March 12, 2024

LiterASIAN Festival 2024

ACWW is excited to announce the 12th anniversary of the LiterASIAN Writers Festival.  LiterASIAN will be hosted at the Vancouver Japanese Language School and Heritage Hall, the Chinatown Storytelling Centre, Centre A, and Floata Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown.

This year’s LiterASIAN festival is happening in May, to celebrate Asian Heritage Month. The festival will have author readings, writing workshops, speaker roundtable discussions, book signings, and a special “Dimsum with the Authors” fundraiser in collaboration with the Word Vancouver Reading & Writing Festival. Writers featured include Joy Kogawa, Lindsay Wong, Ujjal Dosanjh, Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio, Keiko Honda, and Angie Wong.

Stay tuned for more information at http://www.literasian.com


 

March 11, 2024

Remembering our friend and founding director, Ada Con

 

The ACWW family is sad to share the news of our beloved friend Ada Con’s passing. Ada is a role model for many of us and has been committed to being a life-long community organizer. Having worked for the Fraser Valley Regional Library from 1975 to 2013, Ada was the manager of the Terry Fox Library for 20 years before becoming the Coordinator of Diversity Services and Programming. As coordinator, she created several award-winning library programs such as the Reading Link Challenge and the Festival of Aboriginal Artists.

Ada was a founding member and director of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and a founding member of the LiterASIAN Writers Festival.  Ada was also a founding member and was on the inaugural committee to incorporate the Port Coquitlam Heritage and Cultural Society in 1988.  She helped found the Fraser Valley Regional Library's participation as one of the pilot libraries in Lest We Forget, a unique pilot program offered by Library and Archives Canada to High Schools in the Fraser Valley, using copies of primary source documents of WWI soldiers, to remember those who bravely lost their lives to save others. Thank you, Ada, for all you’ve done for us. We will miss you dearly.

February 26, 2024

Richmond Public Library Writers for Readers Festival - March 13, 2024

 

Writers for Readers is Richmond Public Library's first writers festival. Featuring live talks from bestselling BC authors Iona Whishaw, Eve Lazarus, and Nick Marino.

There will also be local authors from Richmond setup with their own booths with an opportunity for you to chat with them, learn about their work, and purchase copies of their books.

Schedule:

Local author tables 2-5PM
Richmond-based authors include:

Marty Allen, Jennifer Ausa, Anil Kotadia, Udayana Lugo, Isabella Mori, Fred Pawluk, Alice Poon, Dan Propp, Brandon Reid, Diana Sajoo, Emily Seo, Shannon Schneider, Ling Sun, and Ronald Zhang.  Alice Poon will be hosting a mini-book launch at her booth for The Earthly Blaze (the concluding wuxia fantasy sequel to The Heavenly Sword), which is due for release on April 9, 2024.


Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 2:00PM – 7:00PM, at Richmond Public Library's Brighouse Branch.


February 22, 2024

The world premiere of Jade Circle this March 6-17, at Gateway Theatre


The world premiere of Jade Circle is this March 6-17, at Gateway Theatre. This beautiful story will inspire you to rediscover and reclaim your mother tongue.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT & PERFORMER



As a second-generation immigrant, Jasmine’s personal journey and background greatly inform her artistic expression. Her experiences and heritage shape the stories she tells, adding depth and authenticity to her creative performances. With extensive experience as a Theatre, Film/TV, and Voiceover performer, Jasmine’s artistic endeavours go beyond acting and directing. She invites audiences to explore the complexities of identity, belonging, and cultural heritage through her work. She also delves into the creation of multilingual, interdisciplinary pieces that aim to bring linguistic and formal diversity to our stages while bridging cultural and linguistic barriers through the power of play and theatre.

February 2, 2024

"Journeys to the Bandstand" by Chris Wong


Journeys to the Bandstand: Thirty Jazz Lives in Vancouver chronicles the creative lives and musical journeys of thirty extraordinary artists who have helped shape the jazz scene in the west coast Canadian city, and further afield. Each chapter focuses on one remarkable artist, or a small group of impactful musicians, mostly based in Vancouver (Al Neil, Dave Quarin, Brad Turner, Cory Weeds, Jodi Proznick, Natasha D’Agostino, and others). The book also highlights some American musicians (Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Dr. Lonnie Smith, George Coleman, and others) who have made an indelible impression on the city’s jazz community.

Chapters

1 / Living the Jazz Life: John Dawe
2 / The Electrical Guitarist and his Only Son: Jim and Rick Kilburn
3 / The Man with the Plastic Saxophone: Ornette Coleman
4 / Far Out: Al Neil
5 / Father and Son: Barry and Dylan Cramer
6 / Mind of Mingus: Charles Mingus
7 / Fisherman’s Jazz: Dave Quarin
8 / The Road from Avonlea to the Cellar: Bobby Hales
9 / Total Honesty: PJ Perry
10 / Jazz Dreamer: Carol Fox
11 / The Voice: Ron Small
12 / Deep Connection: Bob Murphy
13 / Let Your Voice Be Heard: Hugh Fraser
14 / Thankfully: Ross Taggart
15 / Here Now: Brad Turner
16 / Life of Bruno: Bruno Hubert
17 / How My Heart Sings: Kate Hammett-Vaughan
18 / Hardest Working Man in Jazz Business Cory Weeds / Part 1: How to Succeed as a Jazz Club Owner / Part 2: Fin de l’Affaire, Living the Jazz Dream
19 / The Doctor and the Ambassador: Dr. Lonnie Smith and Seleno Clarke
20 / Big G: George Coleman
21 / The Rhythm Section: Tilden Webb, Jodi Proznick, and Jesse Cahill
22 / Keeping It Real: Roy McCurdy
23 / Sense and Sensibility: Amanda Tosoff
24 / Love Walked In: Mike Allen
25 / Endings Rarely Are: Natasha D’Agostino

I self-published Journeys to the Bandstand with support from more than 130 musicians and others who kindly agreed to be interviewed (multiple times in some cases), editor David Ferman, FriesenPress, a volunteer community of generous souls, a wonderful benefactor/jazz fan, and my family and friends. I’m very grateful.

The book includes the 25 chapters listed above, a Foreword by Nou Dadoun, a chronology of key events in Vancouver’s jazz history, a discography, more than 140 black and white images, and other elements on 605 pages.

-- Chris Wong

January 13, 2024

Our Journey Continues with Paul Yee at Vancouver's Chinatown Storytelling Centre


An intimate evening of storytelling with beloved Chinese Canadian author Paul Yee. In this program, we traveled back in time with Paul to hear about his origins in Spalding, Saskatchewan and his childhood in Vancouver’s Chinatown. We are grateful to have had special guest, Scott McIntyre, founding partner of Douglas & McIntyre - publisher of Paul’s award-winning book Saltwater City - to guide us through Paul's remarkable journey as a prolific writer.