FOLD 2022 Festival Program

VO I C E S F RO M TH E FO L D A FESTIVAL MAGAZINE YEAR SEVEN

PRESENTED BY

THE FESTIVAL OF LITERARY DIVERSITY MAY 1 — MAY 7, 2022

>> A VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE

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As we approach the 35th anniversary of the Trillium Book Awards, Ontario Creates celebrates the positive impact and importance of literary diversity to the book publishing industry.

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CONTENTS From the FOLD Team

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Mayor’s Letter

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Arrival

by Moni Brar Give me a Sign

By Sebastian Yūe

Gusts Like Wine

By Amir Aziz

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8

Two Dishes

by Agata Antonow

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Over Hand Over

by Manahil Bandukwala

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Forest Fires and Falling Stars

by Treena Chambers

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On Playing Double Jeopardy

by Christina Brobby

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nôhkomtipiskaw pisime

By Meghan Eaker

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Thunder Bay

By Samantha Martin-Bird

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In Which Skinny Dipping Restores a Voice

By Anna Swanson

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Pockets

By Leanne Shirtliffe

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Constellations are for the Tame

By Amal Rana

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Illustrated Stories

By Susan MacLeod

By John Elizabeth Stinzi

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Dil Soji

By Gian Marco Visconti

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Festival Participants

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Infinitive: a state of being

by Leanne Charette

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Festival Schedule

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FOLD at a Glance

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Capitalism of Self

by Nadine Nakagawa

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FOLD Book list

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The Reality of Ghosts

By Yilin Wang

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LEAD CORPORATE SPONSOR PLATINUM

An agency of the Government of Ontario Un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario

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CELA opens books no matter how you read Diverse voices deserve to be heard.

Diverse stories deserve to be read.

The Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) is pleased to partner with the FOLD to make accessible versions of the FOLD’s featured books available through public libraries to the estimated 3 million Canadians with print disabilities.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

Celalibrary.ca

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STAFF Executive Director JAEL RICHARDSON Communications & Development Coordinator AMANDA LEDUC Kids Coordinator ARDO OMER Festival Poetry Curator LAMOI Graphic Designer KILBY SMITH-MCGREGOR Production & Marketing Coordinator NATASHA SHAIKH Volunteer Coordinators TONI DUVAL EMMY NORDSTROM HIGDON Associate Program Editor JEN FERGUSON Pitch Perfect Facilitator TAMARA JONG

ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE Bronwyn Berg Rhonda-Lee Dynes Amie Gaudet Adam Pottle Rasiqra Revulva Rahma Shere

PLANNING TEAM David Burga Toni Duval Emmy Nordstrom Higdon Shoilee Khan Amanda Leduc Ardo Omer Alex Platt Jael Richardson Karen Richardson Mason Natasha Ramoutar Fiona Ross Natasha Shaikh Monika Trzeciakowski Meg Wheeler

See yourself here.

Look to us for inclusive programs and services. Our Pride book club offers open conversation about issues and allyship.

Register through Eventbrite.

Scan the code to get a Brampton Library card!

bramptonlibrary.ca 4

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair ISHTA MERCURIO Treasurer TERI VLASSOPOULOS Secretary ASHISH SETH Director, Children’s Programming KAREN RICHARDSON MASON Director, Adult Programming DAVID BURGA Director, Sponsorships & Prizes FELICIA QUON Director, Human Resources CYNTHIA INNES Director, Board Governance MARK RICHARDSON

FROM THE

FOLD TEAM We considered starting this with a “welcome back” but

We are so grateful to our funders and our spon-

the truth is that even though the last two years have

sors who have supported us through these difficult

been unpredictable, and at times chaotic, we haven’t

years. They have allowed us to grow our team and

gone anywhere. We have continued with our pro-

our overall attendance—and we believe this means

gramming amidst the pandemic, and—for the most

we have an added responsibility to do more and to

part—it’s been a helpful change. It’s certainly changed

do better, in whatever way we can, especially when it

things for the better.

comes to supporting the most vulnerable readers and

FOLD 2022 is not a return to normal, if normal is

writers in our community.

even a word that could describe pre-pandemic days.

So this year, expect more on our virtual platform

FOLD 2022 marks a new beginning—a demonstration

—including the opportunity to access everything you

of the Festival of Literary Diversity’s continued evo-

enjoy about the festival (and a few more things) on

lution. For the first time, the FOLD will include virtual

our new mobile app. And follow the FOLD year-round

and in-person events, a format we will continue to de-

to see the new ways we’re innovating and growing to

velop and evolve going forward.

support readers and writers in Brampton, Ontario,

Much like 2020 and 2021, this year’s festival in-

Canada and around the world.

cludes a wide range of virtual events. And while we hope to safely add more in-person events to the fes-

— JAEL, AMANDA, and ARDO

tival in the future, this year includes a small set of in-person events which will allow us to develop a new in-person routine that incorporates live-streaming and live in-person captioning.

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6 GUITARS

WRITTEN BY CHASE PADGETT & JAY HOPKINS PERFORMED BY CHASE PADGETT

MAY 12, 2022

A PITCH-PERFECT BLEND OF MUSIC AND COMEDY. “6 Guitars is nothing short of a storytelling masterpiece. It will leave you laughing until you cry.”

-Edmonton Sun “A Stunning Performance.”

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1 THEATRE LN, BRAMPTON, ON L6V 0A3

April 2022 Greetings from Mayor Patrick Brown Dear Friends, On behalf of the Members of Brampton City Council I would like to welcome you to the 7th Annual Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) which celebrates diversity in literature by promoting diverse authors and stories in Brampton– one of Canada’s most culturally diverse cities. In 2022, the FOLD is taking place largely online—on the festival platform and also, new for 2022, on the festival app--but also celebrating a return to in-person programming in Brampton for a select few events. It is great to see Jael Richardson and her team continuing to organize this festival during such a challenging time, and especially wonderful to see in-person festival programming return to The Rose.

The 2022 festival will take place from May 1 – 7 and features 30+ events and over 40 authors.

Panels, discussions and workshops will allow guests from across Canada and around the world to participate in the festival. All virtual and in-person events will be close-captioned. This festival will bring established and emerging writers, educators, and literary professionals together with readers from all walks of life to celebrate and expand Canada’s body of diverse literature.

The festival will also provide aspiring writers with the opportunity to develop their skills and improve their writing by connecting them with other writers and by providing them with professional development opportunities that allow them to learn. I want to thank the sponsors and the Board of Directors for their ongoing efforts in promoting literacy and making this festival a success.

Enjoy the festival!

Sincerely,

Patrick Brown Mayor

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ARRIVAL

BY MONI BRAR We walked off a plane

and into a forest

not seeing the berries

signaling

danger or food in the river waiting

nor the pink flash We saw only rocks

to be gathered and stacked

land ready to be cleared flattened and ploughed did not know

to grow what we We peeled back

the earth’s mossy coat seeped into small towns into spaces of people

seeded hope spilled

unseeing the displacement flora and fauna

eager to build

a grim new future

a myopic dream in the wide open

A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original poem.

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GIVE ME A SIGN

BY SEBASTIAN YŪE The day I came into the world there were no bodies, neither astral nor mortal to mark the time and date The day I came into the world the stars stood still— no celestial celebration for a baby born in a Chinese gutter.

The sun was down and the clouds masked the moon and I guess heaven’s herald was off that day, I like to think they were on a tropical holiday somewhere nice with no sidereal map to orient and no way to chart a path I wander from point to point, drawing my own constellations across quadrants I hang my destiny like a corpse in the sky In the vast expanse of the galaxy, I’ll claim space not caring what coulda, woulda, shoulda been written in the stars because after I go supernova, the sky’ll be too dark to read!

Previously published in Fire From the Heart, Three Ocean Press, 2021.

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A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original essay (finalist for the the 2020 Indigenous Voices Awards).

FOREST FIRES AND FALLING STARS

BY TREENA CHAMBERS

The sky has been thick with smoke off and on for the

“I was a bit worried when we had to drive with my

whole summer. Everyone we know is either fighting

door open so I could see the yellow line on the side of

fires or watching the sky for rain. Treesa’s boyfriend

the road.” I laugh again. The boys had the afternoon

and his buddies are firefighting about an hour from

off, so we decided to chance the drive, despite the

our grandparents’ farm.

fires and smoke, and hangout at the lake with them.

“I think with Roger here guarding us and the

As we were returning to the farm the wind shifted

cows between us and the mountain we’ll be safe

and smoke covered the highway. For a few hundred

from your Sasquatch.”

metres we crawled along hugging the center yellow

“Don’t be a bitch.” I laugh. I have an irrational fear

watching, hoping that no one was coming our way.

of being kidnapped by Sasquatch. It is so dark over-

But we made it back and we scored some beer

head that the milky way feels almost touchable. Roger,

from the boys. So, on our last surveillance free night we

my grandpa’s collie is snoring beside us and chasing

are laying here on our backs in the grass, looking up at

something in his dreams. Hopefully it’s Sasquatch but

the stars and drinking contraband. The bats overhead

I doubt it. Roger is loveable but useless.

are eating the mosquitoes that want to eat us, and the

Treesa giggles. “Whatever.”

cows in the field next to us are huddled up sleeping.

“That was quite a drive. Glad the smoke has cleared a bit. We can breathe. Well, expect for the cow crap. Eww.” We wanted to come and hang out with no parental units watching over us for a few days. We begged our parents to let us stay alone in our cabin on our grandparents’ farm. Surprisingly, they agreed. We won three whole nights to ourselves. It doesn’t seem like a lot of time; except I haven’t been more than three feet away from an adult since I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in February, a year and half ago this August. My own personal surveillance state.

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Usually I close my eyes or look out the window while a chemo nurse pushes it in. I can tell when they’ve finished administering it by the metallic taste that forms in the back of my mouth.

“Yeah. Probably not our best decision to drive to New Denver this afternoon,” Treesa says.

I even got to sit in the sun for a bit. I regret it now.

I am burnt to shit and I can feel a cold sore coming on.

But it was worth it to be a teenager for a few hours.

This is our last night alone. The parents and various

“Was it bad?” Treesa asks.

I know she’s talking about my last round of chemo. “It wasn’t great.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” I say rubbing the back of my hand with the tip of my finger.

aunts, uncles and cousins will descend on the farm to-

There had been a problem with my IV. The fan-

morrow. I’ll have to explain the sunburn and cold sore.

cy description is that the IV went interstitial. Which

But that’s tomorrow.

means, in non-doctorish terms, that the tip of the nee-

“I guess we get to play bingo when everyone arrives,” Treesa says.

dle broke through the vein and pumped liquid into the tissue around it. The nurse blamed me for dislodging

“Oh god. Don’t remind me.” I try to take a drink of

the IV needle and I blamed her for not listening to me

my beer without sitting up and spill as much as I get in

when I said that the vein she chose was too weak for

my mouth. Our few days alone have been wonderfully

an IV let alone the poison of the day, Adriamycin. All

unpoliced. We swam in the lake, it was fucking cold,

chemo drugs are a bitch, but this one has an added

ate crap food, it tasted great, and hung out with the

bonus. Its red colour makes it look angry. I can’t even

boys when they weren’t working. Our lazy days will

watch when they push it into my IV.

change when everyone else gets here.

I don’t like to watch chemo go into my body. But

Treesa and I have a game. It’s our version of sick-

there is something about this one, the red liquid

kid bingo. There are squares; like remind Treena to

disappearing under my skin, that I find particularly

stay out of the sun; check to see if Treena has gargled

unsettling. Usually I close my eyes or look out the

to avoid mouth sores; tell Treena to put on a hat; ask

window while a chemo nurse pushes it in. I can tell

Treena if she had a clear bowel movement this morn-

when they’ve finished administering it by the me-

ing. The complications during my last chemo session

tallic taste that forms in the back of my mouth. The

will have the adults on hyper alert. It won’t take long

drug’s tasty reminder that mouth sores are a poten-

to fill up a card.

tial future gift.

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This time it hurt before I could taste it. A burning feeling brought tears to my eyes. The chemo nurse didn’t notice, but the ward nurse did. She was chat-

night.

“Wow. What happens after that?”

ting to me about soap operas to distract me. With the

“I guess I’m cured,” I say. “Though no one is willing

exception of a few exceptionally dramatic moments

to use that word. I can’t believe we’re almost through

where I lost my shit in a BIG way, I don’t easily dissolve

this,” I add and after a beat, I say: “I’m sorry.”

into tears. So, she knew something was wrong when I

Sometimes I think about how much of our lives

just stared ahead with watery eyes instead of making

have centered around me for the past two years and

rude comments about my soap star crush.

feel guilty. I stole our parents from my sister and

The drug burned a three-inch line in the back of

brother. Vacations and parties had to be planned

my hand before they got the IV out. Because so much

around my chemo schedule. Every twenty-eight days

IV fluid leaked in it took a few days to assess the dam-

I made my way to a hospital with one or both of the

age in my hand. What the nurse had assured me was

parental units. Important birthday dinners, hockey or

puffiness from the prednisone I was taking when the

volleyball games, or report card celebrations/recrim-

IV started had actually been saline seeping under the

inations were always second in importance to how I

skin. We had to wait while my body absorbed the sa-

was feeling.

line to get a good look at the damage the chemo had done. It left an angry red map of the vein and burned a divot through a bone in my hand.

The IV nurse felt bad she hadn’t listened to my

“What the fuck are you sorry for?”

I laugh at Treesa’s response. She’s generous in a way she doesn’t have to be.

“Are you excited about being done?” she asks.

warning. When she put in a new IV her hands shook

“I guess so. Nobody will say cured. So how done

and she had to pretend she wasn’t crying. After three

can I be?” Chemo sucks, yeah, but it’s better than

failed tries to get a new line started in my other hand,

dying. Hating treatment is easy for people to under-

she had to use a vein in my foot. Which meant that I

stand. Being afraid to stop is trickier to explain. Yes,

was stuck in bed with an immobilized leg and all the

the drugs are killing me, but they’re killing the cancer

indignities that come with that. Bed pans. Crappy hos-

faster. I start putting words around the anxiety that

pital gowns instead of my own pajamas. Worst of all,

has been with me for a while. “This is going to sound

no way to order out take-out food, because I couldn’t

messed up. But as fucking hard as chemo is, at least I

walk to the nurses’ station to use the phone.

feel like I’m doing something. Not just sitting around

I tried to make a joke, to lighten the mood in the

waiting for my body to betray me again.” A tear slips

room. Maybe it was because I went with the easy pin

out of the corner of my eye. I want to wipe it away, but

cushion metaphor that she didn’t laugh. Or, maybe

I don’t want to spill my beer.

four needles and an angry red stripe emerging on the back of my hand meant my ‘joke’ was more mean than funny.

There’s silence.

Everyone else would fill this moment with advice.

You have to be strong, Treena. You have to believe, Tre-

I had known there was a problem as soon as the

ena. You have to want to live, Treena. Negative feelings

IV went it. I could feel fluid pooling in the back of my

bring negative results, Treena. Not my sister. Fuck, I’m

hand almost as soon as it started. But who listens to a

lucky to have her.

fourteen-year-old? What would I know about IVs? After all I’ve only had about two or three a month for the past sixteen months, what would I know? The IV nurse went to school for this.

“Look up there on the left. A satellite. Do you think mom has them checking on us?” she says.

“Nice redirection.” My hand moves to cover my beer bottle. You can never be too sure in this life. If

It had been a hard week. The veins on the back

anyone had the ability to guilt someone into redirect-

of my hands are so tired they refuse to stand up any-

ing a satellite to check on their kid mom would be

more. And man can I relate. The beers, the boys, the

that person.

sunburn and the stars have been good medicine. I feel closer to normal than I have in a long time.

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“I only have two treatments left,” I say into the

“I can see the Big Dipper. I can never find the North Star,” Treesa says.

“Me either. Dad would be disappointed in us. Oh.

I lie back. I can feel the grass poking through my

I found the Little Dipper. There. Dad would be happy.”

shirt. It tickles the back of my legs, rubbing against my

“Are you worried It will come back?” Treesa asks.

sunburn. I can smell the green. It smells like life. It’s

“Every fucking day,” I answer, rubbing my thumb

growth and change and rot.

over the path burned into the back of my hand.

“Me too,” she says.

We watch the sky for falling stars. I can hear my sister breathing.

This, that, is why I love her. She asks questions no

Tonight is a good night.

one else has the courage to ask and actually wants to

For now, that’s enough.

hear my answers, my fucked up, complicated answers, not the ‘cherish every sunrise as a gift from god’ crap

//

other people are looking for.

NÔHKOM TIPISKAW PISIME

BY MEGHAN EAKER i scream to the moon that my body is not a fraction she embraces me she never made me prove i was enough before she offered her love

A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original poem.

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IN WHICH SKINNY DIPPING RESTORES A VOICE

BY ANNA SWANSON You have come to speak one-on-one

breathe. That harmless fire—

with the world. Not danger exactly,

not yours. You are alive. Your fine fat

just that your fire has become harmless,

facts. Your unsweetened tongue.

your hope tastes like aspartame

Speak now like a child who is

& your thirst cannot remember

also an alligator. Speak your hazards,

what it wants. An illustrated book

your hardwood, glass-fibred barbs

of hazards & antibodies & small

& kiln-dried wants. Library of starched

careful passions. Your questions,

passions, impossible flames small

plastic toys that make no mark.

as almonds. Speak the apples

What is it you want? The world

of your green-bodied attention

holds out its world-sized palm

& your unauthorized animal moons.

filled with water. Leave your bright

Speak hot & necessary like calories,

packaging on the rock. Make cold contact.

like antibodies.

Your face, your ribs. Your assembled

Like fire.

damage & cravings. Stay under.

Lose your left & your right. Lose your receipts & your schedules & your adhesive

Note: All words (with the exception of title) transcribed

outline. Come back up breathless &

from garbage found in the Punch Bowl Pond, St. John’s, NL.

A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original poem 14

(Winner, Senior Poetry division, 2018 Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Awards).

CONSTELL LATIONS ARE FOR THE TAME

BY AMAL RANA our ancestors those matriarchs of jinn fire and blood lope through interplanetary forests triggering geomagnetic storms for the briefest moment their splendour shimmers earthly skies we fall to our knees bask in the reflected glory name them aurora

Previously published in Poetry is Dead: Coven, Issue 17.

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DIL SOJI

BY GIAN MARCO VISCONTI i give my sorrow to the river in exchange for sabr say shukr as the waters give their condolences a piece of heaven shimmering on the surface the clouds swimming, quivering like fish fold your name like a prayer or a song naad-e nadi-yaa a fluvial refrain running rapidly from my heart to yours if i dared to ask could the water fill my grief as easily as it fills the bank is there any weight the current could not carry when loss meets loss my skin unspools like gauze clinging loosely to mist mara ruh, fluid like ichor running down from the mountain into the blue.

A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original poem.

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A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original poem.

INFINITIVE: A STATE OF BEING

BY LEANNE CHARETTE This skin, showered with questions, eyed with suspicion, will not be passive.

Here, a line was drawn, showing exactly where it deviates from the design.

Here, the bunched attempts to mend, at the hip, puckered along the spine.

This skin has known the scalpel, has felt overactive nerves severed;

has walked bare, between the balance bars, disfigurements on show,

has seen itself reflected in two-way mirrors by harsh, medical lights.

This skin, riotous tissue symbiotically tied to a fray of joy, pain, longing; intertwined with the chair that frees, never confines, is with surgical precision, reduced to the inanimate.

To inaccessible minds, the living becomes only thing.

But this skin will not be passive; beneath its surface tense muscles resist the wounds that tried to render it inactive.

It will heal over and over.

This skin will not be passive, not a noun but a verb.

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A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original essay.

CAPITALISM OF SELF

BY NADINE NAKAGAWA

Lately, when people ask what I’m up to I tell them

climate change, the housing crisis, and food security

that I’m spending a lot of time looking at moss and

all at. I truly felt that I should be working constantly

mushrooms. That I’m learning to cook for myself and

and that my personal value was attached to my pro-

for loved ones.

ductivity. I call this capitalism of the self.

When I tell people this, I’m sometimes confront-

I wasn’t particularly attached to profit—except

ed by confused looks. Some smile at the whimsy. Peo-

that I live in an expensive community and need to

ple have told me that it’s a charming or sweet idea.

be able to pay rent and buy kitty litter and have

I don’t mean it to be charming or sweet. I do

shampoo and to be able to go out to the nice vegan

mean for it to be whimsical because all things in my

restaurants—but I was tying my value to produc-

life should be filled with whimsy. I also mean for it

tion. Even though that production was in the form of

to be radical. I quit my job so I can wander around

social service work and activism, it felt never-ending

looking at the small delights of the natural world. So

and demoralizing.

I can nourish myself with food that is substantial and delicious, and that I ripped and tossed and seasoned

In conversations I fought against the need to apologize for not doing enough.

with my own hands.

If this doesn’t sound radical, let me outline my previous state of being. Picture this: Two jobs totaling around fifty-five hours per week, eight hours commuting, plus a bunch of side projects. On any given day, I would get home at 9:15 p.m. and make a quick dinner of frozen, bagged vegetables with rice and salty sauce from a bottle. I’d eat it, sitting in bed and feeling guilty that I wasn’t working on my community projects or responding to email.

I felt bad if I didn’t go to all the events, run a million side projects, and try to tackle everything from

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When are we going to admit that this isn’t sustainable, that we aren’t meant to live like this? And that this pace of life contributes to further unhealthy practices for ourselves, our communities and our planet?

I decided to quit. And I’ve felt really guilty ever

When people are going through times of stress,

since. When people ask me where I’m working, what

whether in their personal life or resulting from work,

I’m doing, I feel really ashamed to say that I’m only

they are often encouraged to indulge in self-care. As

doing city council work and my activism projects. As

if the cortisol created by commuting in rush hour

if that’s not enough. But as an able-bodied, mid-ca-

traffic can be remedied by a warm bubble bath. As

reer woman with no kids it seems that the norm has

if providing community support for friends encoun-

to be working full time plus. When are we going to

tering systems of racism is fixed by a beautiful smell-

admit that this isn’t sustainable, that we aren’t meant

ing candle and some deep breathing. Or that, in my

to live like this? And that this pace of life contributes

case, receiving endless emails calling me an idiot and

to further unhealthy practices for ourselves, our

social media comments calling me whiny, entitled, di-

communities and our planet?

visive, and pretentious can be relieved by chocolate.

Eating dinner in bed sadly and guiltily was not

Self-care first emerged as a medical concept and

good for my mental health. I was burnt out. This

was often used as a recommendation for people

presented itself in weakened ability to make deci-

working in caring professions like nurses and social

sions and poor memory. I’m sure I was not as great

workers. The idea has always been to fill your cup

a friend as I could have been. A lot of my social time

before you try to fill others’. Put the oxygen mask on

involved alcohol. The burnout also contributed to

yourself first.

overconsumption—because I didn’t feel like I was

Soon after, feminists and activists began claim-

able to cook for myself, I ate a lot of takeout. I or-

ing self-care as political resistance. “Caring for myself

dered pretty dresses and earrings online as a kind of

is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that

reward for a tough week. I had privilege even within

is an act of political warfare,” said Audre Lorde. This

my state of burnout.

was in response to the social determinants of health

That guilt I felt wasn’t a coincidence: it was man-

which explained why people who are poor and on the

ufactured by the capitalist belief that we need to con-

margins are also less healthy. It’s not because poor

stantly be doing more. Capitalism wants us to do, do,

people are negligent; it’s because poverty creates

do then consume, consume, consume.

poor health. Black and Indigenous women are often

19

denied healthcare because it has been believed that

subtractive. They are carving out blobs of time to re-

they don’t feel pain the same way that white people

lax our overstressed nervous systems only to return

do. That offensive concept is still believed by too

to the same work that caused the stress in the first

many doctors. In fact, a 2016 study showed that half

place. What if you work multiple jobs? What if your

of white medical trainees falsely believed that Black

caregiving responsibilities don’t turn off at five p.m.?

people’s skin was thicker than white people’s, lead-

This pace of life is costing us. Anxiety and de-

ing them to inaccurately treat pain. For this reason,

pression rates are skyrocketing in adults and chil-

it makes sense for many people to recognize that the

dren. We are destroying our home planet. Nearly

system isn’t going to look after them—it’s on them to

a quarter of Canadian adults have hypertension.

take care of themselves.

People feel lonely and unconnected. We need to

However, buying smelly candles and taking bub-

recognize that this pace of life is entirely construct-

ble baths are simply examples of the capitalism of

ed by capitalism. That the concept of full-time work

self-care. Our capitalist system has exposed us to

being forty hours a week is completely arbitrary

this overwhelming influx of stress and as a result,

and decided by the market. We could collectively

we should consume self-care. We’re now at a point

choose differently.

where self-care seems to mean that you need to

That’s why I decided to stop working so hard and

work harder, do more and look good doing it. Buy

spend more time just being. I want to reignite my cu-

some essential oils, take a yoga class from a white

riosity and have time to look and wonder and wan-

woman who will lead you through three oms, have

der. I want to take my dog for a walk without hurrying

that glass of wine and you will feel better. As if these

him when he’s smelling the story left behind by an-

things aren’t interlinked.

other canine. I want to crouch and watch a bee rub-

For one thing, much self-care is related to do-

bing their furry body on the stamens of a crocus. I

ing more. Do yoga, go for a walk, meditate. It’s also

want to learn how to make soba noodle salad and be

related to consumption in the form of sweets and

proud enough of the result to share it with bereaved

treats, and face masks. And too often, there are un-

friends. I want to write. I want to turn my face to the

addressed issues of cultural appropriation (yoga), as

sun and to stretch and to read the stack of books on

well as race and migration (ever got a mani-pedi from

my side table.

a young Vietnamese woman?).

I should also point out how gendered self-care is, but that’s a whole other story in and of itself.

verdant greenness. I want to notice the tiniest fungi

For me, self-care needs to be structural and

and lichen growing along a fallen log and to see a tiny

community-based. When Martin Luther King Jr. and

shell on the pavement in downtown New Westmin-

the Black Panthers talked about self-care, it was fo-

ster. I want to pet my cat until she tires of it (it hasn’t

cused on needed community services and not ma-

happened yet) and leaves my chest of her own accord.

ni-panis delivered by young Vietnamese women,

I sometimes feel like I’ve given up so much—the

recently immigrated and kneeling in front of you.

ability to save for my next trip or for retirement, to

Self-care needs to be rooted in taking care of our-

buy dinner for friends, to purchase packages of yoga

selves, others and the planet. It has nothing to do

classes, and pay for massage and acupuncture. I’m

with consumption and should be about subtracting

hoping to gain so much more.

not adding to our lives.

20

I want to run my fingers along the different types of moss and wonder at their springy texture and their

It’s taken me a while to slow down and recover.

But even subtracting can be a problem. “Don’t

As I emerge from the fog of burnout, the world looks

check your email in the evenings” and “take twen-

brighter. I’m more ready than ever to fight the righ-

ty extra minutes away from your desk to walk or

teous fights, to raise my voice on issues I care about,

stretch” the women’s magazines and wellness web-

but now I can consider my words and phrasing with

sites suggest. This only works if you won’t be pun-

more intention. I’ve learned to make myself coffee in

ished for not responding to evening emails and that

my bodum and have mastered rice noodles of var-

the extra twenty minutes away are related to twenty

ious thicknesses. And on a gloriously sunny spring

minutes of reduced workload. These things aren’t

day, I’m sitting down to write.

Slowing down has led to more financial precarity,

in the brightest way possible. But only for a short

but it has allowed me to learn cyprus trees have a

time before I need to close up and rest again. Unlike

flat branching pattern compared to a pine tree and

spring-time ephemerals, my blooming season will be

I have been able to make care packages when my

aimed at injustice and ripping down the systems of

friend’s dog had to have nine cancerous lumps re-

oppression that create this capitalism of the self.

moved from his tiny body.

In giving up wage labour for the time being, I feel like a bulb planted in the cold soil of autumn. Invisible from the surface, there are magical things happening in my depths. Storing up all the peace and quiet will allow me to thrust from still frosty soil and bloom

Not only does this way of being give me the strength to fight the good fight, it in itself is a political act just as Audre said all those years ago.

For me, looking at moss and mushrooms is part of the revolution. //

21

THE REALITY OF GHOSTS

BY YILIN WANG “Why do so many Asians believe in ghosts?”

she leaves behind on the shelves. Count my

Two white yokai scholars won’t stop gawking

breaths to check whether I’m dreaming.

at us like we’re aliens seen through a telescope.

Each gap between tiny footnotes

They bait our deceased ancestors to rise up

is a signpost for the names left out.

in a parade of their torn robes, already stained

Wild marginalia peeks out from the edges

by the handprints of grave robbers. Demand

of peeling white-out. My transcended kin

elegies to be bottled up for a weighing of

didn’t pass on to have their half-healed scabs

their heaviness, a test of their misty reality.

ripped open again, paper offerings stolen

I must have left my soul in Fengdu Ghost City

like plundered heirlooms, trapped

two summers ago, when I devoured an icy blue

behind spotless display windows

popsicle atop the mountain home of Diyu,

so far away from home. It’s much easier

the Underworld. Perhaps it’s why I see ghosts

to summon spirits than to

everywhere now. In a bookstore,

cast them away. When they are

a Chinese granny has my late Wai-Poh’s

evoked, they’ll return without fanfare,

toothless smiles and stooped shoulders.

and they’ll feast. A hunting of the unreal

I trace the spine of second-hand history

living, a haunting of the faithless.

Previously published in Fantasy Magazine.

22

GUSTS LIKE WINE

BY AMIR AZIZ That night the spring wind came late, and cold whipping my door, driving clouds lit red by traffic, making a carcass of our city.

Gusts, like wine, glugging stubby park lawns, sloshing leggy tulips, crashing into barren trees whose branches shriek like bone— I will tell you when I’ve had my fill.

The sun won’t rise for quite some time— and even that’s uncertain.

A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original poem.

23

A Voices from the FOLD: Year 6 original essay.

TWO DISHES

BY AGATA ANTONOW

One of my earliest memories is me in a kitchen, on

the pickles too soon, and I’d ask and ask to open a

a small step stool in my godmother’s tiny Soviet-era

jar. Cutting in, I’d see where the outside was pickled,

Polish apartment. Her hands are a floury blur, shap-

turning a deeper emerald and the inside of the veg-

ing paper-thin dough into tiny crescents. I’m trying to

etable still pale.

help, but my jam-sticky fingers are too small at the

In our adopted land, no one knew my father

ripe age of four and I realize now I must have pes-

knew how to cook. He worked in a factory in Canada

tered more than helped.

and my mother took over duties in the kitchen. Eating

My family has always been known for food, may-

food here was like having the volume turned down

be because my paternal grandfather grew up on a

to static. Everything like paper, beige and white, tast-

farm. When others starved, hunted pigeons in the

ing plain, but this is what I wanted. It was what was

rafters of the city cathedral during the war, my father

served on TV shows, what others brought to school

ate cabbages from the field and plums from the gar-

in lunch boxes and brown paper bags. Plain peanut

den. I climbed the same cherry tree that sheltered

butter and bread sandwiches. I never did understand

him, crawling along the thin branches, my four-year-

why the crusts had to be cut off. Casseroles. Barbe-

old hands too soft for the rough bark. They kept a pig,

cue. Buffets. The words like nothing I heard at home.

and cows, fat hens that chased me around the yard, a

Immigrant food is serious, and we start learn-

loud dog and hissing geese that I was afraid of.

24

ing with the verbs and the nouns of the vocabulary

My first dishes were all Polish. Pierogis, little

lists we were handed on printed paper in the church

ears, floating in a broth of beets. Meat and potatoes.

basement where we took English classes. We bought

My father wrapped translucent herring around pick-

TV dinners, marveled at the thin layer of foil, every-

les and carrots, layering them in a big white bucket,

thing on one small tray. Mashed potatoes, chicken,

covering it with brine. Four sisters, all younger, and

pale peas, a square of red dessert. It was my job to

he was the one known for cooking. The thick cucum-

read the instructions in English, to make sure the foil

bers on the kitchen counter, fat white garlic cloves

over the apple crumble was pierced with a fork. We

like dragon’s teeth, the long, lacy yellow of dill. All of

were familiar with all the tastes. Meat. Vegetables.

it placed in thick jars, saved up from purchases at the

But this did not taste like food.

store. Salty water like the ocean poured over it and

I begged and begged for candy. Thin ropes of

everything lined up on the counter. I always wanted

red fruit, like plastic wrap. I would wrap the sticki-

ness around my finger, relish the sour-sweet of “ap-

town, I can bite into curry, into sushi. It would have

ple.” Nothing we tried at the grocery store was real,

been unthinkable here twenty years ago.

but I loved the colors. Bright orange cheese. Impossi-

Two years ago, before the pandemic, I traveled

bly green apples. The deep brown of a Coke and the

back to where my father learned to cook and where I

smooth orange of juice. My teeth tingled with sour

first tasted meals I’ve long forgotten. Along the cobble-

candy and my tongue furred over with blue, all of it

stone streets of Wrocław, where my family went hungry,

like acid in my mouth. The taste of our future.

my nose led me to milk bars, where workers would fill

At school, I wanted the foods everyone ate. The

themselves on cheap meals after a day at the factory. I

foods that tasted like nothing, because in fifth grade

spooned my way through a vacation of cabbage-smell-

we children were already too cool for taste, growing

ing soups, kielbasa, scoops of ice cream melting over

up in the shadows of steel mills, tougher than the

my fingers. Wasps buzzed around me as I bit into fat

big city, tougher than the country kids. Ready for the

paczki, donuts with orange zest glaze.

world, our taste buds empty like snow.

In Krakow, we ate in the Jewish quarter, sipping el-

Now I have two dishes. There are the foods I ate

derberry tea and sandwiches. I drank lemonade looking

growing up—the ones that kept me apart from ev-

up at Wawel castle. Outside the salt mines of Wieliczka,

eryone at school, yet kept me close to my family. And

we sat down with other weary tourists amid the din of

there are the plates I have made as a Canadian, have

accordion music. Platters arrived—brown bread spread

cooked from the Anne of Green Gables cookbook,

with lard. The circle clicked closed and I bit in, remem-

have made with maple syrup. The nourishment of

bering my father, home from his factory job in Ontario,

two countries.

spreading his bread with a layer of white lard, speck-

I made my first casserole years ago, pouring in

led with coarse salt and bacon bits. I chewed through

frozen peas and tuna cans and mushroom soup into

my past, wondering what he must have thought of his

a glass plate. But maybe it’s not just two dishes any-

meal, thousands of miles from home. I remembered

more—Canadian food has changed as much as the

his large, hardened hands black with motor oil and his

world has. Now I walk through stores stocked with

tired, content sigh biting into his dinner.

bright yellow turmeric and paper-thin wonton wrap-

Now this. This is food.

pers. I bite into jicama. Turmeric leaves highlighter-yellow suds in my sink after dinner. Even in my tiny

// 25

Previously published in The Malahat Review.

OVER HAND OVER

BY MANAHIL BANDUKWALA I surrender an unpeeled clementine bursting with seeds I surrender an afternoon in the lengthening shadows of summer pines I surrender my thighs burning against the uphill slope of Tenth Line West It is August and touch is far. I meet my friend in the park and in the grass with our bikes between us, we read aloud the words of Noor Naga to still air I do not want to love you in an imaginary place We talk about surrender * sur (over) + rendre (hand over) I over hand over * I loved him the way I wanted to love the earth. It was April and the frost was just starting to thaw. My nose pressed into fresh dug garden soil. Small buds appeared on the rosebush. Last year’s thorns pricked my cheeks. He did not lick the blood clean from my face. I wanted to love him while loving my sisters and mother and laundered sheets and pots of snake plants. Ants looped bangles around my broken wrists. Scar extending from my left pinky to protruding bone * brutal (cruel) + ity (state of being) our cruel way of carrying on *

26

How easy it was to fall into a state of tallying our cruelties on the fridge. The way I wanted to forgive. I did not open myself up, palms up, to have my veins spill blood on the bed sheets. Surrender as a state of hurting. He said love could have worked. But what of the water? What of how the sky does not have a colour? So many words never found their place in the air. So many green raspberries on the bush, half-chewed and hardened * forgive = give up i.e. not forgiving him but relearning handing over i.e. I give to the softness of July’s ripening fruit i.e. myself, the earth, you * I forgive the earth through pressed irises that dry translucent. Purple ink stains. Skin heals over my bones though it still aches sometimes. Lily of the valley, I of the fountain, you of the hearth. The places we belong bloom open. Your body does not have a single shape but there is shape for all of them in here. Forgiving myself is ongoing * I try not to be at war with memories I teach myself that I can be my own divine agent I practice surrender in the name of something I believe in * To you I would hand over all my roses and spider plants. Giving is easy. I read you a poem in the thunderstorm by lamplight. I read with your breath sighing into my body. In Urdu when I say yesterday I could mean tomorrow. Kal is kal. Because I know that yesterday I pressed your fingers into the dips between my ribcage; tomorrow, I do not need to know * In bed the creases of my sheets fit around the creases of my calves my pillow hardens against the flat of my back hand looped through bedframe I surrender to the soft glow of a moon that has started to wane * I have so much love to give. Yellow flowers in August. Clay mug carved with a village. Money plant twined around banister. You do not need to take anything. I hand all over

27

Previously published in The Malahat Review (winner of the 2020 Constance Rooke Prize for Creative Nonfiction).

ON PLAYING DOUBLE JEOPARDY

BY CHRISTINA BROBBY

Glossary of Terms for $400, please.

For $400: It captures all data in an unedited format.

What is RAW?

category:

GLOSSARY OF PHOTOGRAPHIC TERMS

This format allows more adjustments than TIFFs or JPEGs. Remember times when you felt RAW but incapable of adjustments.

After manipulating the image, perhaps increasing highlights, adding contrast, some saturation to blue skies, the original RAW file remains unaltered, ready to reprocess for a different purpose, like monochrome. It’s flexible that way.

Think that the days of feeling RAW are behind you.

Recall that for decades you edited yourself to be who others wanted you to be. You were told who you were or who you should be. Now you are the real RAW, ful-

$400 $800 $1200

ly capable of significant adjustments while retaining your essential self. Is that wishful thinking?

Glossary of Terms again, for $800.

It’s what makes white in real life appear white in a photo.

What is White Balance?

28

$1600 $2000

The term sounds reassuring. The camera adjusts

Don’t elaborate that you learned early on to filter

white balance easily, with options for sun, clouds, flu-

your own personality through the lens of the people

orescent lights and even an automatic selection.

you lived with, starting at aged three with your white

Consider that in Ghana and other African coun-

adoptive parents, who preferred you to play with

tries, you are considered white. People laughed,

white children, and when you started dating, always

believing it was a joke when you told them you’re

asked whether the latest boyfriend was Black or white.

considered Black in North America and in Europe.

Later you filtered yourself to keep your husband, and

You don’t tell them that you as a child and a teen

when that failed, more filters to ensure the man after

you wondered whether you could claim to be Black,

your husband loved you. And your son? Yes, even him.

with your mixed-race heritage. At times, others

Think about that.

claimed you were too dark skinned to be white or

Be more or less vibrant, act more coolly, like when

too fair to be Black. In Ghana, they looked at your

the man after your husband said you were too emo-

honey-toned skin, your almost black spiraling curls,

tional and that’s not what he was signing up for. You

and shook their heads with vehemence. No debate.

donned your neutral density filter, screened emo-

You blame your first parents, he from Ghana, she

tions, your desire to disagree on occasion. Apologized

from Britain, for the confusion, though perhaps you

even when you felt wronged. The filtration system

should thank them for the balance of representa-

became so efficient, so automatic that you eventual-

tion in black and white.

ly doubted whether you are capable of remembering your original self.

$1200, same category, please.

Same category, for $1600, please.

For $1200: a lens attachment. Think polarizing, warming, or neutral density.

This combination, which determines the exposure of a photograph, is often referred to as the trian-

What is a filter?

gle of photography.

29

What is ISO, shutter speed and aperture.

Aperture, the opening in the lens, is measured in f-stops. A larger hole allows a lot of light in. For rea-

The three are related; a change to one requires com-

sons you don’t entirely understand, an f/stop of f/16

pensation to one of the others.

allows significantly less light than f/2.8. It involves

ISO is the camera’s (or film’s) sensitivity to light.

doubling and halving the amount of the opening and

Use ISO 100 in sunlight. High ISOs introduce noise, or

perhaps even geometry, and that makes you nervous

a grainy effect.

so you avoid that aspect.

Increasingly, you prefer to shoot at around 3,200

You observed on people you’ve lived with – your

in low light, where no one stares at you and casual-

adoptive mother and the man after your husband -

ly asks, Did you move here recently? or, Where are you

that, when angry, their noses narrowed to f/22.

from? Most people refrain from asking what a person

Aperture also controls the degree to which an im-

who looks like you is doing in this small northern town,

age is in focus or blurred. A shallow depth of field, like

a question you are still trying to answer for yourself

f/2.8 yields only part of the image in focus, the rest

after two decades. In the dark, contrary to what they

being fuzzy. Now wonder how much of you was in fo-

say about high ISO and noise, it’s quiet, just you and

cus when you lived with others. It was key to earning

your dog under a mass of stars.

their love.

Shutter Speed, usually stated in fractions or multiples of seconds, starts to make you nervous because,

I’ll finish the category, please.

well, it’s mathematics, but your mind is distracted by the idea of shutters. Recall the time that you appeared

For $2000: Most often used by landscape photog-

stoic when the man after your husband indicated his

raphers, it’s the focus distance that provides the

marital status as ‘Single’ on his tax return, shattering

maximum depth of field.

your belief that you were still a couple albeit floundering and temporarily separated. Realize attempts

What is Infinity.

to be your original self cost you that relationship.

You’d raised your shuttered self, displayed too much

Infinity is more than the figure ‘8’ squiggle (∞) at the

emotion, made expectations of what you needed in

end of the focus range on lenses. If you stared at in-

the relationship too clear, forgot that’s not what he

finity for too long, it would blur the way desert heat

signed up for.

warps reality.

A slow shutter speed, using the trusty neutral

You used to believe that you and the man after

density filter, yields a sense of calm to storm-kissed

your husband would be together for infinity, where in-

oceans, untamed streams in spring, waterfalls, even

finity’s measure was what remained of your lives.

you in the months after the breakup. Conversely, fast shutter speeds freeze motion. Following the re-

Sorry, that’s incorrect.

alization that the man after your husband was no longer part of your life, you were frozen at 1/2000 of

That last statement was incorrect. The corrected ver-

a second, incapable of making sound decisions. As

sion: You wanted to believe that you and the man af-

the books piled up beside the bed because you kept

ter your husband would be together for infinity, where

buying them despite their words being incomprehen-

infinity’s measure was what remained of your lives.

sible and blurred, you picked up your old camera, and started creating your own visual stories.

30

When you think about that statement more, you question whether even that is correct. And whether

The opening of the shutter is like holding a door

you were in love with the lifestyle – the log house

open for someone. These days you avoid holding

in the woods, vacations in Europe, reliable vehicles,

doors open for any man who shows the slightest in-

student debts paid off, even some savings for the

terest in you, afraid of how much is left of you to be

first time in your life – and whether that love eclipsed

manipulated, how many times one can lose oneself in

the ability to see that infinity in that relationship was

a lifetime.

an impossibility.

[Buzzer sounds by another contestant]

We’ll take a commercial break. When we return, the final category will be: Inside of Me. Make your

What is Hyperfocal distance.

wagers now.

It is something you avoided in photography because

Reframe your attitude. Remember that some lens-

it requires significant mathematical calculations, in-

es breathe, and again you don’t fully understand

volves a formula and the circle of confusion, which is

the concept, but you would encourage any of your

so confusing that most people don’t understand it.

lenses to breathe. Take a deep breath. And another.

This prompts the question of whether a person can

Admit that in fact you are still working towards the

ever be a real photographer without mathematical

real RAW you, and some days it feels as though you

aptitude, which prompts the question of whether a

are beyond reach, but today you think you know

person can ever be a “real” writer without a sound

the inside of yourself well enough to risk most of

grasp of grammar rules. This prompts the question of

your earnings.

whether you were a real partner to the man after the husband, a real wife, real mother, real lawyer, real ne-

//

gotiator, real bureaucrat, real sales person, real cleaning lady, real Jeopardy! contestant.

31

THUNDER BAY

BY SAMANTHA MARTIN-BIRD on st. paul’s patio kwes sip espresso plan board meeting agendas and resistance on the steps of st. andrew’s anishinaabeg share spirits and stories in ojicree aunties browse fabricland double faced satin ribbon heat n bond lite fifty percent off quilting cotton kookums cross memorial scour thrift store aisles children in tow oshkiniigikweg stroll intercity sephora to the food court dark hoodies n skinny jeans observant eyes ndn kids run barefoot down simpson black hair in all four directions noodin and charlie bike the sidewalk free of helmets or worries

A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original poem.

32

POCKETS

BY LEANNE SHIRTLIFFE at prom she carried sunglasses, gloss and friends’ phones in the pockets of her silky dress for ever men’s pockets pricked their hearts with toothpicks and John Deere pens packs of wine-tipped Colts becoming slidable notebooks blue clickable ink sketching directions crop rotations market calculations pockets (effing pockets!) are an inside way out— the freedom to grip lipstick and warm our fists so we can use them to ravage and ravish and relish it all

A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original poem.

33

ILLUSTRATED STORIES

34

BY SUSAN MACLEOD

A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original comic.

BY JOHN ELIZABETH STINZI

A Voices from the FOLD: Year 7 original comic.

35

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANTS AUTHORS, POETS & PERFORMERS CHIDIOGO AKUNYILI-PARR is an author, speaker, and consultant with a passion for human development and connection. She is the founder of She ROARs. KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE is the author of three books of nonfiction: Intolerable, Brown, and Return. He is the director of the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at UBC. ANDRÉ ALEXIS is the author of several novels and works of fiction, including Fifteen Dogs, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His latest novel is Ring, the conclusion to his quincunx of five novels.

DIJA AYODELE is a skin care expert and the author of Black Skin, out now with HarperCollins.

SUZANNE BARR is the author of My Ackee Tree: A Chef’s Memoir of Finding Home In The Kitchen. She grew up watching her parents prepare every meal, which was an opportunity to bond as a family, learn about cultural roots, tell stories and express love.

S. BEAR BERGMAN is the author of nine books and the founder of Flamingo Rampant press.

CURTIS CARMICHAEL is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed memoir Butterflies In The Trenches—The World’s First Augmented Reality memoir—set in a close-knit Toronto public housing community in Scarborough.

KERN CARTER is a writer and author who has written three novels. His latest is Boys And Girls Screaming, out now with Cormorant/DCB. SHAKIL CHOUDHURY is an award-winning educator and author of Deep Diversity: A Compassionate Approach to Achieving Racial Justice, described as a “breakthrough” book that integrates psychology with critical race perspectives.

CHLOE GONG is the New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and its sequel Our Violent Ends.

SHELLY GRACE is a Toronto-based spoken word poet. She uses her art for community building and healing and focuses on the experiences of women and the Black community.

ANAIS GRANOFSKY is an actor, director, producer and writer.

The Girl in the Middle is her first book.

Popular Instagram poet and artist MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS has created her life’s work around the stories of others. Her latest book, Peace is a Practice: An Invitation to Breathe Deep and Find a New Rhythm for Life, was published in February 2022.

SYDNEY HEGELE (they/them) is the author of The Pump (Invisible Publishing 2021).

FARAH HERON writes romantic comedies for adults and teens. Her latest YA novel is Tahira In Bloom.

JUNE HUR is the critically acclaimed author of The Silence of Bones, The Forest of Stolen Girls, The Red Palace, and A Crane Among Wolves.

SHAYDA KAFAI (she/her) is a queer, disabled, Mad femme of color writer, scholar, and educator. She is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Cal Poly Pomona.

H.N. KHAN is a first-time author whose debut novel, Wrong Side Of The Court, was published in spring 2022 with Penguin Teen.

ANOSH IRANI is a three-time Governor General’s Literary Award-shortlisted author and playwright, and a two-time winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play.

TSERING YANGZOM LAMA is the author of We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies.

HABIBA COOPER DIALLO is the author of #BlackInSchool.

PREMEE MOHAMED is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based out of Edmonton, Alberta.

DAVID DELISCA is a writer, poet, actor and humorist. A versatile artist, he uses stories about the immigrant and diasporic experience, as well as other various human realities, to bridge realms of communication.

OMAR MOUALLEM is an Alberta-based writer and filmmaker.

His latest book is Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas, and latest documentary is The Last Baron.

STEPHEN DORSEY is the Canadian-born author of Black and White, An Intimate, Multicultural Perspective on “White Advantage” and the Paths to Change, which was published in February 2022 by Nimbus Publishing.

36

KIM FU is the author of two novels, a collection of poetry, and most recently, the story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century.

NORMA DUNNING is an Inuk writer, professor, and grandmother. Her story collection, Tainna, won the 2021 Governor General’s Award for English Language Fiction.

CLAYTON THOMAS-MÜLLER is a campaigner, award winning film director, media producer, organizer, facilitator, public speaker and best selling author on Indigenous rights and environmental & economic justice.

HASAN NAMIR is an Iraqi-Canadian author and poet.

SARENA and SASHA NANUA are twin sisters and authors of the new YA fantasy, Sisters of the Snake, from HarperCollins.

ABDI NAZEMIAN is a screenwriter, producer, and the author of four novels, and the recipient of a Stonewall Honor and Lambda Literary Award.

TOLOLUPE OLORUNTOBA’s debut poetry collection, The Junta of Happenstance, received the Governor General’s Literary Award, while his second collection, Each One a Furnace, is forthcoming from McClelland & Stewart.

MODERATORS SHARON BALA is the author of The Boat People, which won a couple of awards, was short listed for a few others, is available in five languages, and was a best-seller. She won The Journey Prize in 2017.

GARY BARWIN is the author of 26 books including Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy.

CHELUCHI ONYEMELUKWE is a writer, academic and lawyer. Her debut novel was finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2021.

SKYE BOWEN is an educator with over 20 years of teaching experience, and a passionate advocate for equity and social justice.

MARIAM S. PAL is the author of Ballet is not for Muslim Girls, her memoir about growing up Pakistani-Canadian in 1960s and 70s Victoria B.C.

ANN YU-KYUNG CHOI is a Toronto-based author and educator. Ann currently sits on the Program Advisory Committee for gritLIT and is the co-founder of the Authors Book Club, an initiative that connects authors with readers in Canada.

DOROTHY ELLEN PALMER is an award-winning disabled senior author of five books including her newest, Kerfuffle, featuring an improv troupe making sense and nonsense of the Toronto G20 protests.

NISHA PATEL is the Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Edmonton and a Canadian Individual Slam Champion.

REEMA PATEL is a Toronto-based writer and lawyer whose first novel, Such Big Dreams, was inspired by her work in human rights advocacy abroad.

MATTHEW SALESSES is the author of several books, including Craft in the Real World and Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear.

ZENA SHARMAN is a writer, speaker, strategist and LGBTQ+ health advocate who has authored and/or edited three books, including The Care We Dream Of (2021) and The Remedy (2016).

JULIETTA SINGH is a writer and academic whose work engages the enduring effects of colonization, current ecological crisis, and queer-feminist futures. She is the author of The Breaks (Coffee House Press, 2021), and other books.

SONYA SINGH Sonya Singh is an author, writer, and storyteller. Her debut rom-com, Sari Not Sari, was published

by Simon & Schuster in April 2022.

ANNA QUON is a Mad, mixed-race, middle-aged novelist and poet living in Kjipuktuk (Halifax).

KATHERENA VERMETTE (she/elle) is a Red River Métis (Michif) writer from Treaty 1 territory, the heart of the Métis Nation. She has worked in poetry, novels, children’s literature, and film.

JACK WANG is the author of We Two Alone, winner of the 2020 Danuta Gleed Literary Award from the Writers’ Union of Canada for best debut collection in English.

JESSE WENTE is an Anishinaabe author, speaker and arts administrator. His first book, Unreconciled: Family Truth and Resistance is a national bestseller.

BETHANEY WILKINSON is a world class facilitator and race conscious leadership coach. She is author of The Diversity Gap: Where Good Intentions Meet True Cultural Change.

MARY-LOU ZEITOUN is a Palestinian Canadian author, essayist, arts journalist and activist.

SAM DEVOTTA (she/her) is the Senior Associate, Marketing & Publicity at Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers.

Outside of work, Sam spends a lot of time talking about YA books and pop-punk bands (often at the same time).

DAMALI FRAISER (she/her/hers) is a Kettlebell Instructor and Nutrition Coach passionate about exploring fitness from an intersectional lens.

ALYSSA GRAY-TYGHTER (she/her) is an educator, writer, speaker, and PhD student. Her current research focuses of Black girlhood, identity, and belonging in Canada.

SHOILEE KHAN is a writer, editor, and a doctoral candidate in English Literature. She serves as a member of the Planning Committee for the Festival of Literary Diversity and is also the Assistant Director for the inclusive combat arts and fitness organization Sister Fit. Born in Ibadan, Nigeria, YEJIDE KILANKO lives in Chatham, Ontario where she practices as a social worker. Kilanko’s debut novel, Daughters Who Walk This Path, a Canadian national bestseller, was longlisted for the 2016 Nigeria Literature Prize.

Kilanko’s latest novel, A Good Name, is available now.

CARRIANNE LEUNG is a fiction writer and educator. She is currently working on a new novel, titled The After.

KATHRYN MOCKLER co-edited the print anthology Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (Coach House Books, 2020) and is the publisher of the Watch Your Head website.

AMIL NIAZI is a freelance writer and producer whose work has appeared in The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post and New York Magazine. She is the showrunner and panelist for CBC’s Pop Chat.

KAREN RICHARDSON MASON is a founding director of the FOLD Foundation. She holds degrees in Political Science and Journalism from McGill and University of Kings College, respectively. Karen lives in Brampton with her husband Kylan and two children.

JANET MARIE ROGERS (JANUARY) is a poet, media producer, new publisher and a sound/performance artist living and working on her home territory, Six Nations of the Grand River.

JENNA TENN-YUK is a writer, speaker and facilitator who empowers people to share their stories and truths.

KAI CHENG THOM is the writer of five award-winning books in various genres and the winner of multiple literary awards, including the Stonewall Honor Book Award and the Publishing Triangle Award.

37

PUBLISHING PROFESSIONALS AEMAN ANSARI is a Toronto-based freelance editor with 5 years of experience editing both fiction and non-fiction.

MARILYN BIDERMAN is a Partner, Senior Agent with the Transatlantic Agency.

HANA EL NIWAIRI is a writer, publishing professional, and media enthusiast who handles international rights at a literary agency based in Toronto. She is also a co-founder of the non-profit organization BIPOC of Publishing in Canada.

BRENNA ENGLISH-LOEB is an associate agent with Transatlantic Agency and is excited to grow her list of genre fiction in both YA and adult, as well as adult nonfiction.

CYNARA GEISSLER (she/her) is the director of marketing and publicity at Arsenal Pulp Press in Vancouver, BC. BRYAN IBEAS is a Fiction Editor at Invisible Publishing.

BRIDGETTE KAM is a literary associate at Westwood Creative Artists.

STEPHANIE SINCLAIR is literary agent who works on books that provoke conversation and strives to challenge the way we think, feel and live.

LÉONICKA VALCIUS is a Literary Agent at Transatlantic Agency, representing commercial and genre fiction for adults and children. As the founder of #DiverseCanLit and the former Chair of The Festival of Literary Diversity, working with writers of colour is a key part of her mandate. She is currently a JD Candidate at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law. MARIA VICENTE is a senior literary agent and advisor at P.S. Literary Agency.

PROGRAM CONTRIBUTORS AGATA ANTONOW is a writer living in New Brunswick, in a town known as the French Fry Capital of the world.

MEGHAN EAKER (she/her) is an amiskwaciywâskahikanbased poet, registered nurse, and beading artist of mixed european and nehiyaw ancestry (Woodland Cree First Nation).

SAMANTHA MARTIN-BIRD is a citizen of Peguis First Nation, currently living on the north shore of Lake Superior in Thunder Bay. Her work has appeared in Room and CV2 Magazine, and she was a 2021 winner of the Indigenous Voices Awards.

SUSAN MACLEOD writes and draws about long-term care.

Her 2021 humorous book, Dying for Attention: A Graphic Memoir of Nursing Home Care was published by Conundrum Press. www.susanmacleod.ca NADINE NAKAGAWA is an organizer, activist, intersectional feminist, social justice fairy, New Westminster city councillor, and co-founder of The Feminist Campaign School.

AMAL RANA is a poet and educator based out of unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm territories. Their poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies.

Twitter: @movementauntie LEANNE SHIRTLIFFE is a teacher and writer who lives in Calgary. She’s written multiple children’s books and is working on a poetry collection interweaving farming, feminism and family.

Twitter: @LShirtliffe JOHN ELIZABETH STINTZI is the author of My Volcano, Vanishing Monuments, and Junebat. They’re occasionally working on a graphic novel.

ANNA SWANSON (she/her) writes about chronic illness, concussion, queerness, swimming and joy. Her first book, The Nights Also, won a Lambda and Gerald Lampert Award.

AMIR AZIZ is a writer based in the GTA. His work has appeared in Asparagus Magazine and The Walrus.

GIAN MARCO VISCONTI is a multiethnic (Arbëreshë & South Asian) writer from Alberta. His work has appeared in Glass Buffalo, The Polyglot and Ismaili Canada Magazine.

MANAHIL BANDUKWALA is a writer and visual artist. Her debut poetry collection is forthcoming in 2022. See her work at manahilbandukwala.com.

YILIN WANG is a writer and Chinese–English translator.

Their writing has appeared in Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Words Without Borders, The Malahat Review and elsewhere.

MONI BRAR writes about identity, diasporic guilt, and trauma. She is a winner of the SAAG Arts Writing Prize and a runner-up in PRISM’s Grouse Grind Prize.

SEBASTIAN YŪE is a game designer and emerging poet.

Adopted from China, Sebastian writes about belonging, destiny, and establishing an identity.

Twitter: @sebastianyue

CHRISTINA BROBBY is a writer and photographer living in the Yukon on the traditional territories of Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council. She is currently working on a memoir about finding her first family.

TREENA CHAMBERS is Métis, holds a BA in International Studies and is slowly working her way though a Masters in Public Policy.

38

LEANNE CHARETTE writes poetry grounded in her experience of disability. She lives in Kitchener, Ontario with her husband and twin sons, surrounded by many houseplants.

There’s more to the world of writing than you think.

Honours Bachelor of Creative Writing & Publishing Sheridan’s Creative Writing & Publishing program is the only program in Canada to fuse creative writing and publishing. Get the skills you need to succeed in the modern publishing industry and write for a variety of genres – games, film, web, traditional media and more! Learn from professors who are practising writers, publishers and editors, and launch an exciting career.

cwp.sheridancollege.ca

39

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE SUNDAY, MAY 1

7:00pm - 8:15pm

In this timely panel on the perils and possibilities of healthcare, three writers—Zena Sharman, Shayda Kafai, and Anna Quon—examine unique approaches to care and what this might mean for our collective future with moderator Kai Cheng Thom.

MONDAY, MAY 2

THE OPENING EVENT

POWERFUL PITCHING FOR PUBLICISTS

11:00am - 11:45am

2:00pm - 3:15pm

Join staff from the FOLD in this opening event for the festival. Meet the team and some fellow attendees. Find out what’s happening during the week, how to get the most out of the festival and the platform, and get a first-look at the evolution of the festival and a behind-the-scenes look at our incredible live venue space.

In this workshop designed for publicists and publishing professionals, Cynara Geissler provides insight on author care and the important work of pitching books in a competitive market.

INDIGENOUS VOICES: TRUTH, FICTION, AND FAMILY

8:00pm - 9:15pm

12:00pm - 1:15pm

In this panel, authors Jack Wang, Kim Fu and Norma Dunning discuss the makings of a phenomenal short story.

From character development to dialogue, discover the creative craft involved in writing a short story and details that go into publishing a collection.

Award-winning authors Jesse Wente, Katherena Vermette and Clayton Thomas-Müller discuss their most recent titles and the process of crafting stories about family in a conversation on relationships, writing and resistance.

THE WRITER’S HUB 12:00 - 5:00pm

Drop by the booths of our 20+ volunteers, including multinational and small publishers, publishing programs, book sellers, and community organizations.

THE WRITER’S WORKSHOP: PUBLISHING 101 2:00pm - 4:00pm

40

RE-THINKING HEALTHCARE

Back by popular demand, the Writer’s Workshop is specifically designed for writers navigating the Canadian publishing industry. Through an in-depth and extensive workshop, writers will hear from agent Bridgette Kam about the submission process, followed by a deep-dive into the editing process with editor Aeman Ansari. Wrapping up the workshop, publicist Cynara Geissler will provide helpful tips about what to expect and how to approach the challenges of marketing and publicity. Before, after and throughout the event, attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions, and visit vendors and publishing professionals in our exhibit hall. This is where representatives from Penguin Random House Canada, Harlequin, Simon and Schuster Canada and more will be available to answer publishing questions live.

KEEPING IT SHORT

TUESDAY, MAY 3 THE WRITER’S LIFE WITH ABDI NAZEMIAN 10:00am – 11:00am

Author, screenwriter and producer Abdi Nazemian joins us live from Los Angeles, California for an interview on what it’s like to write for film and television, the differences between writing for the screen versus writing for the page and what it takes to build a career as a writer. This event is geared towards high school students.

EXPLORING IDENTITY IN YOUNG ADULT FICTION 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Whether a book is set in the real world or in a fantastical realm, figuring out who you are is a staple of plot in young adult fiction. Chasing your dreams, finding the person or people who understand you, and dealing with the anxiety of failure are all a part of growing up. Join authors Sarena and Sasha Nanua, H.N. Khan and Farah Heron as they explore that through their novels. This event is geared towards high school students.

WORKING TOWARDS WELLNESS: MIND, BODY AND SOUL

THE TRUTH BEHIND CLIMATE FICTION 2:00pm - 3:15pm

2:00pm - 3:15pm

Three American writers—Morgan Harper Nichols (Peace is a Practice), Bethaney Wilkinson (The Diversity Gap: Where Good Intentions Meet True Cultural Change) and Dija Ayodele (Black Skin)—discuss personal and professional wellness, tackling practical solutions and strategies to the trials and challenges of everyday life.

TO CANADA, FROM NIGERIA

Fiction writers Sydney Hegele, Premee Mohamed and Mary-Lou Zeitoun have written three incredible stories that tackle the current and future climate crisis. In this panel, the writers dive into the motivation behind their stories and the role of writers in moments of political crisis.

CURATING AND ASSEMBLING ANTHOLOGIES 5:00pm - 6:15pm

5:00pm - 6:15pm

Three incredible writers—Chidiogo Akunyili-Parr, Tololupe Oloruntoba and Cheluchi Onyemelukwe— who have found a home in Canada discuss how Nigerian traditions have shaped their storytelling style.

MEMOIRS ON MOTHERHOOD 8:00pm - 9:15pm

When it comes to assembling an anthology, there are lots of things to consider—deciding who to approach through and considering the types of stories they might contribute. In this practical workshop, Zena Sharman, editor of The Care We Dream Of, unpacks helpful tips for writers and editors alike to consider for assembling collections that include a variety of voices.

LET’S TALK ABOUT FAITH

Three writers with incredible family stories—Suzanne Barr, Anais Granofsky and Chidiogo Akunyili-Parr—join forces in a powerful panel discussing their recent memoirs. In a conversation on the stories that shaped their past and their present, they’ll discuss what it was like to write their mothers into the pages of a memoir and what they learned along the way.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 4

8:00pm - 9:15pm

Three acclaimed writers—Omar Mouallem, Mariam S. Pal and Sydney Hegele—discuss their journeys as writers and explore how their interests and beliefs shape what they choose to write about.

THURSDAY, MAY 5

BLACK IN SCHOOL

GRAPPLING WITH GRIEF AND MENTAL HEALTH IN YOUNG ADULT FICTION

10:00am - 11:00am

10:00am - 11:00am

Writers Curtis Carmichael, Habiba Cooper Diallo and Kern Carter unpack the challenges of navigating their education and the important work of turning real-life experiences as Black Canadians into teachable moments for students and educators from all backgrounds and walks of life. This event is geared towards high school students.

In a candid panel conversation with young adult writers Kern Carter, Abdi Nazemian and Mary-Lou Zeitoun, students and educators alike will hear about the importance of careful and critical conversations on grief and mental health, and the role novels can play in cultivating safe spaces for open dialogue. This event is geared towards high school students.

WRESTLING WITH RESEARCH

THE SPOKEN WORD SHOWCASE

12:00pm - 1:00pm

12:00pm - 1:00pm What goes into flower arranging? What did the 1920s in Shanghai, China look like? How was medicine practiced in the mid-1700s? In this panel featuring authors Farah Heron, Chloe Gong and June Hur, three young adult writers discuss the research that went into their novels and the work involved in fleshing out a fictional world. This event is geared towards high school students.

In our annual teen showcase of incredible spoken word artists, three poets—David Delisca, Shelly Grace, and Nisha Patel—take the mic to present incredible poetry, followed by a live Q & A with Lamoi. This event is geared towards high school students.

WORK SHOP

VIRTUAL

LIVE S TRE AM

A SL

SCHOOL GROUP

IN - PE RSON

ON - DE MAND

CLOSE D C AP TIONE D

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WRITING HUMOUR IN UNFUNNY TIMES

RETURN: WRITING OUR WAY HOME

5:00pm - 6:15pm

4:00pm - 5:15pm

From fiction to theatre, three Canadian writers—Dorothy Ellen Palmer, Anosh Irani and Sonya Singh—explore the important role of humour under trying circumstances, and the careful relationship it plays in literature that tackles important subject matter.

Three game-changing nonfiction writers—Kamal AlSolaylee, Tsering Yangzom Lama, and Omar Mouallem— discuss the act of writing in the west, the challenges of leaving one home and finding another, and the work of putting to page matters of the heart.

DEEPER DIVERSITY: PATHS TO CHANGE

WRAPPING UP WITH ANDRÉ ALEXIS

8:00pm - 9:15pm

8:00pm - 9:15pm

Three incredible writers who’ve published books on diversity and inclusion—Shakil Choudhury, Stephen Dorsey, and Bethaney Wilkinson—gather for an important conversation on the critical steps individuals, corporations and organizations need to consider in their efforts to transform spaces on the path to real and lasting change.

Award-winning Canadian writer André Alexis has completed his quincunx—a collection of five genre-bending novels. In this festival-closing conversation with Executive Director Jael Richardson, André Alexis explores what it feels like to set out on such an ambitious undertaking and what it feels like to approach the end of this career-defining collection of incredible stories.

FRIDAY, MAY 6 THE GREAT READCEPTION: A LITERARY CABARET

ON DEMAND

7:30pm - 9:00pm

FIERCE FICTION

In this in-person evening event, a collection of festival writers and poets read from their works accompanied by Brampton’s own jazz band. Whether you’re a regular FOLD attendee, a big reader or a lover of live entertainment, this event is designed to celebrate the power of storytelling

Grab some friends or the members of your official book club, and keep your notebooks and calendars ready! From rom-coms through to family stories of exile and hope, this panel discussion with Tsering Yangzom Lama, Reema Patel, and Sonya Singh features your next favourite reads.

We know there’s going to be plenty to talk about.

from Canadain writers and musicians.

SATURDAY, MAY 7

CULTIVATING CRAFT WITH MATTHEW SALESSES 12:00pm - 1:15pm

In this not-to-be-missed one-on-one interview with acclaimed writer Matthew Salesses, author and creative writing professor Carrianne Leung explores new approaches to fiction writing and workshops.

PARENTING ON THE PAGE

HOLDING ATTENTION IN THE SHORT STORY What are strategies for holding attention in fiction in general and the short story in particular? When does a short story begin and end, and how does a writer create tension and manage narrative information in between?

Using literary examples as well as insights from psychology and neuroscience, this session with Jack Wang will help writers tell more compelling short stories.

SHAKING SOBBING SCREAMING: SHIPS IN YOUNG ADULT SCI-FICTION

2:00pm - 3:15pm

Hasan Namir, Julietta Singh, and S. Bear Bergman discuss the joys and challenges of parenting, and the ways that they tackle such a personal topic in unique, unexpected formats.

42

Hooking readers in with a ship, the desire to have two or more characters get together in the end romantically, is a tale as old as time. In this workshop, New York Times bestselling author and FOLD 2022 Teen Writer-inResidence Chloe Gong explores character creation through relationships—both romantic and platonic—teaching new and established writers how to use this to enhance a reader’s emotional attachment to a story.

The FOLD Challenge 12* Great Ways to Diversify Your Reading

A book about climate change by a BIPOC and/or disabled author.

A novella or a short book by an author from the LGBTQ2SIA+ community.

JA N UA RY

F E B RUA RY

A recently released young adult novel by a BIPOC author.

Creative nonfiction or memoir by an Indigenous author.

M AY

A book by a BIPOC author from Australia or New Zealand.

JUNE

A horror or gothic novel by a BIPOC author.

SEPTEMBER

O C TO B E R

A fabulist novel by a disabled author.

M A RC H

A novel set in or written by an author from Northern Canada.

J U LY

A debut novel from a small press.

N OV E M B E R

A book of poetry by a writer over 50.

A PR I L

An audiobook by a Caribbean author.

AU G U S T

A romance novel featuring a character of faith.

DECEMBER

A graphic novel by a BIPOC author. *BO N US

For monthly reading suggestions visit

thefoldcanada.org/readingchallenge2022

43

SUNDAY, MAY 1

MONDAY, MAY 2

10am

THE OPENING EVENT

12pm

INDIGENOUS VOICES: TRUTH, FICTION AND FAMILY

1pm

2pm

3pm

4pm

THE WRITER’S HUB

AT A GLANCE

AT A GL ANCE 44

11am

THE WRITER’S WORKSHOP: PUBLISHING 101

POWERFUL PITCHING FOR PUBLICISTS

5pm

TUESDAY, MAY 3

WE

THE WRITER’S LIFE with Abdi Nazemian

BLA

EXPLORING IDENTITY IN YOUNG ADULT FICTION

WR RES

WORKING TOWARDS WELLNESS: MIND, BODY AND SOUL

THE CLI

TO CANADA FROM NIGERIA

CU ASS AN

MEMOIRS ON MOTHERHOOD

LET ABO

6pm

7pm

8pm

RE-THINKING HEALTHCARE

KEEPING IT SHORT

9pm

SESSIONS ON DEMAND These Preview events will air before May 1, and then will be available to watch on demand when the festival platform opens.

3

WEDNESDAY, MAY THURSDAY, MAY WEDNESDAY, MAY 4 4 THURSDAY, MAY 55

E n

BLACK SCHOOL BLACK ININ SCHOOL

FRIDAY, MAY FRIDAY, MAY 66

ALL SESSIONS ARE SESSIONS ARE ALL SESSIONS ARE CLOSED C APTIONED CLOSED CAPTIONED APTIONED C

GRIEF & MENTAL GRIEF & MENTAL HEALTH YOUNG HEALTH ININ YOUNG ADULT FICTION ADULT FICTION WORKSHOP WORKSHOP SCHOOL GROUP SCHOOL GROUP

TITY WRESTLING WITH Y WRESTLING WITH RESEARCH RESEARCH

THE SPOKEN WORD THE SPOKEN WORD SHOWCASE SHOWCASE

CULTIVATING CRAFT CULTIVATING CRAFT with Matthew Salesses with Matthew Salesses

VIRTUAL VIRTUAL - PERSON ININ - PERSON LIVESTRE AM LIVESTRE AM

RDS THE TRUTH BEHIND S THE TRUTH BEHIND , CLIMATE FICTION CLIMATE FICTION

and d

SATURDAY, MAY SATURDAY, MAY 77

PARENTING PARENTING ON THE PAGE ON THE PAGE

ON - DEMAND ON - DEMAND A SL A SL

RETURN: WRITING RETURN: WRITING OUR WAY HOME OUR WAY HOME ++ CURATING AND CURATING AND ASSEMBLING ASSEMBLING ANTHOLOGIES ANTHOLOGIES

LET’S TALK LET’S TALK ABOUT FAITH ABOUT FAITH

WRITING HUMOUR WRITING HUMOUR UNFUNNY TIMES ININ UNFUNNY TIMES

THE GREAT THE GREAT READCEPTION: READCEPTION: A LITERARY CABARET WRAPPING UP CABARET DEEPER DIVERSITY: A LITERARY DEEPER DIVERSITY: WRAPPING UP PATHS TO CHANGE with André Alexis PATHS TO CHANGE with André Alexis ++ ++

SHIPS YOUNG SHIPS ININ YOUNG ADULT SCI-FICTION ADULT SCI-FICTION

HOLDING ATTENTION HOLDING ATTENTION THE SHORT STORY ININ THE SHORT STORY

FIERCE FIERCE FICTION FICTION 45

BOOK LIST Chidiogo Akunyili-Parr

Habiba Cooper Diallo

Sydney Hegele*

I AM BECAUSE WE ARE: An African Mother’s Fight For The Soul of a Nation

#BLACKINSCHOOL

THE PUMP

9780889778184 University of Regina Press

9781988784793 Invisible Publishing

9781487009632 House of Anansi Press

* formerly Sydney Warner Brooman

André Alexis

David Delisca

Farah Heron

RING

I GREW UP RIGHT BESIDE YOU

TAHIRA IN BLOOM

9781552454305 Coach House Books

978-0-99949-0-7 Truth Be Told Publishing

9781542030373 Skyscape Books, Amazon Publishing

Dija Ayodele

Stephen Dorsey

June Hur

BLACK SKIN

BLACK AND WHITE: An Intimate, Multicultural Perspective...

THE RED PALACE

9780008464158 HarperCollins Canada

9781774710364 Nimbus Publishing

9781250800558 Raincoast Books

Suzanne Barr

Norma Dunning

Anosh Irani

MY ACKEE TREE: A Chef’s Memoir of Finding Home...

TAINNA: The Unseen Ones

BUFFOON

978-1771622714 Douglas & McIntyre

9781487009830 House of Anansi Press

S. Bear Bergman

Kim Fu

Shayda Kafai

SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEING A HUMAN

LESSER KNOWN MONSTERS OF THE 21 CENTURY

CRIP KINSHIP

978-0735239500 Penguin Random House CA

9781551528540 Arsenal Pulp Press

Curtis Carmichael

Chloe Gong

H.N. Khan

BUTTERFLIES IN THE TRENCHES

OUR VIOLENT ENDS

THE WRONG SIDE OF THE COURT

978-1-7776840-0-6 Synergy Books

9781534457720 Simon & Schuster Canada

9781551528649 Penguin Random House CA

Kern Carter

Anais Granofsky

Tsering Yangzom Lama

BOYS AND GIRLS SCREAMING

THE GIRL IN THE MIDDLE: Growing up Black & White, Rich & Poor

WE MEASURE THE EARTH WITH OUR BODIES

978-1770866454 DCB/Cormorant

46

9781552454367 Coach House Books

9781551528649 Arsenal Pulp Press

9781443458511 HarperCollins Canada

9780771047244 Penguin Random House CA

Shakil Choudhury

Morgan Harper Nichols

Premee Mohamed

DEEP DIVERSITY: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice

PEACE IS A PRACTICE

THE ANNUAL MIGRATION OF CLOUDS

978-1771649018 Greystone Books

978-0310361701 HarperCollins Canada

9781770415935 ECW Press

Omar Mouallem

Nisha Patel

Katherena Vermette

PRAYING TO THE WEST

COCONUT

THE STRANGERS

9781501199141 Simon & Schuster Canada

978-177439-023-8 NeWest Press

9780735239616 Penguin Random House CA

Hasan Namir

Reema Patel

Jack Wang

UMBILICAL CORD

SUCH BIG DREAMS

WE TWO ALONE

9781771667180 Book*hug Press

9780771073717 McClelland & Stewart

9781487007461 House of Anansi Press

Sarena & Sasha Nanua

Anna Quon

Jesse Wente

SISTERS OF THE SNAKE

WHERE THE SILVER RIVER ENDS

UNRECONCILED: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance

9780062985590 HarperCollins Canada

9781988784878 Invisible Publishing

9780735235731 Penguin Random House CA

Abdi Nazemian

Matthew Salesses

Bethaney Wilkinson

THE CHANDLER LEGACIES

CRAFT IN THE REAL WORLD

THE DIVERSITY GAP

9780063039346 HarperCollins Canada

9781948226806 Penguin Random House CA

9781400226238 HarperCollins Canada

Tololupe Oloruntoba

Zena Sharman

Mary-Lou Zeitoun

EACH ONE A FURNACE

THE CARE WE DREAM OF

9780771051586 Penguin Random House CA

9781551528601 Arsenal Pulp Press

JAMILA AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe

Julietta Singh

THE SON OF THE HOUSE

THE BREAKS

9781459747081 Dundurn Press

9781552454350 Coach House Books

Mariam S. Pal

Sonya Singh

BALLET IS NOT FOR MUSLIM GIRLS

SARI NOT SARI

9781990086205 Renaissance Press

9781982185916 Simon & Schuster Canada

Dorothy Ellen Palmer

Clayton Thomas-Müller

KERFUFFLE

LIFE IN THE CITY OF DIRTY WATER

978-1990086212 Renaissance Press

9781459416482 Formac Lorimer

9780735240063 Penguin Random House CA

47

Simon & Schuster Canada welcomes our authors to THE FOLD 2022

Teen Writer in Residence

CHLOE GONG

OMAR MOUALLEM

SONYA SINGH

Come check out our virtual booth at this year’s festival!

SimonSchusterCA SimonTeenCA

48

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE CANADA PROUD SPONSOR OF THE FESTIVAL OF LITERARY DIVERSITY WELCOMES OUR AUTHORS

SUZANNE BARR

H.N. KHAN

TOLU OLORUNTOBA

REEMA PATEL

MATTHEW SALESSES

CLAYTON THOMAS-MÜLLER

KATHERENA VERMETTE

JESSE WENTE

TSERING YANGZOM LAMA

49

CELA opens books no matter how you read Diverse voices deserve to be heard.

Diverse stories deserve to be read.

The Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) is pleased to partner with the FOLD to make accessible versions of the FOLD’s featured books available through public libraries to the estimated 3 million Canadians with print disabilities.

Celalibrary.ca

WINNING WITH PRINT • • • •

Direct Marketing Wide Format Printing Service Illustrations Posters

Print Three Brampton supports and encourages the

initiatives undertaken by The

905 · 454 · 4284 www.print3brampton.com

50

FOLD Foundation

Serving Brampton for over 30 years.

RETURNS NOVEMBER 8–12, 2022 VIRTUAL & IN-PERSON EVENTS, SCHOOL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES

AND MORE!

@FOLDKidz

@FoldKids

@foldkids

thefoldcanada.org/kids 51