Diaspora Dialogues

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Open Call for Submissions: 2024 Long Form Mentorship

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Diaspora Dialogues invites submissions from emerging writers in both the GTA and across Canada who currently have a full or near-full draft of a manuscript. We accept novels, short story collections, creative non-fiction/memoir, works intended for young adults and poetry. Complete or near complete means that the writer has up to 85,000 words or 300 double-spaced pages of prose; or up to 25 poems (50 pages maximum). Submissions will consist only of excerpts from these works (see guidelines below).

Diaspora Dialogues is committed to supporting a literature that is as diverse as Canada itself. Writers are encouraged to keep this mandate in mind, but addressing this theme directly is not essential in the submission.

Notifications will be made at the end of December. The mentorships will begin in early 2025 and run for six months. Assigned mentors are at the discretion of Diaspora Dialogues.

The deadline to apply is 11:59 on November 29, 2024.

Please read all of the guidelines carefully and email your submission to
Zalika Reid-Benta at zalika@diasporadialogues.com. Submission forms can be found here.

DD Partners with TIFA to Produce Three Engaging Author Talks

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Diaspora Dialogues is thrilled to partner with TIFA to produce three engaging author talks at this year’s festival! This collaboration brings together diverse voices to explore topics such as courage, loss, identity, and belonging through the power of storytelling.

Visit TIFA’s website for the full festival schedule as well as information about festival passes. We can’t wait to see you there!

Saturday, September 21, 2024, 11:00 AM: “Friendship, Home, and Identity”

Join us for an engaging discussion featuring Sadi Muktadir, author of Land of No Regrets, and Edward Y. C. Lee, author of The Laundryman’s Boy, moderated by Shyam Selvadurai. The event will explore the multifaceted concept of home, touching on themes of diaspora and community. Delve into critical issues impacting the notion of home, political upheavals and conflicts. This conversation promises a rich dialogue on how these elements shape our sense of belonging and identity.

Saturday, September 21, 2024, 2:30 PM: “Dislocation and Relocation”

Join us for an evening of literary exploration featuring Tasneem Jamal, author of I Never Said That I Was Brave, and Nazneen Sheikh, presenting her poignant collection I Left You Behind. Moderated by Ryan B. Patrick, this event promises insightful discussions on courage, loss and the power of storytelling. Don’t miss this opportunity to delve into the minds of two accomplished writers as they share their inspirations and journeys in crafting compelling narratives.

Sunday, September 22, 2024, 11:00 AM: “On the Outside Looking In”

Join us for an engaging literary discussion with Chido Muchemwa, author of the upcoming short story collection Who Will Bury You?, intimate stories about loss, identity and inequality, with characters in the liminal space between Toronto and Harare (Zimbabwe). Amal Elsana Alh’jooj is a key shaper of public opinion on marginalized minorities in Israel, Canada, and other developing countries. Hope is a Woman’s Name is the story of her journey navigating interweaving systems of power and oppression—the patriarchal and the nationalist—in her fight for justice and equality. The discussion will be moderated by Aparita Bhandari.

UPCOMING EVENT: DD Alumni Celebration

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September 10, 2024 | 5:30-7PM

As summer winds down, we invite you to join us for celebration of writing, books and the power of mentoring!

Featuring DD alum:

  • Leslie Shimotakahara. Leslie’s 2024 novel Sisters of the Spruce. Drawing on inspiration from her ancestors’ stories and experiences, Shimotakahara weaves an entrancing tale of female adventure, friendship, and survival set against the majestic landscape of a WWI-era logging camp on Haida Gwaii.
  • Christina Wong. Christina’s graphic novel (with Daniel Innes) which was shortlisted for Canada Reads, is a moving story told in visual art and fiction about gentrification, aging in place, grief, and vulnerable Chinese Canadian elders.
  • Akosua Amo-Adem. Akosua’s play, TABLE FOR TWO (developed through the DD-TD Black Playwrights Program), has been programmed into Soulpepper Theatre’s upcoming 2024/25 Season. Table for Two is a candid exploration of the digital dating landscape, where swipes, likes, and matches collide with cultural traditions and personal aspirations.

About Leslie: Leslie Shimotakahara’s memoir, The Reading List, won the Canada-Japan Literary Prize, and her fiction has been shortlisted for the KM Hunter Artist Award. She has written two critically acclaimed novels, After the Bloom and Red Oblivion. Her writing has appeared in the National Post, World Literature Today, and Changing the Face of Canadian Literature, among other anthologies and periodicals. She completed a PhD in English at Brown University. She and her husband live in Toronto’s west end.

About Christina: Christina Wong is a playwright, prose writer, and a multidisciplinary artist who also works in sound installation, audio documentaries, and photography. Her plays have been performed at Factory Studio, Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace, and Palmerston Library Theatre. Her work has also appeared in TOK Magazine, the Toronto Star, and on CJRU 1280AM.

About Akosua: Akosua Amo-Adem is an actor, writer, and teacher/coach based in Toronto. Throughout her fifteen-year career Akosua has appeared in a variety of productions around the city. Her selected credits includeStratford Theatre’s Much Ado About Nothing (Ursla), Death and the King’s Horseman (Iyaloja); Soulpepper Theatre’s Three Sisters (Lolo), Billi, Sarah, and Ella…(Narrator) Pipeline (Naya), A Streetcar Named Desire(Eunice), For Colored Girls…(Lady in Green), Father Comes Home From The Wars…(Leader/Runaway), The Crucible (Tituba); Obsidian Theatre’s School Girls: or the African Mean Girls Play (Head Mistress Francis), Venus’ Daughters (Venus/Sarah); Canadian Stage’s Tartuffe (Dorine); Theatre Passe Muraille’s The Middle Place (Kaaliha/Dee). Akosua is currently developing her first full length play with Soulpepper Theatre called Table for Two! Her on screen credits include appearances on Odd Squad, Bitten, Frankie Drake Mysteries, 21 Black Futures, In The Dark, Most Dangerous Game, American Gods and Kim’s Convenience. Most recently, Akosua is a Dora Award winner for the Best Ensemble and Best Production of Three Sisters. You can find her online on Instagram @akos2030.

ARCHIVED EVENT: Ten Tips for Writing Great Memoir

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August 21, 2024 | 12:00PM

The workshop will offer ten practical tips to help you refine your prose, deepen your understanding of the genre, and write stronger and more compelling Creative Nonfiction. Learn to turn lived experience into literary art, apply fiction techniques to enhance your work, and experiment with form, structure, tense and voice. Discussion will focus on finding your theme, confronting your fears, and falling in love with revision.

Ayelet Tsabari is the author of the memoir in essays The Art of Leaving, finalist for the Writer’s Trust Hilary Weston Prize and The Vine Awards, winner of the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for memoir, and an Apple Books and Kirkus Review Best Book of 2019. Her first book, the story collection The Best Place on Earth, won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Jewish Fiction. The book was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, was nominated for The Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and has been published internationally. She’s the co-editor of the award-winning anthology Tongues: On Longing and Belonging Through Language. Ayelet teaches creative writing at The University of King’s College MFA and at Guelph MFA in Creative Writing. Her debut novel, Songs for the Brokenhearted is forthcoming with HarperCollins Canada in September 2024.

ARCHIVED EVENT: Caribbean Books and Literature

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July 25, 2024 | 6:30 PM at Trinity St Paul Gardens

Join us for an evening of Caribbean literature with acclaimed authors Matthew Dawkins, Zalika Reid-Benta, and Denise DaCosta, in partnership with Trinity St. Paul. Discover the rich cultural narratives and vibrant stories as these writers share their insights and inspirations. Don’t miss this captivating exploration of Caribbean storytelling and heritage.

Grab your ticket here.

Diaspora Dialogues is pleased to announce a partnership with Trinity-St.Pauls, a community and cultural hub that features a world-renowned concert hall and affordable performance, office and instruction space for many artistic, cultural, social justice and social service organizations. We will be partnering to bring their community and ours access to DD’s unique and respected programming, starting with Caribbean Books and Literature, on July 25th.

About the Presenters

Matthew is a Jamaican award-winning author and poet. His work explores subject matters including adolescence, race, nationhood, and mental health. His work has also been featured in Westwind Poetry, Indolent Books, Pinhole Poetry, and more. Matthew was the 2022-2023 Student Writer in Residence at Western University where he graduated with a B.A. in Arts and Humanities and English Literature. Until We Break is his debut novel.

Zalika Reid-Benta is a Canadian writer.Her debut novel River Mumma was shortlisted for the 2024 Trillium Book Award and has received starred reviews from publications such as Publishers Weekly and Booklist Magazine. River Mumma is an Amazon Books Editors’ Pick for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy and was selected a Best Book of the Month for

Apple Books in February 2024. It was the October 2023 pick for the CityLine book club and has been listed as one of the best fiction books of 2023 on numerous platforms, including CBC Books, Indigo Books, Kobo Books and The Walrus.

Reid-Benta’s debut short story collection Frying Plantain won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction in 2020. Frying Plantain was longlisted for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and it was shortlisted for the 2020 Toronto Book Award, the 2020 Trillium Book Award, the 2021 White Pine Award and the 2020 Evergreen Award.

Her picture book, Twelve Days of Jamaican Christmas, will be published in 2025.

Denise Da Costa’s debut novel And the Walls Came Down, was longlisted for the 2024 Toronto Book Award. Her work has been included in the anthology Subdivided: City-Building in an Age of Hyper-Diversity and the journal, Proudflesh: New Afkrikan Journal of Culture, Politics, & Consciousness. She is a MFA, Creative Writing student at UBC. Her work explores the complications of love, mental health, and the impact of gender, race, and class on identity.  

ARCHIVED EVENT: Picture Books 101 with Derek Mascarenhas

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July 24, 2024 | 12:30PM

Come learn the basics of picture books! Children’s book author Derek Mascarenhas will give an overview of the different types of picture books, the role of the writer, and essential elements of story (character, structure, plot, etc.). We’ll also discuss how to develop an idea, audiences, and the steps to publication.

Register here.

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