DD Launches Its First Book Club!

Diaspora Dialogues, in partnership with Spadina Museum: Historic House & Gardens, is pleased to launch its first ever book club!

Diaspora Dialogues supports the creation and presentation of new fiction, poetry and drama that reflect the complexity of Toronto—and Canada—back to residents through the eyes of its richly diverse communities. Spadina Museum interprets the interwar period through a rich slate of guided tours, school programs, special events, changing exhibits, lectures and workshops, and is one of 10 historic museums operated by the City of Toronto.

The Diaspora Dialogues-Spadina Museum Book Club will aspire to connect book lovers with authors. At the book club meetings, authors will read from and discuss their works, and take questions from members.

• Sunday, March 8, 2015 (Joe Kertes, The Afterlife of Stars)
• Sunday, May 3, 2015 (Jennifer Robson, After the War is Over)
• Saturday, June 6, 2015 (tbc)

Spadina Museum, 285 Spadina Road
3:30pm–5:00pm

Tickets: $35 (includes discounted cost of book & 25% off future admission to the Spadina Museum for up to 4 people)

To register, please visit diasporadialogues.eventbrite.com.

After registration, you will receive email notification of when you can pick up your copy of the book from Diaspora Dialogues’ offices at 170 Bloor Street West.

The Afterlife of Stars has been described by Anne Michaels as “unforgettable and deeply moving,” and by Richard Bausch as “brilliant, radiant.” In the waning months of 1956, while Russian tanks roll into the public squares of Budapest to crush the Hungarian Revolution, brothers Robert and Attila Beck flee with their family to the Paris townhouse of their great-aunt Hermina. As they travel through minefields both real and imagined, Robert and Attila grapple with sibling rivalry, family secrets, and incalculable loss to arrive at a place they thought they’d lost forever: home. In beautifully crafted writing that burns with intensity and humour, Joseph Kertes explores displacement and uncertainty in a dark time from the perspective of two boys filled with wonder at the world around them.

Joseph Kertes was born in Hungary but escaped with his family to Canada after the revolution of 1956. He studied English at York University and the University of Toronto, where he was encouraged in his writing by Irving Layton and Marshall McLuhan. Kertes founded Humber College’s distinguished creative writing and comedy programs. He is currently Humber’s Dean of Creative and Performing Arts and is a recipient of numerous awards for teaching and innovation.

Questions? Please email rebecca@diasporadialogues.com