UPCOMING EVENT: DD Alumni Celebration

September 10, 2024 | 5:30-7PM

As summer winds down, we invite you to join us for celebration of writing, books and the power of mentoring!

Featuring DD alum:

• Leslie Shimotakahara. Leslie’s 2024 novel Sisters of the Spruce. Drawing on inspiration from her ancestors’ stories and experiences, Shimotakahara weaves an entrancing tale of female adventure, friendship, and survival set against the majestic landscape of a WWI-era logging camp on Haida Gwaii.

• Christina Wong. Christina’s graphic novel (with Daniel Innes) which was shortlisted for Canada Reads, is a moving story told in visual art and fiction about gentrification, aging in place, grief, and vulnerable Chinese Canadian elders.

• Akosua Amo-Adem. Akosua’s play, TABLE FOR TWO (developed through the DD-TD Black Playwrights Program), has been programmed into Soulpepper Theatre’s upcoming 2024/25 Season. Table for Two is a candid exploration of the digital dating landscape, where swipes, likes, and matches collide with cultural traditions and personal aspirations.

About Leslie: Leslie Shimotakahara’s memoir, The Reading List, won the Canada-Japan Literary Prize, and her fiction has been shortlisted for the KM Hunter Artist Award. She has written two critically acclaimed novels, After the Bloom and Red Oblivion. Her writing has appeared in the National Post, World Literature Today, and Changing the Face of Canadian Literature, among other anthologies and periodicals. She completed a PhD in English at Brown University. She and her husband live in Toronto’s west end.

About Christina: Christina Wong is a playwright, prose writer, and a multidisciplinary artist who also works in sound installation, audio documentaries, and photography. Her plays have been performed at Factory Studio, Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace, and Palmerston Library Theatre. Her work has also appeared in TOK Magazine, the Toronto Star, and on CJRU 1280AM.

About Akosua: Akosua Amo-Adem is an actor, writer, and teacher/coach based in Toronto. Throughout her fifteen-year career Akosua has appeared in a variety of productions around the city. Her selected credits includeStratford Theatre’s Much Ado About Nothing (Ursla), Death and the King’s Horseman (Iyaloja); Soulpepper Theatre’s Three Sisters (Lolo), Billi, Sarah, and Ella…(Narrator) Pipeline (Naya), A Streetcar Named Desire(Eunice), For Colored Girls…(Lady in Green), Father Comes Home From The Wars…(Leader/Runaway), The Crucible (Tituba); Obsidian Theatre’s School Girls: or the African Mean Girls Play (Head Mistress Francis), Venus’ Daughters (Venus/Sarah); Canadian Stage’s Tartuffe (Dorine); Theatre Passe Muraille’s The Middle Place (Kaaliha/Dee). Akosua is currently developing her first full length play with Soulpepper Theatre called Table for Two! Her on screen credits include appearances on Odd Squad, Bitten, Frankie Drake Mysteries, 21 Black Futures, In The Dark, Most Dangerous Game, American Gods and Kim’s Convenience. Most recently, Akosua is a Dora Award winner for the Best Ensemble and Best Production of Three Sisters. You can find her online on Instagram @akos2030.