LiterASIAN Festival 2025 - "Origins" - May 29 to June 29, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 1, 2025

THE 13TH ANNUAL LITERASIAN FESTIVAL

SPOTLIGHTS ASIAN CANADIAN LITERATURE, HISTORY, AND CULTURE

Vancouver, BC - The 2025 LiterASIAN Festival arrives with the theme of "Origins," an exploration of heritage and resilience that reflects two significant milestones: the 30th anniversary of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop (ACWW) and the recent centennial of the Chinese Exclusion Act. This year’s theme is particularly poignant as it connects ACWW’s decades-long commitment to amplifying Asian Canadian voices with a critical period in history, when the voices and presence of Chinese Canadians were institutionally silenced. Through this fusion of past and present, the festival will encourage a renewed appreciation of identity, cultural preservation, and creative empowerment in today’s Asian Canadian literary scene.

The ACWW’s 30th anniversary serves as a reflection of its journey from a small but passionate collective of writers into a leading organization that advocates for Asian Canadian literature. To honour this legacy, LiterASIAN 2025 will feature retrospectives and discussions that explore the evolution of Asian Canadian literature over the past three decades, tracing how community-led efforts have influenced broader Canadian literary landscapes.

The theme of “Origins” takes on an even deeper meaning in light of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned most Chinese immigration to Canada from 1923 to 1947 and had lasting repercussions on Chinese Canadian communities. Through panels, exhibits, and creative performances, LiterASIAN revisits the stories of those affected by the Exclusion Act, showcasing how this dark chapter of exclusion has shaped—and, in many ways, strengthened—the determination of later generations to claim their rightful place within Canadian society and culture.

This year’s featured authors include award-winning writer and curator Catherine Clement (Paper Trail), Rachel Phan (Restaurant Kid), Eddy Boudel Tan (The Tiger and the Cosmonaut), and JF Garrard (Ghost Bride of Gum San), Wayne Ng (Johnny Delivers), Leanne Toshiko Simpson (Never Been Better), and Mai Nguyen (Sunshine Nails). Festival events include panel discussions, author talks, writing workshops, and book launches, including Ricepaper’s new anthology Infusion, featuring new and emerging writers.

LiterASIAN will take place in Toronto and Vancouver, where stories of origins, geography, and journeys intertwine. Events will be held at the Chinese Canadian Museum, the Chinatown Storytelling Centre, Centre A (Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art), the UBC Learning Exchange, and the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library on the University of Toronto's downtown campus.

Tickets go on sale May 1, 2025 and are available for purchase online at http://literasian.com

About LiterASIAN Festival
LiterASIAN 2025 marks the 13th annual year the festival will bring Asian Canadian writing to the forefront. Launched in 2013, the festival was the first of its kind in Canada. It was created with the desire to promote and celebrate Asian Canadian writing, while engaging the broader community through readings, workshop events, and panel discussions. LiterASIAN is a community-building initiative of the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop (ACWW), a not-for-profit organization founded in the late 1960s to foster a community of Pacific Rim Asian Canadian writers and to encourage and publish new works of literature.


For further press information, including interviews and photos, please email info@literasian.com

LiterASIAN Festival Toronto, May 29, 2025

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Event Part I: LiterASIAN Toronto 2025

"Origins"

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Carrianne Leung is a fiction writer and assistant professor at the University of Guelph in Creative Writing. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and Equity Studies from OISE/University of Toronto. She is the co-editor with Lynn Caldwell and Darryl Leroux of Critical Inquiries: A Reader in Studies of Canada. Her debut novel, The Wondrous Woo, published by Inanna Publications was shortlisted for the 2014 Toronto Book Awards. Her collection of linked stories, That Time I Loved You, was released in 2018 by HarperCollins and in 2019 in the US by Liveright Publishing. It received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, was named as one of the Best Books of 2018 by CBC, and That Time I Loved You was awarded the Danuta Gleed Literary Award 2019, shortlisted for the Toronto Book Awards 2019 and long-listed for Canada Reads 2019. Leung’s work has also appeared in The Puritan, Ricepaper, The Globe and Mail, Room Magazine, Prairie Fire and Open Book Ontario. She is currently working on a new novel, titled The After, which is set to be released by HarperCollins Canada in spring 2026.

Leanne Toshiko Simpson is a mixed-race Yonsei writer, educator, and psychiatric survivor from Toronto. She loves writing joyful, messy, laugh-out-loud stories about living with mental illness and the moments of hope that help us get out of bed day after day. Leanne is a graduate of the University of Toronto Scarborough’s Creative Writing program and the University of Guelph’s MFA. She is currently completing an EdD in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto. Leanne teaches BIPOC literature and disability arts seminars at Trinity College. Her debut novel, Never Been Better, was released by HarperCollins Canada and Penguin in the U.S. and was named one of CBC's Best Books of 2024.

Wayne Ng was born in Anishinaabe land in what is commonly known as downtown Toronto to Chinese immigrants who fed him a steady diet of bitter melon and kung fu movies. Wayne is a social worker who lives to write, travel, eat, and play, preferably all at the same time. He is an award-winning author and traveller who continues to push his boundaries from the Arctic to the Antarctic. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and goldfish.  Ng is the author of Letters From Johnny (winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novella and Ottawa Book Award finalist); Johnny Delivers (recommended by The Globe and Mail and CBC Books); The Family Code (Ottawa Book Award and Guernica Prize finalist).

            

Mai Nguyen is a Vietnamese Canadian author based in Toronto. Her debut novel, Sunshine Nails—about a Vietnamese family that will stop at nothing to save their ailing nail salon—was longlisted for Canada Reads and selected as one of the best books of 2023 by NPR and CBC. Her second book is scheduled for publication in Spring 2026.

 

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Event Part II: Book Launch Celebration of Infusion: A Ricepaper Anthology

"Infusion Unveiled: Stories from the Asian Canadian Mosaic" 

 Join us for an afternoon celebrating the launch of Infusion: A Ricepaper Anthology, a powerful collection amplifying the voices of Asian Canadian authors and writers from the Asian diaspora. The event will feature readings by contributing writers Mihan Han, Garry Engkent, Hana Kim, Victoria Sa, Ling Chen, Justin Timbol, and Amardeep Kaur. Their work thoughtfully explores themes of identity, belonging, resilience, and creativity, capturing the rich and diverse experiences of Asian communities in Canada and beyond. 

 The program will also feature a special reading of My Aunt, a poignant poem by the late Jim Wong-Chu, published posthumously in this anthology. Whether you are a long-time supporter of Ricepaper or encountering these dynamic voices for the first time, this launch promises to be an inspiring celebration of storytelling, culture, and community.

Public Statement on the Tragedy at the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party

We are profoundly saddened by the tragedy that occurred at the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party in Vancouver on April 26, 2025. An event meant to honour culture, community, and shared joy was instead transformed into a scene of devastating loss and heartbreak.

We extend our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives. Our thoughts are also with the many individuals who were injured, some critically, and with everyone who endured the terror and trauma of this horrific event. We mourn with you and grieve for all that has been taken away.

We must recognize that the wounds inflicted are not only physical. Traumatic experiences such as these leave lasting emotional and psychological scars. Survivors, witnesses, first responders, families, and the broader community may find themselves grappling with grief, fear, anxiety, and profound distress. To all those affected, we acknowledge your pain and stand with you. Healing must include attention to mental health, emotional well-being, and compassionate community support.

The resilience and unity of the Filipino-Canadian community, as well as all of Vancouver, stand as a testament to the strength of the human spirit. We are reminded in these painful times that community matters more than ever — that empathy, solidarity, and collective care are essential to our recovery.

Off the Shelf Poetry Reading Series on April 25 featuring Hoa Nguyen and Dale Martin Smith

Please join SFU’s Department of English and Poetry in Canada for a poetry reading featuring Hoa Nguyen and Dale Martin Smith on Friday, April 25th (Doors: 6:30 PM; Event: 7 PM). This event takes place at SFU’s Belzberg Library at Harbour Centre campus.

*This is a free event; no RSVP required

Bios

Hoa Nguyen is the author of six full-length books of poetry including Violet Energy Ingots which received a Griffin Prize nomination and A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure which was named as a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the Governor General’s Award, and the National Book Award. In 2019, she was nominated for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, also known as the “American Nobel”, and in 2024 she received C.D. Wright Award in Poetry from the Foundation of Contemporary Art, an endowed annual award bestowed by a nomination process. Hoa is member of the She Who Has No Masters collective, a project of multi-voiced collectivity, hybrid poetics, encounters, in-between spaces, and (dis)places of the Vietnamese diaspora. an Aquarius, and a Fire Horse.

Dale Martin Smith is a poet, editor, literary scholar, and professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is the author of the poetry collections The Size of Paradise, Flying Red Horse, Slow Poetry in America, Black Stone, and American Rambler. Smith’s scholarly contributions include Poets Beyond the Barricade: Rhetoric, Citizenship, and Dissent after 1960 and two edited editions, An Open Map: The Correspondence of Robert Duncan and Charles Olson and Imagining Persons: Robert Duncan’s Lectures on Charles Olson. His essays and poetry have appeared in Poetry, The Walrus, LA Review of Books, Boston Review, and Lana Turner. With Hoa Nguyen, he edited Skanky Possum, a literary zine and book imprint, from 1998 to 2004. His essay collection, That Tongue Be Time: Norma Cole and a Continuous Making

 

Trevor Carolan and Marlowe Ferris, with Evelyn Lau, reading at Christ Church Cathedral

 

ACWW Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award judge, professor emeritus, and poet Trevor Carolan and Marlowe Ferris, with Evelyn Lau, will be reading at Christ Church Cathedral, on Burrard & Georgia on Friday, April 25th, 7:30 pm. A free event at a time of national cultural awareness. 

Doors open at 7 pm. All ages. 

With financial assistance from the Canada Council through the Writers Union of Canada, and with the support of the Christ Church Cathedral community.

Book Launch: Chinatown Vancouver: An Illustrated History Sunday, May 25

 

Chinatown Vancouver: An Illustrated History will be out on May 1, 2025. There is more info on Donna's website (www.donnaseto.ca) in case you would like to purchase a copy or are are just curious. The book will be available wherever you want to buy it. It's already on the CBC Books list of non-fiction books to read!