program here: https://diasporadialogues.com/mentoring-program/

Join Us for the Launch of Francine Cunningham’s Debut Collection | In-Person Event

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Join us on September 10, 2022 at TYPE Books for an evening of bookish fun as we celebrate the launch of Francine Cunningham’s debut collection, God Isn’t Here Today, stories that capture the speculative, horror, and the unreal. Francine will be in conversation with moderator, Terese Mason Pierre.

Register here.

About the Book

Driven by desperation into moments of transformation, Cunningham’s characters are presented with moments of choice-some for the better and some for the worse. A young man goes to God’s office downtown for advice; a woman discovers she is the last human on Earth; an ice cream vendor is driven insane by his truck’s song; an ageing stripper uses undergarments to enact her escape plan; an incubus tires of his professional grind; and a young woman inherits a power that has survived genocide, but comes with a burden of its own.

Even as they flirt with the fantastic, Cunningham’s stories unfold with the innate elegance of a spring fern, reminding us of the inherent dualities in human nature-and that redemption can arise where we least expect it.

About the Author

Francine Cunningham is an award-winning Indigenous writer, artist and educator. God Isn’t Here Today (Invisible Publishing) is her debut collection of short fiction. Her debut book of poems On/Me (Caitlin Press) was nominated for the BC and Yukon Book Prize, the Indigenous Voices Awards, and the Vancouver Book Award. She is a winner of the Indigenous Voices Award in the 2019 Unpublished Prose Category and of The Hnatyshyn Foundation’s REVEAL Indigenous Art Award. Her fiction has appeared in The Best Canadian Short Stories 2021, in Grain Magazine as the 2018 Short Prose Award winner, on The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Prose shortlist, and in Joyland Magazine, The Puritan and elsewhere. Francine is a graduate of the Creative Writing MFA program at the University of British Columbia, and currently resides in Alberta. Learn more at www.francinecunningham.ca.

About the Moderator

Terese Mason Pierre is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in Canthius, The Puritan, Quill and Quire, and Strange Horizons, among others. She is currently the Senior Poetry Editor of Augur Magazine, a Canadian speculative literature journal, and the author of chapbooks Surface Area (Anstruther Press, 2019) and Manifest (Gap Riot Press, 2020). Terese lives and works in Toronto.

Diaspora Dialogues is Thrilled to Announce the Return of TOK Toronto

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Diaspora Dialogues is thrilled to be bringing TOK Toronto to our community for yet another year! We are grateful for the support TOK has received in the years since it first began and have taken our time to curate a line up we’re excited to share.

Join us from September 23-25 as we will be putting on a series of author talks, play readings, and professional development sessions geared towards authors and writers in a variety of genres.

Professional Development Sessions

Fantasy for Young Adult and Kid Lit with David Robertson | Friday, Sept 23, 12:30pm

The Business of Publishing with Leigh Nash and Emmy Nordstrom Higdom | Friday, Sept 23, 2pm

Fantasy for Adult Fiction with Terri Favro | Saturday Sept 24, 12:30 PM

Introduction to Picture Books with Nadia Hohn | Saturday Sept 24, 2pm

Introduction to Writing Romantic Comedy with Farah Heron | Sunday Sept 25, 11am

Author Talks

In Conversation with Chelene Knight. Moderated by Aparita Bhandari | Saturday Sept 24, 4 PM

In Conversation with Tanya Turon. Moderated by Fiona Raye Clarke | Sunday Sept 25th, 3pm

In Conversation with Saeed Teebi and Martha Batiz. Moderated by Rasiqra Revulva | Sunday Sept 25 – 4:30pm

Play Reading

Play Reading: Libation by Esi Callender. In collaboration with Tarragon Theatre | Sunday Sept 25 12:30

Archived Event: Becoming an Author Entrepreneur

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Join us on August 12 at 6:30 p.m. EST for an informative workshop with author-entrepreneur Yolanda T. Marshall on the business of writing and building your author business. Yolanda, who is both self-published and traditional published, will discuss her writing journey, along with with the things she’s learned over 14 years in the business of writing and publishing books.

Register for the workshop HERE.

About the Presenter

Yolanda T. Marshall is a Guyanese-born Canadian author. She ventured into the world of publishing in 2008. In 2015, after becoming a mom, Yolanda was inspired to write her first children’s book, Keman’s First Carnival. Yolanda is also the author of C is for Carnival, A Piece of Black Cake for Santa, Sweet Sorrel Stand, Miles Away In The Caribbean, My Soca Birthday Party: with Jollof Rice and Steel Pans and Hot Cross Buns For Everyone. Her picture books are all about celebrations, inclusion and recipes! A world traveller, a jazz lover and a devoted mother, she embodies art and takes her readers on adventurous, cultured journeys. Yolanda lives in Toronto, Canada with her family.

View the full event replay below:

Diaspora Dialogues to Partner with Word on the Street in June

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Diaspora Dialogues is thrilled to be partnering with Word on the Street this June for the return of the Word on the Street book and magazine festival. We’ve put together two amazing panels celebrating the debut releases by alumni of our mentoring programs and discussing the importance of representative children’s literature.

Join Diaspora Dialogues Saturday, June 12th, 12-1pm, as we celebrate three stunning debut novels by alumni of our mentoring programs: Dawn Promislow, Wan (Freehand Books, May 1), Sheila Murray, Finding Edward (Cormorant, June 15) and Reema Patel, Such Big Dreams (Penguin Random House Canada, May 10). Moderated by journalist Aparita Bhandari. In partnership with Word On The Street Toronto.

Register HERE.

Join Diaspora Dialogues as we explore the importance and value of representative children’s literature, and the opportunity and viability of #Kidlit as creative pursuit for writers. Sunday, June 12, 10am-11am, with Salma Hussain, The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan (Penguin Random House Canada, May 3), Catherine Hernandez, Where Do Your Feelings Live (Penguin Random House Canada, May 15) and Nadia Hohn. Moderated by author Derek Mascarenhas. In partnership with Word On The Street Toronto.

Register HERE.

Archived Event: Screenwriting: Scarborough, A Case Study

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View award-winning author and critically acclaimed screenwriter Catherine Hernandez in a special one hour workshop recorded on May 30th focused on screenwriting. Catherine wrote the screenplay for her novel “Scarborough” and will use the film and a case study to guide participants through the process and techniques to screenwriting. This video will be available for viewing for one month, until August 19th 2022.

Catherine Hernandez (she/her) is an award-winning author and critically acclaimed screenwriter. She is a proud queer woman who is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian descent and married into the Navajo Nation. Her first novel, Scarborough (Arsenal Pulp Press), won the Jim Wong-Chu Award for the unpublished manuscript; was a finalist for several awards including Canada Reads 2022. Her children’s books include M Is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book (Flamingo Rampant) and I Promise (Arsenal Pulp Press). She wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Scarborough, produced by Compy Films and levelFILM, which was nominated for 11 Canadian Screen Awards and won 8 including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Her second novel, Crosshairs, (HarperCollins Canada, Atria Books US, Jacaranda Books UK), was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award and made the CBC’s Best Canadian Fiction, NOW Magazine’s 10 Best Books, Indigo Best Book, Audible Best Audiobooks and NBC 20 Best LGBTQ Books list of 2020. She is currently working on a few television projects and two novels.

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