CHINATOWN at the Vancouver Playhouse in September 2022 at the Vancouver Playhouse - tickets go on sale July 23

 

Book of Haiku Anthology - Call for Submissions - Deadline August 10th, 2022

Call for haiku submission to be included in Here and Now, Discover Mississauga and More, an eBook publication.  The editors, Anna Yin and Hans Jongman invite writers to submit 1 - 5 haiku to info@surewaypress.com before the deadline of September 1, 2022. Everyone is welcome to join us no matter where you live. The publication date of this book is October 6, 2022.  The editors are calling for haiku based on the photos provided at the link. Those who submit their haiku before August 10 will have a possibility of having their work showcased at the Japan Festival at Celebration Square in Mississauga on Aug 20. 2022.

To find out more about this project, one of 2022 MAC MicroGrant Winning Programs, please click here.

Madeleine Thien at the Chinatown Storytelling Centre on September 12, 2022, 6.00pm

The Chinatown Storytelling Centre Reading Room will be hosts a conversation with Madeleine Thien, internationally-acclaimed author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which won the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the 2016 Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, and an Edward Stanford Prize; and was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize, the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The Folio Prize 2017. The novel was named a New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2016 and was longlisted for a Carnegie Medal.

Join author Anne Giardini, a member of the Chinatown Storytelling Centre advisory committee, in a discussion with Madeleine Thien about place, voice, story, and history in her writing. Their conversation will include Thien’s Vancouver origins, her sense of place in Chinatown and in the wider world, and how she weaves history and political events into her rich, compelling stories.  

More information and tickets are available at the Chinatown Storytelling Centre website.

Ho Tak Kee (何德記) Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen

This film is being screened at the Grunt Gallery's Mount Pleasant Community Screen. It is shown every weekend of May at this outdoor location.  People can enjoy this work, by walking or driving by the outdoor screen which is attached to the "Independent" building.

Ho Tak Kee 何德記

2022. Silent 5:53 minutes. Grunt Gallery Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen

By Leung Yiksea (Director) & Karin Lee (Producer)

Location: Intersection of Broadway & Kingsway, Vancouver, an outdoor screen on the east side of the Independent Building.

Ho Tak Kee is an assembly of fragmented memories and imagined conversations of a local wonton house that was lost to fire one Christmas day. This work is presented as one part fairy tale, one part cooking show and one part Cantonese school.

The title is borrowed from the once-bustling neighbourhood staple, Ho Tak Kee Wonton House. Many elements of this project were inspired by conversations with the Ho Tak Kee family and the artists in the area who frequented this eatery. This settler story is emblematic of many newcomer/family-run eateries.

The grunt gallery’s Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen, Broadway & Kingsway, is located on the site of the former Ho Tak Kee Wonton House.

(Artist Bio)
Leung Yiksea 梁亦詩

Leung Yiksea 梁亦詩 (pronounced leurn-yick-see) is a Canadian media artist whose work is informed by the people and settlers of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh lands (where Vancouver is located). Her family’s ancestral villages are located in 番禺 (punyu) and 新會 (sunwui) of southern China. The focus of her work centres on place-based stories and identity. Before becoming a parent to two incredible kids, she collaborated on intergenerational, multilingual, site-specific projects in Chinatown and Strathcona neighbourhoods. She co-directed Cedar and Bamboo (with filmmaker Kamala Todd), which has been shown nationally, internationally, and most recently as part of VIVO Media Arts’ thirstDays series and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s Imagining Fusang exhibition.

(Producer Bio)
Karin Lee 李嘉慈
karinlee.ca

Karin Lee 李嘉慈 is a Canadian media artist and filmmaker. Her critical voice and perspective touches on the past and the present, both local and international. An artist who constantly traverses new territory, Lee challenges film and media forms and addresses new audiences. Born and raised in Vancouver, BC, Karin’s films are influenced by her family who immigrated to Canada in the 1870’s, settling in Barkerville BC. Lee’s parents were activists who worked in the downtown eastside, with her father running a Chinese communist bookstore at 33 East Hastings from the mid-1960s to '80s. Her interest in Chinese Canadian identity, feminism and social justice activism informs her narrative films, experimental video, documentaries and original TV series she has written, directed and produced since 1991.

Congratulations to Barbara Lee for the ACWW Community Builders Award

We are pleased to announce Barbara Lee as 2022’s recipient of the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop Community Builders Award. This award is given to an individual or organization that demonstrates commitment and devotion to racial equity and advocating inclusion for Asian Canadians. Barbara has been championing equity, diversity, inclusion, and better Asian representation in film for more than 25 years. During the pandemic, Barbara has been a strong and consistent voice against anti-Asian racism and advancing social justice, with initiatives such as the founding #Elimin8Hate, the racial equity audit of British Columbia’s Knowledge Network (KN), the Canadian Style Guide for Reporting on Asian Canadian Communities, bravely calling out the racial inequities of Canadian grant funding agencies, and her dedicated leadership of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival that continues highlighting Asian Canadian filmmakers with programming targeting discrimination.

Over the years, ACWW has honoured individuals, community organizations, and educational institutions that have made significant contributions to the community. Past recipients of the ACWW Community Builders Awards include Roy Mah, Wayson Choy, Paul Yee, Harvey Lowe, Roy Miki, Fred Wah, The Bulletin (National Association of Japanese Canadians), Joy Kogawa, Scott McIntyre Gim Wong, Evelyn Lau, Tradewind Books, and Brian Lam. Your tireless efforts and your dedication to our community are an inspiration to us all and very much exemplify the spirit of this award.

ACWW presented the award to Barbara on the opening night of LiterASIAN Festival on Saturday, May 7th. Thank you, Barbara, for all that you do in the community, and congratulations!

Remembering Joyce Lam

ACWW is deeply saddened by the passing of VACT founder Joyce Lam. Our founder Jim Wong-Chu, attended the first Asian Comedy Night put on by Joyce, and had even offered financial help. We thank Tom Chin for sharing this memory during his interview with CBC Radio, and are glad that many of VACT's productions became sell-outs.