Diaspora Dialogues

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In Conversation with Helen Walsh

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DD President Helen Walsh’s debut novel Pull Focus publishes September 7, 2021 in North America (Oct 7th in the UK). Set behind the scenes at an international film festival, the book explores the intersection of gender and power in the film industry and beyond. Join us Sept 9th, 5:30-6:30pm, as Helen sits down in conversation with author (and DD mentor) Rabindranath Maharaj. Free with registration. Copies of Pull Focus available HERE.

In Pull Focus, Jane has been appointed interim director of the Worldwide Toronto Film Festival after her boss has been removed for sexual harassment. Knives are out all around her, as factions within the community want to see her fail. At the same time, her partner, a fund manager, has disappeared, and strange women appear, uttering threats about misused funds. Yet the show must go on. As Jane struggles to juggle all the balls she’s been handed and survive in one piece, she discovers unlikely allies and finds that she’s stronger than she thinks.

Helen Walsh’s debut novel, Pull Focus, will be published September 7, 2021 by ECW Press in Canada and the US, and October 7, 2021 in the UK.

Walsh is also the founder and president of Diaspora Dialogues, a charitable organization that supports writers to turn their craft into a career, through mentorship, professional development, and opportunities to present and publish their work.

Previously, Walsh was publisher and president of the Literary Review of Canada, a monthly book review magazine; director of Spur, a festival of politics, arts and ideas; and a film/digital media writer & producer in Canada and the US.

Walsh lives in Toronto.

Rabindranath Maharaj is the award-winning author of: the novels, Fatboy Fall Down (2019, ECW Press); Adjacentland (2018, Wolsak and Wynn); The Amazing Absorbing Boy (2010, Knopf Canada; winner of the 2010 Trillium Book Award, the 2011 Toronto Book Award, and voted a CBC Canada Reads Top 10 for Ontario); A Perfect Pledge (2005, Knopf Canada; Farrar, Straus and Giroux US; a Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize finalist); The Lagahoo’s Apprentice (2000 Knopf Canada; a Globe and Mail and Toronto Star Notable Book of the Year); Homer in Flight (1997, Goose Lane Editions, a Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award finalist); The Picture of Nobody (2010, Good Reads/Harper Collins Canada) and the short story collections The Book of Ifs and Buts (2002, Vintage Canada), The Writer and His Wife (1996, Peepal Tree Press, UK), and The Interloper (1995, Goose Lane Editions; Nominated for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book). Maharaj also co-edited with Dionne Brand and Tessa McWatt. an anthology of Canadian writing, Luminous Ink (2018, Cormorant).

To register for the event, visit: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/in-conversation-with-helen-walsh-tickets-169162528677

ARCHIVED EVENT: The Art of the Pitch

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Attention writers! Have you finished a fantastic manuscript and are now looking to sell it? Join us for a workshop on the Art of the Pitch with Bryan Ibeas, fiction editor at Invisible Publishing and Hazel Millar, Co-Publisher of Book*hug Press. Come prepared to talk about your project, ask questions and have your pitch flash assessed!

Bryan Ibeas is a fiction editor at Invisible Publishing.

Hazel Millar is the Co-Publisher at Book*hug Press, an independent literary press based in Toronto. She is the Past Chair of the Board of the Literary Press Group of Canada and sits on several publishing-related boards and advisory committees She lives in Toronto with her husband, Jay MillAr, aka, the other half of Book*hug Press, their two sons, and a cool calico cat named Tess.

To register for the workship, visit:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-art-of-the-pitch-tickets-162592844575

ARCHIVED EVENT: Money Matters

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Money issues? Who doesn’t have them! Join us on June 11th at 12:30 pm for a Money Matters presentation with TD Business Management Analyst Jennifer Tomic, a TD employee who is very kindly volunteering her time and expertise.

We have been very fortunate to partner with TD on our DD-TD Black Playwrights Program this past year. When we reached out to them about a LnL focussed on financial planning, they were happy to tailor one to our needs. Jennifer will discuss practical strategies for saving and making your dollars count as you invest for your future.

To register for the workshop, visit: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/money-matters-tickets-158031088239

ARCHIVED EVENT: How To Get An Agent: UK Edition

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Calling all fiction writers! UK-based agent, Madeleine Millburn, will be the panelist for June’s Lunch N’ Learn on How To Get An Agent.

During this workshop, Madeleine will address the following questions:

how do I write a query letter?

how do I get an agent?

what is the process of a UK agent acquiring a Canadian writer

And more! It is encouraged participants come with questions prepared. Note: Her presentation will be tailored specifically to fiction.

Madeleine founded Madeleine Milburn Ltd in 2012, and it is now a major international literary agency based in the UK. Working with a network of publishers and producers based all over the world, Madeleine represents debut writers, journalists, and established authors. With her tight-knit team, she handles all rights to every book including UK, US, international and Film & TV.

In 2018, Madeleine was named Literary Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards, and was shortlisted again in 2020. She has appeared on The Bookseller’s list of the 150 most influential people in the book trade every year since 2017.

The workshop will take place from 12pm-1pm.

To register, visit: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/how-to-get-an-agent-uk-edition-tickets-157531385615

Diaspora Dialogues and Dundurn Press Present: In Conversation with Silmy Abdullah

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Join us for a live conversation on June 29 at 1pm with DD alum, Silmy Abdullah, as she discusses her new book, Home of the Floating Lily.

Set in both Canada and Bangladesh, Home of the Floating Lily follows the lives of the characters as they navigate the complexities of migration, displacement, love, friendship, and familial conflict. A young woman moves to Toronto after getting married but soon discovers her husband is not who she believes him to be. A mother reconciles her heartbreak when her sons defy her expectations and choose their own paths in life. A lonely international student returns to Bangladesh and forms an unexpected bond with her domestic helper. A working-class woman, caught between her love for Bangladesh and her determination to raise her daughter in Canada, makes a decision after a dark secret from the past is revealed.

In each of the stories, characters embark on difficult journeys in the search of love, dignity, and a sense of belonging.

Silmy Abdullah is an author and lawyer. She was born in Bangladesh, spent her childhood in Saudi Arabia, and immigrated to Canada when she started high school. Home of the Floating Lily is her debut collection. She lives in Toronto.

The talk is free to attend but registration is required. Visit the link below to get your ticket!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-conversation-with-silmy-abdullah-tickets-153052027735

DD-TD Black Playwrights Program- Blood and Memory Live Reading (Obsidian Theatre)

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DD was thrilled to host a private reading of Blood and Memory, a new played by Dainty Smith, produced in partnership with TD and Obsidian Theatre as part of our DD-TD Black Playwrights Program.

Blood and Memory is a re-visioning of Lilith and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is a conversation between Lilith and Eve, two Black women, who talk about life, sex, shadism and choices in the Garden of Eden, moments before Eve bites the fruit.

Dainty Smith is a Toronto based Actor, Burlesque Performer, Playwright, Producer and curator. She believes that through the art of storytelling and a willingness to be exposed that genuine human connections can be made. Her performances often tell deeply vulnerable stories regarding race, religion, sexuality and challenging social boundaries.

She wrote and self-produced a multidisciplinary play titled Daughters of Lilith, which is currently part of B Current Theatre’s Playwright Incubation 2021 season. The second play by Dainty Smith is titled Blood and Memory, which is currently being workshopped and supported by Obsidian Theatre in collaboration with Diaspora Dialogues.

Her diverse array of stage performances includes, Mayworks Festival, Rock. Paper. Sistahz for B Current Theatre, Caminos Festival for Aluna Theatre, The Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, and the Luminato Arts Festival. She is the founder of Les Femme Fatales: Women of Colour burlesque troupe, the first burlesque troupe for women and femmes of colour in Canada.

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