TOK Winnipeg: Two Day Symposium

Diaspora Dialogues is delighted to share details of TOK Winnipeg, a two-day symposium taking place November 9-10, 2018. TOK, the digital magazine of Diaspora Dialogues, publishes fiercely honest, freshly original writing from our cities, and from around the world.

TOK Winnipeg includes an industry program of professional development workshops for emerging authors to learn vital skills including pitching agents and publishers, as well as marketing themselves and their works. The day will end with a networking reception, including writers, industry professionals and symposium participants.

Day two includes two podcast tapings of on-stage interviews with authors and a panel conversation, Blowing Up CanLit:

In the UK, both a thriller and a graphic novel made their way onto the long-list for the prestigious Booker Prize this year – a long list that stands out for its “willingness to take risks with form,” according to the jury. In the US, a plethora of futurist young-adult novels by first-time novelists such as Tomi Adeyemi are capturing the attention of big audiences – and Hollywood, selling film rights to movie studios for massive advances even before publication.The New York TimesBook Reviewrecently ran an article about a spate of new dystopian Science Fiction/Futurist books by women writers appalled by what they see as threats to women’s rights at home and around the world.

TOK explores what the current landscape in Canada is for publishing books that push the boundaries of what’s considered acceptable “CanLit”: what the audience wants, what publishers are willing to read, why writers are drawn to write stories that reject narrow definition, and how books can/should find their reading audience.

All events are FREE to attend on a first-come, first-served basis, but registration is required. Location: The Manitoba Museum.  https://tokmagazine.ca/tok-winnipeg-symposium/

Participants include writers David Alex Robertson, Sheena Kamal, Minister Faust; agent Marilyn Biderman from Transatlantic Literary Agency; editor Deborah Sun de la Cruz from Penguin Random House Canada; bookseller John Toews from McNally Robinson and others.