Historic Joy Kogawa House

AUTHOR NANCY LEE NOW IN RESIDENCE

MAY 2010 — Historic Joy Kogawa House announces 2010 writing program

Historic Joy Kogawa House is thrilled to welcome local author Nancy Lee as our 2010 writer-in-residence.

Nancy Lee is the author of Dead Girls, a collection of short stories that earned the 2003 VanCity Book Prize for books pertaining to women’s issues. Dead Girls was also chosen as one of the best books of 2002 by The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Vancouver Sun, and Now Magazine named it Book of the Year.

Commenting on her appointment as writer-in-residence, Lee said: “It is an honour to be writing in the childhood home of Joy Kogawa, an author whose work opened doors for so many female writers and for women of colour of my generation. I look forward not only to intensive work on my own novel but also to connecting with writers in the community.”

Joy Kogawa’s Obasan gave voice to social injustice unknown to many Canadians more than 25 years ago. To further Kogawa’s work, Nancy Lee will engage in a series of conversations during her residency with writers who use their work as a means of social change. Writers in this series include Steven Galloway, local author of The Cellist of Sarajevo, in conversation on Monday, May 17, and Karen Connelly, the Toronto author of Burmese Lessons, in conversation on Monday, June 14. The reading list that emerges from these conversations will be available on the kogawahouse.com website and will also be distributed through libraries across Canada in order to guide readers who want to explore socially conscious writing.

Lee will also lead a postcard memoir-writing workshop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 26, and she will participate in a spectacular book sale and open house event with other local writers from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 27.

Lee’s residency wraps on the evening of Monday, June 28, with a reading from work in progress during her residency, the novel Born Slippy, forthcoming with McClelland & Stewart.

Throughout Lee’s residency, opportunities for consultation on work in development are also available.

Lee is an accomplished writing educator and her ability to work with other writers distinguished her application from others received in a cross-Canada call for proposals. “In our call for applicants we had intended to select a writer from out of town in order to inspire and energize the local writing community,” said Historic Joy Kogawa House Society executive director Ann-Marie Metten. “But we received a balance of applications from British Columbia writers (10 out of the 22 applications received), even though the geographic distribution of writers is much different (one in four writers live in British Columbia, according to membership in The Writers’ Union of Canada). This response reflects strong local interest in our writing program at Joy Kogawa House, and we are excited that Nancy Lee will welcome a significant community of writers and readers to the house.” Lee lives in Steveston, B.C., with her husband, author John Vigna, but will live and work at Historic Joy Kogawa House throughout her residency, from April 1 to June 30, 2010.

Further information can be found on the website of the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society at kogawahouse.com or by calling (604) 263-6586.

Two events with John Asfour will round out his third and final month in residence.

MAY 2009 — Tuesday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m., John presents an evening of Arabic poetry in translation. John performs on the oud, or Arabic lute, as actors Adrienne Wong and Marcus Youssef of Neworld Theatre read his poems and those of Syrian poet Muhammad al-Maghut and Mahmoud Darwish, Palestine’s national poet. This event will take place in the Alma VanDusen and Peter Kaye rooms on the Lower Level of the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library, 350 West Georgia Street. Admission is free.

Back at Kogawa house on Saturday, May 30, at 7:30 p.m.—the final evening of John's residency with us—he welcomes Gary Geddes and Ann Eriksson for readings in celebration of John's residency. Gary Geddes has written and edited more than 35 books and won a dozen national and international literary awards, including the Gabriela Mistral Prize and, most recently, the Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence in BC. He will read from Falsework about the collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge in Vancouver. Ann Eriksson’s new novel, In the Hands of Anubis, has been described by the critics as wise, wicked, touching and funny. It ranges from Cairo to Calgary to Ucluelet and has a cast of coyotes, tractors and dog-headed gods. Her novel, Decomposing Maggie, appeared on bestseller lists in 2003. This event takes place at Kogawa house and seating is limited.

To reserve a seat, contact Ann-Marie Metten, Executive Director at 604-263-6586 or email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.

March 16, 2009 - Montreal Poet Arrives In Vancouver for Inaugural Residency

Historic Joy Kogawa House welcomes first writer-in-residence. Historic Joy Kogawa House is pleased to announce our first writer-in-residence, Montreal poet John Asfour.

Upon arriving in Vancouver, Asfour said: “I am pleased to be chosen as the first writer-in-residence at Kogawa house. I’m here to learn how a community like the Japanese Canadian would turn a part of their historical suffering into something positive by establishing a place where writers can live and work. Japanese Canadians were very supportive of the Arab-Canadian community and what it had to endure after September 11.”

Asfour is the author of four books of poetry in English and two in Arabic. He translated the poetry of Muhammad al-Maghut into English under the title Joy Is Not My Profession (Véhicule Press), and he selected, edited and introduced the landmark anthology When the Words Burn: An Anthology of Modern Arabic Poetry, 1945–1987 (Cormorant Books).

The majority of the writer’s time in residence will be devoted to work on a book of poems entitled Blindfold, which exposes the “rich and strange” possibilities of a life that has undergone some frightening transformation and is displaced from its element. The book is partly autobiographical—born in Lebanon, Asfour was blinded in 1958 at age 13 during the Civil War there. The poems also explore feelings of loss, displacement and disorientation experienced by the disabled and relates them to immigrant themes that Asfour has previously addressed. Asfour suggests that the disabled often feel like foreigners in their own land, hampered by prejudice (sometimes well-meaning), communications barriers and the sense of “limited personality” that characterizes the second-language learner.

While in Vancouver between now until the end of May, Asfour will present poetry workshops to a variety of audiences, in collaboration with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Simon Fraser University’s Writers Studio and the Vancouver Public Library. Opportunities for consultation on work in development are also available.

Further information can be found on the website of the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society at kogawahouse.com and TLC The Land Conservancy of BC, at conservancy.bc.ca or by calling (604) 263-6586.

Contacts:

• Kogawa House Society: Ann-Marie Metten (604) 263-6586
• TLC, The Land Conservancy of BC: Tamsin Baker (604) 733-2313