Diaspora Dialogues

Supporting new fiction, poetry, and drama

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Upcoming Events

Join Us for the Launch of Francine Cunningham’s Debut Collection | In-Person Event

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Join us on September 10, 2022 at TYPE Books for an evening of bookish fun as we celebrate the launch of Francine Cunningham’s debut collection, God Isn’t Here Today, stories that capture the speculative, horror, and the unreal. Francine will be in conversation with moderator, Terese Mason Pierre.

Register here.

About the Book

Driven by desperation into moments of transformation, Cunningham’s characters are presented with moments of choice-some for the better and some for the worse. A young man goes to God’s office downtown for advice; a woman discovers she is the last human on Earth; an ice cream vendor is driven insane by his truck’s song; an ageing stripper uses undergarments to enact her escape plan; an incubus tires of his professional grind; and a young woman inherits a power that has survived genocide, but comes with a burden of its own.

Even as they flirt with the fantastic, Cunningham’s stories unfold with the innate elegance of a spring fern, reminding us of the inherent dualities in human nature-and that redemption can arise where we least expect it.

About the Author

Francine Cunningham is an award-winning Indigenous writer, artist and educator. God Isn’t Here Today (Invisible Publishing) is her debut collection of short fiction. Her debut book of poems On/Me (Caitlin Press) was nominated for the BC and Yukon Book Prize, the Indigenous Voices Awards, and the Vancouver Book Award. She is a winner of the Indigenous Voices Award in the 2019 Unpublished Prose Category and of The Hnatyshyn Foundation’s REVEAL Indigenous Art Award. Her fiction has appeared in The Best Canadian Short Stories 2021, in Grain Magazine as the 2018 Short Prose Award winner, on The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Prose shortlist, and in Joyland Magazine, The Puritan and elsewhere. Francine is a graduate of the Creative Writing MFA program at the University of British Columbia, and currently resides in Alberta. Learn more at www.francinecunningham.ca.

About the Moderator

Terese Mason Pierre is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in Canthius, The Puritan, Quill and Quire, and Strange Horizons, among others. She is currently the Senior Poetry Editor of Augur Magazine, a Canadian speculative literature journal, and the author of chapbooks Surface Area (Anstruther Press, 2019) and Manifest (Gap Riot Press, 2020). Terese lives and works in Toronto.

Diaspora Dialogues to Partner with Word on the Street in June

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Diaspora Dialogues is thrilled to be partnering with Word on the Street this June for the return of the Word on the Street book and magazine festival. We’ve put together two amazing panels celebrating the debut releases by alumni of our mentoring programs and discussing the importance of representative children’s literature.

Join Diaspora Dialogues Saturday, June 12th, 12-1pm, as we celebrate three stunning debut novels by alumni of our mentoring programs: Dawn Promislow, Wan (Freehand Books, May 1), Sheila Murray, Finding Edward (Cormorant, June 15) and Reema Patel, Such Big Dreams (Penguin Random House Canada, May 10). Moderated by journalist Aparita Bhandari. In partnership with Word On The Street Toronto.

Register HERE.

Join Diaspora Dialogues as we explore the importance and value of representative children’s literature, and the opportunity and viability of #Kidlit as creative pursuit for writers. Sunday, June 12, 10am-11am, with Salma Hussain, The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan (Penguin Random House Canada, May 3), Catherine Hernandez, Where Do Your Feelings Live (Penguin Random House Canada, May 15) and Nadia Hohn. Moderated by author Derek Mascarenhas. In partnership with Word On The Street Toronto.

Register HERE.

Archived Event: Screenwriting: Scarborough, A Case Study

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View award-winning author and critically acclaimed screenwriter Catherine Hernandez in a special one hour workshop recorded on May 30th focused on screenwriting. Catherine wrote the screenplay for her novel “Scarborough” and will use the film and a case study to guide participants through the process and techniques to screenwriting. This video will be available for viewing for one month, until August 19th 2022.

Catherine Hernandez (she/her) is an award-winning author and critically acclaimed screenwriter. She is a proud queer woman who is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian descent and married into the Navajo Nation. Her first novel, Scarborough (Arsenal Pulp Press), won the Jim Wong-Chu Award for the unpublished manuscript; was a finalist for several awards including Canada Reads 2022. Her children’s books include M Is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book (Flamingo Rampant) and I Promise (Arsenal Pulp Press). She wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Scarborough, produced by Compy Films and levelFILM, which was nominated for 11 Canadian Screen Awards and won 8 including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Her second novel, Crosshairs, (HarperCollins Canada, Atria Books US, Jacaranda Books UK), was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award and made the CBC’s Best Canadian Fiction, NOW Magazine’s 10 Best Books, Indigo Best Book, Audible Best Audiobooks and NBC 20 Best LGBTQ Books list of 2020. She is currently working on a few television projects and two novels.

Job Opportunity: Loans and Grants Administrative Assistant (Position Filled)

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Position: Loans and Grants Administrative Assistant

Work term: May 9, 2022 to July 17, 2022 (six weeks)

Compensation: $16.00 per hour, 30 hours per week

Location: Toronto/online

JOB OPPORTUNITY

We are looking for a qualified go getter to work remotely with our small non-profit team. This position is funded by the Canada Summer Jobs program.

Responsibilities:

– under supervision of Manager of Business Operations research and create a calendar of deadlines for all applicable government granting agencies and the relevant programs to Diaspora Dialogues for application for funding, that can be updated from funding year to funding year

– under the guidance of Manager of Business Operations and President, research public and private foundations that have grants that are applicable to apply for and add them to the funding calendar as well, including hyperlinks for websites and relevant application information

– assess current pitches for funding and identify changes to be made to match up with potential funder guidelines with mentoring by board Director and President in charge of fundraising

– assess our online email database and update with necessary information, new clients, and remove and clean up duplications etc. under supervision of Marketing and Communications Coordinator

– organize database for ease of fundraising emails and create templates for major email campaigns in the spring, early fall, and end of year

– aid in updating our TOK Magazine and Diaspora Dialogues websites with content.

Experience/requirements for the job:

Candidates must be able to provide their own computer and internet access, as well as facility for Zoom calls.

Candidates must be 30 or younger( as per the Canada Summer Jobs program requirements), and have some experience working in small teams in an office setting (remote or in person). Experience in writing and communication required, and past fundraising an asset. Knowledge of WordPress or similar website experience is also desirable. Post secondary degree or degree in progress preferred, but not necessary.

Please apply directly to Christian Sharpe, Manager of Business Operations, by email at christian@diasporadialogues.com

Application deadline: Thursday May 5, 12 PM

Archived Event: MasterClass in Picture Books

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Join us on April 28 at 6:30 pm as Melanie Florence leads 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.

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, the 2017 Forest of Reading Golden Oak Award and was a finalist for the 2017 First Nation Communities READ award. Her most recent picture book, Stolen Words, won the 2018 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award, was a 2018 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award finalist 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 the teen novels Just Lucky, He Who Dreams, Dreaming in Color and her upcoming collaboration with Richard Scrimger called Autumn Bird and the Runaway. Her first middle grade novel, a ghost story called Legends of Funland, will be out in 2022.

Archived Event: Practical Solutions to Growing Long Term Wealth

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Are you interested in learning practical solutions to help grow your long term wealth? Join us for an informative workshop hosted by Sujin Son focused on guiding participants through several easy to follow solutions to help them get started. Sujin is a finance leader with experience in corporate strategy and investment management, partnering with executives to drive next level performance goals and investment returns.

Links from the video:

Sujin is a finance leader with experience in corporate strategy and investment management, partnering with executives to drive next level performance goals and investment returns. She is currently responsible for prioritizing and optimizing over $150 million in annual infrastructure and product development investments as the leader of the Business Operations team at TELUS Digital. She has been recognized as an innovative leader and courageous trailblazer. Previously, she has held senior roles in management consulting and capital markets. Sujin has a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo, an MBA from Queen’s University, and is a CFA Charterholder. In her spare time, she enjoys plotting her next surfing adventure, weightlifting, and listening to her favourite audiobooks and podcasts.

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