Diaspora Dialogues

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UPCOMING EVENT: Rivertowne Walking Tour with Denise Da Costa

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Join author, Denise Da Costa, on a tour of Rivertowne near Dundas and Broadview. See where the characters of her recent novel, And the Walls Came Down, grew up in the 1990s. Visit Delia’s old stomping grounds where the now demolished city housing development, Don Mount Court, once stood and glimpse the nearby surviving historical structures like the infamous Don Jail.

A copy of the book is included with your ticket. Register here.

About the Author

Denise Da Costa is a Canadian author and visual artist whose debut novel And the Walls Came Down, was published in Summer 2023. She studies Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia and is an alumna of the Humber School of Writers and the Diaspora Dialogues mentorship program. Her work explores the complications of love and the impact of gender, race and class on identity formation.

ARCHIVED EVENT: Literary Image Description Best Practices

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Please join DD alum and CNIB Audio Producer Joanne Pak as she discusses the Literary Image Description (LID) project.

This information session will inform writers about the LID project and how they can make their works accessible to the Blind/low vision community and to take that into consideration even as they plan and write their works, creating born-accessible books for an underserved audience.

Register here.

About the Presenter

Joanne Pak is an accessible media specialist with an extensive career in both broadcasting and publishing. She is the official Canadian NER certifier of live caption accuracy, and she is an instructor and subject matter expert for the Toronto Metropolitan University. Joanne has worked for numerous broadcasters, nonprofits, and educational institutions, specializing in accessible media. At CNIB, Joanne led the audiobook production for CELA’s pilot project on accessible graphic novels. She is the lead for the eBOUND Literary Image Description (LID) project and the author of the LID Best Practices Guide, which she uses to train writers and publishers.

ARCHIVED EVENT: Live Table Reading for A, Brazil flag emoji, 47

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Please join us this Friday June 16 at 7 PM for a Tarragon Theatre live table reading of Yago Mequita’s play A, Brazil flag emoji, 47. This has been developed through DD’s Playwright Mentoring Program’s Youth-at-Risk component, with generous assistance from the Charles H Ivey Foundation. Register here for the Zoom livestream. 

About the Playwright

Yago Mesquita (he/him) is a queer Brazilian-Canadian theatre artist from Toronto. He is a playwright and writer, producer, and performer who has worked with theatre companies such as Aluna Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Factory Theatre, fu-GEN Theatre, New Harlem Productions, Open Heart Surgery Theatre, Paprika Festival, and more.

 About A, Brazil flag emoji, 47

Yago creates slice-of-life-made-surreal character-driven work from a young, queer, first-generation Canadian lens, heavily informed by his experience and that of friends, family, and fellow artists. He currently has two works in development: CHEW, developed as part of The Foundry (Factory Theatre, 2021), and A, Brazil flag emoji, 47, which was presented at the CAMINOS Festival (Aluna Theatre, 2021). Yago was also a collaborator on fu-GEN Theatre’s MH370, and his short story, & Dawn burned, was shortlisted for The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction (2021).

Call for Submissions: Short Form Mentorship

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Diaspora Dialogues invites submissions from emerging writers across Canada including short stories or creative nonfiction less than 3,000 words in length; or up to 5 poems, with each poem being no more than 75 lines. (See below for definition of “emerging.”) Applicants are welcome to enter more than one category, but no more than one submission per category, please.

We have four rotating deadlines a year: March 31, June 30, September 30, Dec 31. Submissions received between those dates will be considered for the next deadline. Through an adjudicated process, selected writers will receive feedback from a rotating writer-in-residence at Diaspora Dialogues, over the course of a month.

The writer-in-residence will address issues of story, character, structure, pace, writing style, structure and substantive aspects of the work.

Please read all of the guidelines on our website carefully and email your submission to
Zalika Reid-Benta at zalika@diasporadialogues.com.

Deadline to apply is June 30, 2023 at midnight.

ARCHIVED EVENT: The Great Debate: Self Publishing vs Traditional

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The publishing industry today looks much different than it did a decade ago. In that time, self-publishing has outgrown its longstanding ‘vanity’ stigma and become a viable publishing option for many writers. The traditional publishing industry has also experienced great changes and just isn’t what it used to be – even for those who’ve found success within the system.

This workshop will outline the ways in which self-publishing differs from traditional publishing, and how the unrestricted nature of this path might align better with your publishing needs. We’ll also discuss the process of preparing your manuscript for publication and offer advice on how to successfully navigate the industry.

Register here.

About the Presenter

Diane Cameron is a Publishing Consultant at Friesen Press – the largest publishing services provider in Canada.

Her publishing career spans over 15 years, which includes working for traditional, academic, and self-publishing companies in both Canada and abroad.

Diane’s vast experience and expertise has helped hundreds of authors successfully navigate the publishing landscape and bring their books to life.

ARCHIVED EVENT: Grant Writing 101 with Rudrapriya Rathore

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As the June 15th TAC Grant for Writers fast approaching, first time and repeat applicants may be wondering what they can do to strengthen their application and what things to avoid. Join Literary Arts Program Manager, Rudrapriya Rathore for a free workshop on literary grant writing tips, as well as advice on what applicants can do to create a strong application for their project.

VIEW VIDEO HERE:

About the Presenter

Rudrapriya Rathore is the Literary Arts Program Manager at the Toronto Arts Council. She holds an MA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Toronto and her writing can be found in The Walrus, Brick, Hazlitt, and Quill & Quire, among other publications, as well as in After Realism, a 2022 anthology published by Véhicule Press. In 2021, she was shortlisted for a National Magazine Award in the Essays category. She is the founder and manager of the Flying Books Mentorship Program.

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