Celebration of Life: Sid Chow Tan on December 22, 2022

Please join us for "Celebration of Life: Sid Chow Tan."  

Location: Russian Hall - 600 Campbell Avenue Vancouver Thursday, December 22, 2022, at 1.00PM 

Meet Nancy Lam, author of The Loyal Daughter at the Chinatown Storytelling Centre on October 29, 2022

We are delighted to welcome Toronto author Nancy Lam to the Chinatown Storytelling Centre, where she will be signing copies of her debut novel The Loyal Daughter at Foo Hung Curios!

As a child and teenager, Nancy Lam lost herself in stories by Canadian writers, in university she majored in Canadian History to earn a Bachelor of Arts before acquiring her law degree. As an immigration lawyer she now helps prospective Canadians write and present their life stories to government officials. Her first novel, The Loyal Daughter, is based on her mother’s immigration story to Canada.

"Remarkably original, sensitive, and startlingly honest."
– Robert Rotenberg, Bestselling author of Downfall

The Loyal Daughter is a novel in stories, told from the perspective of mother, daughter, and granddaughter, spanning the 1940s to modern day. A young woman in a village in Communist China finds herself scrapping her way through the crowded streets of Hong Kong. She immigrates to an isolated Northern Ontario city and finally settles in Toronto. When she finds herself stuck in a small apartment above a clothing store, with four kids, her mother, two siblings, and a husband who is never home, the promise of a new beginning fades. Filled with heart-breaking sacrifices, secrets and joy that shape her identity, The Loyal Daughter stands testament to a woman’s true resilience.

"Based on her family’s story, Nancy Lam’s debut novel spans multiple generations of women in China, Hong Kong, and Canada. As each struggles with poverty, love, and identity, The Loyal Daughter poses the universal question: What Is loyalty — helping one’s family or being true to one’s own self?"
– Jan Wong, author, Red China Blues

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Presented in partnership with the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, with support from At Bay Press.

Please direct any questions and feedback to info@chinatownfoundation.org 

Saturday, October 29, 2 to 3 PM

Foo Hung Curios, located inside the Chinatown Storytelling Centre (168 East Pender St)

Vancouver Poet Laureate Fiona Tinwei Lam “Place as Portal” on October 18, 2022

 

All are welcome to hear Vancouver’s award-winning Poet Laureate when she speaks on the theme of “Place as Portal”.

Vancouver’s Poet Laureate (2022-2024) Fiona Tinwei Lam has published three collections of poetry— Intimate Distances, Enter the Chrysanthemum, and Odes & Laments—and also authored the illustrated children’s book, The Rainbow Rocket. Her work has been featured in Best Canadian Poetry, BC’s Poetry in Transit, and several award-winning poetry video collaborations. Besides co-editing two nonfiction anthologies, she edited The Bright Well: Contemporary Canadian Poems about Facing Cancer.

A finalist for the Vancouver Book Prize (for Intimate Distances) and other awards, her work has been included in over 40 anthologies. Her Poet Laureate Legacy Project will involve community outreach to encourage the generation of new poems and poetry videos to foster a greater understanding of significant historical, cultural, and ecological sites on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, now known as the City of Vancouver.


For more information on this lecture, please email writing@uvic.ca

Venue: David Strong Building (DSB), Room C108

Remembering our friend and former ACWW President Sid Tan

(Dinner at Jade Dynasty in 2018. From left to right: Sean Gunn, Fanna Yee, Elwin Xie, Marlene Enns, Eric Li, Sid Tan, Jordan Tan, Allan Cho)

ACWW and the community are mourning the loss of our friend, Sid Tan.  Sid was renowned for his activism in highlighting awareness of the injustices of the Chinese Canadian head tax and as a community organizer for a number of non-government organizations. As a paper son and descendant of head-tax payers, Sid dedicated his life to redress. Tan was the Chairman of the Chinese Canadian National Council and the founding director and co-chairperson of the Head Tax Families Society of Canada. Sid was the founding director and President of the Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society and a founding director of the CMES Community Media Education Society and Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop. He was a community activist concerned with environmental and human rights and social justice issues and had produced and crewed hundreds of hours of community television programming, much of the national and international award-winning.  He was active in ICTV, an Independent Community Television Co-operative in Vancouver.  Until his passing, Sid was the voice of ACWW’s Facebook social media page.

Sid’s lifelong friend, Jim Wong-Chu, dedicated a poem in his book Chinatown Ghosts to Sid.

hippo luck

(for sid tan)

carmen smiles

hand in hand

we glide the flamenco air

the dance floor whirled a common dish

we danced a pair of common fish

stewing in the back room heat

where men grow thinner

than gambler’s chips

I am a miner of the mountain of gambler’s gold

between bowls of borrowed rice

I toss the dice of low life

numb to the feel of each burning tile

its clatter a swirling tatter of dancing steps

stay with me … carmen …

as surely as lord buddha sits on my right

make it all or nothing

tonight

"China: Perspectives from Two Correspondents" at Word Vancouver, September 25

Presented by Word Vancouver and the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop (ACWW), join us as President Todd Wong moderates this conversation with journalists Joanna Chiu, (China Unbound: A New World Disorder, House of Anansi Press) and Ian Young, BC bureau chief for Canadian Press.

Beijing is part of a growing new world disorder on the world stage, along with Putin's Russia. How will this impact Canada and Vancouver, through "wolf warrior" diplomacy, intimidation campaigns, cyber security vulnerabilities, and ownership of Canadian tech and natural resource companies? Please join Toronto Star journalist/author Joanna Chiu to address these issues from her new book China Unbound. Joining the discussion is Ian Young, new BC Bureau Chief for Canadian Press. Both Chiu and Young have covered China for more than a decade (Young as a correspondent for South China Morning Post) and both also covered the Meng Wanghou extradition hearings and the Two Michaels’ arrest and detention.

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Sunday, September 25, 2022, 5:30 PM 6:30 PM at SFU's Harbour Centre, Segal Centre Room C

Registration 

OCT 02 Strathcona Poems at the Garden

 

About this event

Hosted by Vancouver's Sixth Poet Laureate, Fiona Tinwei Lam, eight talented youth, emerging and established poets will read their award-winning poems about the historic Strathcona neighbourhood. Expect to hear a few poems set in the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden!

Entrance will be located on Carrall St and access to this event is free.

Adrian Yue (he/him) is a second-generation poet, painter, and creative who was born and raised in Vancouver. His work details themes of loss, connection, and time. Through writing, he is able to transform his thoughts into tangible pieces of prose or poetry. When not writing, he enjoys gardening and music.

Angela May is a mixed Japanese Canadian writer, artist, and activist based in Vancouver, BC. She is also a PhD Student in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University. Her creative and community writing has been published in emerge20, The Bulletin/Geppo, Nikkei Images, The Volcano, and other forums.

Crystal Peng lives in Vancouver, BC. She edits for the Flat Ink and reads EX/POST. When not writing, she spends her time propagating succulents, listening to the Goldberg Variations, or in a wikipedia rabbithole about oysters.

Donna Seto is a writer, academic, and artist from Vancouver, BC. Her work has been published in The New Quarterly, Ricepaper Magazine, and academic journals. Donna is working on her first novel, a collection of short stories, and an illustrated book on Vancouver’s Chinatown.

Kelsey Andrews grew up in the country near Grande Prairie in Northern Alberta, then moved to Vancouver, and lives now in Saanichton, Vancouver Island, on WSANEC territory. Her first book of poetry, Big Sky Falling, came out in November of 2021 with Ronsdale Press.

Isabel Hernandez-Cheng is an eighth grade student attending York House School in Vancouver. She enjoys studying social studies and English language arts. She took inspiration for this poem from a recent visit to several exhibitions about Chinese history in Chinatown.

Sharon Pan is a grade 7 student who like cats, writing, and eclairs.

Vivian Li (she/her) is a writer, editor, and musician who enjoys exploring various artistic disciplines. Her creative works are published in The Fiddlehead, CV2, and Vallum, among others. A MFA candidate at UBC, she currently edits for PRISM international, and can be reached on Twitter @eliktherain.