Diaspora Dialogues

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Upcoming Events

ARCHIVED EVENT: The Ins and Outs of Self-Publishing

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January 16, 2024 | 12PM via Zoom

Self-publishing has grown exponentially over the past decade. In this session, Melissa Addey, Campaigns Manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) will talk about some practicalities of getting self-published, as well as the latest facts and figures which explore everything from author incomes to the (unexpected!) personality traits of indie authors and the market insights that allow you to make good decisions for your writing. Plus she’ll share the many resources ALLI offers for all writers, before we have a Q&A where you can ask your burning questions!

Register here.

The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is a global membership association for self-publishing authors, founded in 2012. A non-profit, our mission is ethics and excellence in self-publishing. Everyone on our team is a working indie author and we offer advice and advocacy for self-publishing authors within the literary, publishing and creative industries around the world. www.allianceindependentauthors.org 

Melissa Addey is ALLi’s Campaigns Manager, working on a range of campaigns from encouraging diversity within self-publishing to opening up more opportunities (like awards and grants) for indie authors. She writes historical fiction set in Ancient Rome, medieval Morocco and 18th century China. www.MelissaAddey.com 

ARCHIVED EVENT: CROSS-GENRE WRITING

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December 28, 2023 | 12:30pm EST

Join us for a deep dive into the world of cross-genre writing with author Derek Mascarenhas. The publishing industry often pigeon holes authors into be known for specific genres, but authors are experimenting more than ever these days! This workshop wilL inspire and equip you with the tools to craft compelling narratives that defy genre norms.

Register here.

Derek Mascarenhas is a graduate of the University of Toronto SCS Creative Writing Program, a finalist and runner up for the Penguin Random House of Canada Student Award for Fiction, and a nominee for the Marina Nemat Award. His linked short story collection, Coconut Dreams, was called a “stunning debut” in Quill and Quire‘s starred review and The Globe and Mail named it one of the best reads from Canadian small presses. Derek’s first picture book, 100 Chapatis, was praised by Kirkus Reviews as “warm and reassuring,” and his second, The Mango Monster, arrives Fall 2024. Derek is also working on a speculative novel, and a middle-grade book.

UPCOMING EVENTS: Crafting the Perfect 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 Executive Editor at HarperCollins Canada, Janice Zawerbny. Come prepared to talk about your project, ask questions and have your pitch flash assessed!

Register here.

About the Presenter

Janice Zawerbny has worked in Canadian publishing as an editor for more than twenty-five years. She is currently an Executive Editor at HarperCollins Canada, where she acquires and edits both fiction and non-fiction. She has edited a number of critically acclaimed and award-winning books including, The Break by Katherena Vermette, Five Little Indians by Michelle Good, The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall, The Island of Forgetting by Jasmine Sealy, and The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters. She is also the co-founder of the The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and previously taught substantive and stylistic editing at Metropolitan University.

ARCHIVED EVENT: Writing Children’s Picture Books

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Melanie Florence will lead this one hour workshop on the evolution of a picture book from an idea to a finished manuscript, speaking on: where to find an idea, how to figure out if the idea will work as a picture book and then how to write a good picture book.

Register here.

About the Presenter

Melanie Florence is an award-winning writer of Cree and Scottish heritage based in Toronto. She was close to her grandfather as a child, a relationship that sparked her interest in writing about Indigenous themes and characters. She is the author of Missing Nimama, which won the 2016 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the 2017 Forest of Reading Golden Oak Award and was a finalist for the 2017 First Nation Communities READ award. Her picture book, Stolen Words, won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award, is shortlisted for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and was given a starred review by Kirkus, who listed it as one of the best picture books of 2017 to give readers strength. Her other books include Righting Canada’s Wrongs: Residential Schools, He Who Dreams, The Missing, One Night, Rez Runaway, and Just Lucky, published in September 2019.

ARCHIVED EVENT: Funny Boy: A Screenwriting Case Study

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Join award-winning author and screenwriter Shyam Selvadurai in a special one hour workshop focused on screenwriting. Shyam co-wrote the screenplay for his novel “Funny Boy” alongside the award-winning Deepa Mehta. Shyam will use the film as a case study to guide participants through the process and techniques to screenwriting.

Register here.

About the Presenter

Shyam Selvadurai ‘s Funny Boy, won the W.H. Smith/ Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award in the US. He is the author of Cinnamon Gardens, Swimming in the Monsoon Sea and The Hungry Ghosts. His work has been translated into 9 languages and published worldwide. Funny Boy was made into a film, for which Shyam co-wrote the screenplay, and for which he won the Canadian Screen Award and the New York Cinema Independent Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Shyam’s new novel Mansion of the Moon, a historical novel about the Buddha’s wife, was released by Knopf and Penguin India. His website is www.shyamselvadurai.com

Diaspora Dialogues to Partner with TIFA for 2023 TOK Symposium

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DD is thrilled to be partnering with the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) to present our 2023 TOK symposium. This years program will consist of five author conversations.

Beneath The Surface | Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 2pm

Mythology’s rivers, ravines and subterranean spaces suggest unconscious states and unexpressed desires. From Zalika Reid-Benta, the Giller-nominated author of Frying Plantain, comes an exhilarating magical realist novel about a millennial Black woman who navigates her quarter-life-crisis while embarking on a quest through the streets of Toronto. River Mumma is a powerful portrayal of diasporic identities and a vital examination into ancestral ties. And in On the Ravine, Giller Prize winner Vincent Lam explores the murky depths of addiction and the doctor-patient relationship. Moderated by Lalaa Comrie.

Re-Imagining Romance | Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 5pm

Looking for your happily ever after/second-chance romance? Or curious about the hottest segment in publishing these days? Join bestselling authors Uzma Jalaluddin and Chantel Guertin to discuss their latest novels: Much Ado About Nada, a modern-day romance inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion (“It is, in a word, brilliant.” – The New York Times) and Two For the Road, the story of a romance bookshop owner who embarks on the adventure, or misadventure, of a lifetime. (“A charming love story, and a whistle stop tour of England, too.” – Globe and Mail).

Sheltering In Place | Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 11am

Whether due to pandemics or major ice storms, Torontonians know what it’s like to be locked down, locked in, and left staring out at a wider world they’re barred from joining. Rebecca Rosenblum’s The Days Are Numbered is a love letter to community as well as the joy and compassion that can be found even amidst the most stressful of circumstances. Elizabeth Ruth’s Semi-Detached – part love story, part ghost story, part murder mystery – explores where and in whom we house our love and our yearning. Come shelter with us as we explore these fiercely compelling novels. Moderated by Ryan Patrick.

The Haunting of Us | Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 12pm

Recently nominated for the 2023 Toronto Book Award, and winner of the 2023 Fred Kerner Book Award for Fiction, Sophie Jai’s debut novel Wild Fires (“Exquisite, evocative prose.” – Quill and Quire) explores the ways we mourn and why we avoid the very things that can save us. In her debut collection of short stories, Suite as Sugar, Camille Hernández-Ramdwar writes of the violence wrought upon humans and animals alike – as well as the resilience and will to survive. These novels travel from the streets of Trinidad to Toronto and back, as well as Havana’s haunted streets and Winnipeg’s winterscapes. Moderated by Tiara Chutkhan.

The Sweep of History | Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 5:30pm

Spanning India, Uganda, England and Canada, Janika Oza’s A History of Burning (“A remarkable debut” – The New York Times) explores how one act of survival reverberates across four generations of a family as well as the eternal search for home. Based on a true story, William Seto Ping’s Hollow Bamboo blends memoir, biography, fiction and fantasy to recount with humour and sympathy the often-brutal struggles, and occasional successes, faced by some of the first Chinese immigrants in Newfoundland.

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