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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.

DD-TD Black Playwrights Mentoring Program- Yellow Reading (Canadian Stage)

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In partnership with TD and Canadian Stage, DD is excited to present a reading of a new play by Kalale Dalton-Lutale, produced as part of our DD-TD Black Playwrights Program.

Yellow follows two artists/lovers trying to make work together while also sorting through their romantic relationship.

Kalale Dalton-Lutale is a Black queer playwright and performer originally from Tkaronto/Toronto. Her work embraces experimentation, mothers, loss and pop culture. Her current plays includes Pinky Swear (Geordie Productions, nominated for a Tom henry Award, directed by Mike Payette 2017), Crybaby (presented by Black Theatre Workshop and Playwrights Workshop Montreal, directed by Jesse Stong 2019), When We Were Young (Geordie Productions Festival Reading, directed by Dean Flemming 2019), and i am entitled to rest (New Words Festival Directer by Murdoch Schon, 2019), and Habibi’s Angels et la commission impossible (Talisman, directed by Sohpie Gee). Kalale is a graduate from the National Theatre school of Canada.

To register for the event, please visit:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/dd-td-black-playwrights-mentoring-program-yellow-reading-canadian-stage-tickets-148660586817

RECORDED EVENT: Literary Grant Writing 101

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Join Dance & Literary Grants Manager, Catalina Fellay-Dunbar, for a free workshop on literary grant writing.

About this Event

With 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 Dance & Literary Grants Manager, Catalina Fellay-Dunbar, 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.

Catalina Fellay-Dunbar is the Dance & Literary Grants Manager for the Toronto Arts Council, responsible for the management of dance and literary grants programs. Catalina has spent many years as a dance artist, educator and advocate. Her professional dance experience has long focused on a personal heritage in Flamenco and Classical Spanish dance. Catalina has a BFA and MA in Dance Studies at York University, an MA from the Drama Centre at the University of Toronto, and certification in Movement Analysis from the Laban Institute for Movement Studies. As a PhD candidate in Dance Studies at York University, her research examines the intersections between cultural policy and dance arts from fluid, pluralistic perspectives. Catalina comes to TAC after serving as co-chair of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists – Ontario Chapter.

To watch a recording of the event:

Koffler Arts & Diaspora Dialogues Present: In Conversation with Tawhida Tanya Evanson with Sheniz Janmohamed

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DD is proud to partner with Koffler Arts for their latest Book & Ideas event.

Acclaimed Antiguan-Québecoise artist, Tawhida Tanya Evanson, discusses her new novel, Book of Wings, with spoken word artist and author, Sheniz Janmohamed. The Koffler’s Books & Ideas series is thrilled to present the new novel, Book of Wings, by Antiguan-Québecoise artist, Tawhida Tanya Evanson. In this sweeping, allusive novel, the celebrated poet, dervish, and oral storyteller comes to terms with what it means to stand on one’s own two feet in an uncertain world. Tracing a global journey, as a relationship with a lover and travel partner disintegrates, the artist finds herself on a path toward personal discovery and spiritual fulfillment that leads her deep into the North African landscape.

Tawhida Tanya Evanson will join spoken word artist, arts educator, and poet, Sheniz Janmohamed, in a virtual conversation.

Book of Wings can be purchased at A Different Booklist.

TAWHIDA TANYA EVANSON is an Antiguan-Québecoise poet, performer and producer. Author of two books of poetry, Nouveau Griot (Frontenac 2018) and Bothism (Ekstasis 2017), Book of Wings is her first work of fiction. With a 20-year practice in spoken word, she performs internationally and has released several studio albums and videopoems. Evanson is program director of Banff Centre Spoken Word. She has been named Poet of Honour at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, and has received the Golden Beret Award for her contribution to the spoken-word genre. Born and based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, she moonlights as a whirling dervish.

SHENIZ JANMOHAMED is a poet, artist educator, spoken word artist and nature artist. A graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of Guelph, Sheniz has performed nationally and internationally for over 15 years, including features at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Aga Khan Museum, and Vancouver Writers Fest. Sheniz has been mentored by authors Dionne Brand, Kuldip Gill, and Janice Kulyk Keefer, and has been published in various journals and anthologies including Arc Poetry Magazine, Descant, CV2 and Quill & Quire. She is the author of two poetry collections: Bleeding Light (Mawenzi House 2010) and Firesmoke (Mawenzi House 2014), and her third collection, Reminders on the Path, is forthcoming with Mawenzi House.

The event will take place on Thursday, April 29, 2021 from 7-8 PM via Zoom.

To register, visit: https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Books-Ideas/Tawhida-Tanya-Evanson-with-Sheniz-Janmohamed

Diaspora Dialogues to Launch New Mentoring Program for Emerging Black Playwrights with Support from TD Bank Group

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 Diaspora Dialogues is excited to announce the DD-TD Black Playwrights Mentoring Program, a transformational new initiative that matches four emerging playwrights with four of Canada’s top dramaturges to develop their first full-length play for mainstage production. 

The intensive one-on-one mentorship over six months will enable the playwrights and their mentors to dive deep into work that explores the multifaceted reality of the lived Black experience in Canada and provoke meaningful conversations both within the Black community and within the wider Canadian society.

A nurturing environment is baked into the structural design of this playwright’s unit, including mentorship, peer-to-peer and professional development opportunities. In all DD’s suite of mentoring programs, the organization focuses on supporting writers as they tell their own stories and that of their communities, often tackling difficult subjects such as systemic racism and oppression.

DD will partner with theatre companies Canadian Stage, Obsidian Theatre, Soulpepper and New Harlem Productions to produce this program. Each theatre partner has nominated an emerging playwright to take part, as well as identified the appropriate dramaturge for the work.

As part of Black History Month in February 2021, this program will present digital table readings from two of the plays under development which will be free and open to the public. Additionally, in later spring, all four will have public readings.

There’s been a significant new wave of female, Black theatre artists taking positions of power at theatre companies over the past couple years including Weyni Mengesha at Soulpepper, Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu and Myekah Payne at Obsidian, and Mel Hague at Canadian Stage. DD is fortunate and grateful to work with, and learn from, these stellar artists through partnership on this program.

The DD-TD Black Playwrights Mentoring Program is sponsored by the TD Ready Commitment, the Bank’s global corporate citizenship platform.

“Black playwrights are playing an important role in telling the stories of Black communities in Canada, but systemic barriers have inhibited their progress. TD is thrilled to support Diaspora Dialogues in facilitating the professional development of emerging Black talent in arts and theatre and to help address systemic barriers in the sector,” says Naki Osutei, Associate Vice President, Social Impact (Canada), at TD Bank Group. “As part of our corporate citizenship platform, the TD Ready Commitment, we are proud to support organizations like Diaspora Dialogues in building a diverse and inclusive arts sector across Canada.”

“We’re delighted to add the DD-TD Black Playwrights Mentoring Program to our existing development activities, which have resulted in plays such as The Orchard (After Chekov) by Sarena Parmar, Chicho by Augusto Bitter and dozens of books,” DD president Helen Walsh said. “It is our hope that this program, in addition to helping develop four new major plays, also contributes to forging a life-long connection between the playwright and the theatre company.”

Meet the playwrights and dramaturgs:

Yellow by Kalale Dalton-Lutale follows two artists/lovers trying to make work together while also sorting through their romantic relationship.

Dramaturge: Jay Northcott. Partner theatre company: Canadian Stage.

Blood and Memory by Dainty Smith tackles Lilith and Eve, two Black women, talk about life, sex, shadism, and choices within the Garden of Eden moments before Eve bites the apple.

Dramaturge: Myekah Payne. Partner theatre company: Obsidian Theatre Company.

When a fight breaks out on a streetcar, Toronto’s newly instituted broken windows policing strategy leads to a fatal shooting and two women are forced to deal with the consequences in Broken Windows by Fiona Raye Clarke.

Dramaturge: Donna-Michelle St. Bernard. Partner theatre company: New Harlem Productions

Table For Two by Akosua Amo-Adem is a comedic play about a thirty-five year old Ghanaian-Canadian woman on a journey to find an epic love.

Dramaturge: Tawiah Ben M’Carthy. Partner theatre company: Soulpepper

To follow and support the program journey, follow DD on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn and use #DDTDBlackPlaywrights

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