Kissing Books: Cultural Diversity and Publishing Options in Romance and Romcom

Tonight I attended an event, Kissing Books: Cultural Diversity and Publishing Options in Romance and Romcom, put on by the Toronto Chapter of the Canadian Authors Association .

Canadian Authors – Toronto is excited to welcome three Toronto romance writers to discuss cultural diversity and publishing options in the romance and romcom genres. Authors Farah Heron, Jackie Lau, and Kasey Goldstraw each bring their own perspective and experience with publishing romance. Farah will represent the traditional publishing track with a short talk about her debut novel, The Chai Factor, out this month with HarperCollins Canada. Jackie will share how she became a one-woman indie publisher of her own romance novels, and Kasey will discuss pulling her 20-year-old manuscript out of hibernation and bringing it to life with the help of a hybrid publisher. Farah and Jackie will also talk about personally adding to the growing cultural diversity of the romance genre by populating their romance novels with Chinese-Canadian characters and “brown people falling stupidly in love.” A Q&A with the authors will follow their presentations. And each author will be selling and signing copies of their books.

It was an enjoyable night. All three authors spoke of their experiences in each of the different areas of publishing. Oh and just so you know, there is no easy route to publishing a decent book. It's all hard work.

Farah and Jackie also spoke of the challenges of being published as a person or even woman of colour, even to the idea of how publishers can be hesitant to have non-white people on the cover of their books. There was a Q&A afterwards. It was quite interesting.

There was ice cream. There was also door prizes. I won a book, Year of the Slut, a feminist version of Fifty Shades, by Jennifer Lieberman. I'm looking forward to the Toronto Chapter's next event.

About tonight's authors:

Farah Heron

After a childhood raised on Bollywood, Monty Python, and Jane Austen, Farah Heron self-rejected her writing career before jotting down a single word, despite admitting her ultimate fantasy was to be a writer. But when she could no longer keep the story arcs straight in her daydreams, she started writing a few years ago and never looked back. She writes romantic comedies and women’s fiction full of huge South Asian families, delectable food, and most importantly, brown people falling stupidly in love. Prior to writing, Farah had careers in human resources and psychotherapy. She lives in Toronto with her patient husband, surly teenager, and delightful middle-grader. Farah is the president of Toronto Romance Writers. Farah’s debut novel, The Chai Factor, is due out on June 11 from HarperCollins Canada and has been featured in Elle Canada, Quill &Quire, CBC’s The Next Chapter, Bustle.com, and Book Riot.

Jackie Lau

Jackie Lau decided she wanted to be a writer when she was in Grade 2, sometime between writing “The Heart That Got Lost” and “The Land of Shapes.” She later studied engineering and worked as a geophysicist before turning to writing romance novels. Jackie previously wrote erotic and contemporary romance as Laura Jardine and now writes romantic comedy with Chinese-Canadian heroes and heroines. Since she began self-publishing in May 2018, she has released six novels, including Grumpy Fake Boyfriend, The Ultimate Pi Day Party, and Ice Cream Lover, and one novella, One Bed for Christmas, a prequel to her Baldwin Village series. Jackie lives in Toronto with her husband, and despite living in Canada her whole life, she hates winter. When she’s not writing, she enjoys gelato, gourmet doughnuts, cooking, hiking, and reading on the balcony when it’s raining. You can purchase all of Jackie’s books through Amazon, Kobo, and other online book retailers.

Kasey Goldstraw

Kasey Goldstraw was born and raised in Vancouver, and she studied English at the University of British Columbia and creative writing at Capitano College. At the urging of one of her writing professors, she turned one of her short stories into a novel, but she stuck the manuscript in a drawer and left it there for 20 years while life went on. It was Kasey’s husband, Peter, who kept reading it year after year and prodding her to send it to publishers. Since teaming up with Toronto hybrid publisher Iguana Books, Kasey’s debut novel, Archibald Full Frontal, has been shortlisted for the 2019 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Thanks to the mindfulness skills she’s been able to cultivate as the co-owner of Toronto yoga studio Tranquility Wellness, Kasey is waiting patiently for the Kobo results to be announced on June 27. To date, she has only gnawed off a couple of fingernails.

Toronto Star Writer Katie Daubs Talk at the Toronto Reference Library

This afternoon I went to the Toronto Reference Library to hear a talk given by Katie Daubs, a Feature Writer for the Toronto Star called On Researching Feature Articles.

Katie Daubs, a Toronto Star features reporter, will talk about how she researches and writes stories about Toronto's history, using both online and offline primary source material and other resources.

Examples of some of her articles: 

• An ostrich in the study, a carousel in the backyard: the wickedly funny woman whose Toronto parties were epic. 
• Toronto Public Library home to long forgotten Valentine's Day postcards. 
• This Etobicoke home was hiding secrets in its basement. The family who lives there dug them up. 
• "I ran into the hall screaming, she's not dead!" The last nursing graduates of Women's College Hospital have seen it all.

She used a story she wrote for the Star in 2015, Beatrice White, the girl who killed half a million flies for Toronto, as the example of how she researched the article. I gained some useful information on her research techniques but was really fascinated by the story itself. I found it in the Star Archives and it's a fun and interesting read.

In short, the city of Toronto in 1912 was a cesspool of muddy water, garbage and animal manure. Flies were everywhere and spreading disease, especially in the city slums, which ran from the new Toronto City Hall up to College and over to Bay and simply known as 'The Ward'. The city needed a way to get ride of the flies so they ran a contest for the kids. $200 of prize money was available, $50 to the winner. Beatrice White, 14 and pictured below with her traps, won first prize by a landslide with 543,360 flies caught. The runner-up had less than half of that, 234,400.

It was a great hour. I learned and was entertained at the same time.

Authors Talk -Crossing Over: Writers Talk About Their Reasons for Working in Different Forms, Styles, and Genres

Tonight I was at an event put on by the Canadian Authors Association's Toronto Chapter. During the introduction, we were informed the name is far too cumbersome, so now we'll be known as Canadian Authors Toronto. I like the acronym, CAT.

The Canadian Authors Association has been around since 1921.

The Canadian Authors Association provides writers with a wide variety of programs, services and resources to help them develop their skills in both the craft and the business of writing, enhance their ability to earn a living as a writer, and have access to a Canada-wide network of writers and publishing industry professionals. 

We are a membership-based organization for writers in all areas of the profession—aspiring, emerging and professional—in every genre and across all writing-related professions.

Tonight's event was called Crossing Over: Writers Talk About Their Reasons for Working in Different Forms, Styles, and Genres. It's a long title but a very accurate one. Diana Fitzgerald Bryden, Catherine Graham, and Robin Richardson. They will tell their stories of working across styles and genres — or of wanting to and not always being able to do so — and will share what they’ve learned from those experiences.

The three authors sat on the couch and told their stories, then answered questions. Robin Richardson is on the left, Catherine Graham is in the middle and Diana Fitzgerald Bryden is on the right.

Diana Fitzgerald Bryden, started it off.

Diana Fitzgerald Bryden will speak about her movement from poetry to the novel and back to short fiction, and discuss how an experiment with short, online fiction led her to hone her skills and place a story in the Malahat Review.

She spoke about her life and what took her from poetry to short stories and novels and the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. Diana said how it was impossible to go from, let's say, writing a manuscript for a book but trying to jump back midway through to poetry. It's almost impossible to switch the mind over. The others agreed. I can see that.

Robin Richardson was next.

Robin Richardson (Sit How You Want) will discuss her transition from poetry to personal essays and memoir, as well as her attempts at long-form fiction.

It was interesting that from an early age she wanted to write but suffered from dyslexia which put a hold on that idea for five years before overcoming it. She explained how it is still difficult to write as she worries about miswriting or misreading her poetry or stories. Thankfully she has a very supportive agent to assist her. It was a family tragedy which really put her into the depths of poetry. She explained how she went from it to other forms of writing. Turns out, she's also an artist. I enjoyed her story.

Last up was Catherine Graham.

Catherine Graham (Quarry, The Celery Forest) will speak about the journey that led her to branch out beyond poetry to write her award-winning novel, Quarry (Two Wolves Press, 2017), and the impact it had on her current writing.

It's funny what impacts a persons life. In her early life, her family lived next to a limestone quarry. This became a theme in her poetry and not surprisingly, her first novel, Quarry. She didn't start to write until her parents died while in university. It was a road she stayed on.

All three talks were excellent and entertaining. Some people, I feel, in Q&As just talk to hear themselves speak but not in this group. Great questions were asked and terrific answers followed.

There were draws for different door prizes. I love the picture below as it shows Diana drawing my number. I won two tickets to the AGO.  In a double stroke of luck, I also won an hour mentoring session with Jennifer Foster, an editor and writer. I'm looking forward to it and, of course, will write about it after my session, which I expect will be in the New Year.

It was an entertaining night. With willpower, I walked by the sweets table at the end.

Canadian Authors Toronto, CAT, is up and running. I'm looking forward to the next event.

In Conversation with Margaret Atwood at the International Festival of Authors

Tonight was an hour long reading and interview with Margaret Atwood whom I consider to be one of Canada's great all-time authors.

Actor and writer Susan Coyne sits down with literary powerhouse Margaret Atwood to discuss her newest novel Hag-Seed, a retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest for the Hogarth Shakespeare Project. This event is hosted by Linda Barnard.

Ticket price includes one signed copy of the book.

Did you read the last part of that? Everybody received an autographed copy of Hag-Seed! It was $30 for the ticket so basically I paid regular price for an autographed copy of the book and attended the reading and interview for free!

Linda Barnard was the host.

I have read many of Atwoods works and The Handmaids Tale is my favorite so far.

Atwood started with an introduction of Hag-Seed to familiarize the audience with the story.

William Shakespeare's The Tempest retold as Hag-Seed.

Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he's staging a Tempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, it will heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge. 

After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his Tempest and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It's magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall? Margaret Atwood’s novel take on Shakespeare’s play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own.

She then did a reading from parts of the book. The last three or four minutes featured a long rap performance by one of the prisoners. Atwood was hilarious reading it and received a few ovations during it. That itself was worth the price of admission.

Afterwards Atwood sat down for a discussion with Susan Coyne. It looked like they went out before hand and bought a single pair of skeleton gloves as Atwood wore one on her left hand and Coyne had one on her right.

It was a fun, interesting fast paced hour. I was sorry to see it end. I am looking very forward to reading Hag-Seed. Looks to be another great Atwood book.

"Stories of Redemption" at the International Festival of Authors

I have been to author sessions all week long at Toronto's International Festival of Authors but Teena has been unable to attend as she has been out of town on business. She is back and this afternoon we attended the Stories of Redemption reading and round table.

Darren Greer, Anosh Irani, and Cordelia Strube present multifaceted and diverse stories about redemption and returning to face the past and/or the truth. Sheniz Janmohamed hosts and Bert Archer moderates.

Sheniz Jammohamed introduced each author and reading.

Darren Greer, from Nova Scotia, was the first author up and read from his new book, Advocate.

Next up was Anosh Irani who read from The Parcel.

The final author of the evening was Cordelia Strube. She from from her latest work On The Shores of Darkness, There Is Light.

Afterwards there was a round table discussion moderated by Bert Archer. It was quite interesting, especially when each author were talking about how they write. Cordelia stressed that she never plots out a book in advance. Darrin said he starts and lets the story tell itself.

Anosh answered a little different. He says he knows how the book will finish and writes towards that. He indicated this by holding a hand out directly in front of him. Then he added that as the story unfolds, he never ends up at that ending but another, and held out his other hand far away from the first, indicating the final end is nowhere near where he had planned to end. He also said at times the story might actually take you past that ending.

This was my last reading and round table of the festival and I'm glad that I got to enjoy it with Teena. As with the others, it was entertaining and interesting.

I'm already looking forward to next years festival.

"Little Sister" Book Launch

Tonight I attended a book launch by Vince Fernandez of his new book, Little Sister, which took place at the Pilot in Yorkville.

I met Vince through fencing and consider him a friend. We both fence sabre and have had many lively bouts. He is an excellent fencer and I think that maybe I have beaten him only twice in tournaments.

Not only is he a really good fencer (Vince, when I come back to the fencing strip, I will be taking you down) but he is a great writer.

Tonight he read from the first chapter of his book and I was hooked. 

Mila Mirkin and John Lister want success any way they can get it. For Mila, that means working as an escort to finance grad school. For John, it means getting his hedge fund on track even if he breaks a basic moral tenant: thou shalt not kill. Following the mysterious death of Toronto's top financial prosecutor, Vitaly Mirkin is transferred to the role. His first case is against John Lister. Mila's brother is prosecuting her primary client. As John's ruthless plan unfolds, he pulls Mila ever closer, leaving her in a terrible quandary: tell her brother what she knows and expose her secret life, or pretend innocence and put the lives of others in mortal danger...

The room was full as Vince has a very wide circle of friends. I'm looking forward to reading his book.

Vince ... writing is hard work and I wish you all the best with it and your success.

"The Past You Make" Reading and Round Table at the International Festival of Authors

This is the third night in a row that I have been at a session at the Toronto International Festival of Authors.  I don't know why I never did it before. It has been great. This evening it was The Past You Make.

C.C. Humphreys, Steven Price, and Alissa York’s works transport us to a different place and time. Learn how these authors re-imagine the past. Hosted by Steven W. Beattie and moderated by Hugh Brewster.

The room was nicely set up.

Steven Beattie was the host.

The first author to do a reading was Steven Price who read from his book, By Gaslight, which takes place in 1885.

Next up was Alissa York who read from her newest book, The Naturalist, set in 1867.

The last author is one that I am a big fan of, C.C. Humphreys.  I have read all his Jack Absolute novels and am currently reading Fire, which he read from tonight. The book takes place in 1666.

After the readings was a twenty-five minute round table Q&A led by historian Hugh Brewster. Much of it was how each came up with the idea of their novel, why did they select that particular time period and the challenges of writing for 21st century readers, without going overboard on using the language of the times. As Humphreys pointed out, his book takes place in 1666, and if he had used the true speech and dialect of the era, it would have been unreadable. It all was very interesting.

I thoroughly enjoyed tonight and had a brief moment to speak with Chris Humphreys before he went to sign books. Nice guy! I wanted to buy the prequel to Fire, Plague, but it was sold out. Too bad.

Sunday are my next sessions and I am attending two ... Stories of Redemption and In Conversation with Margaret Atwood. I am looking forward to both.

"Weaving Canada’s Story: Ideas, People and Objects" at the International Festival of Authors

Tonight I attended a reading and author interview session at Toronto's International Festival of Authors titled Weaving Canada’s Story.

Award-winning biographer and historian Charlotte Gray and internationally acclaimed author Jane Urquhart discuss Canada’s identity and weave its history through its people, ideas and objects.

Claire Cameron was the host for tonight. She opened by acknowledging the indigenous people of the GTA, then paid tribute to jailed writer Azimjon Askarov, honoured by an empty chair, whom I wrote about last night.

Charlotte Gray, who in 2007 became a Member of the Order of Canada according to the program, was to read from her just published book, The Promise of Canada.

What does it mean to be a Canadian? What great ideas have changed our country? An award-winning writer casts her eye over 150 years of Canadian history. 

“Our country owes its success not to some imagined tribal singularity but to the fact that, although its thirty-five million citizens do not look, speak or pray alike, we have learned to share this land and for the most part live in neighbourly sympathy.” —Charlotte Gray, from the Preface of The Promise of Canada.

Instead she said she was instead, going to talk about what keeps Canada together and do we have an identity. She joked that she wanted to do this instead of reading from her book so when we buy it, every word will be fresh and new to us.

Reading from A Number of Things: Stories About Canada Told Through 50 Objects which was published this month, was Jane Urquhart, who in 2005 was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Jane Urquhart chooses 50 Canadian objects and weaves a rich and surprising narrative that speaks to our collective experience as a nation.

Instead of an interview afterwards, Charlotte and Jane had a discussion about what Canada is and the different approaches of writing about it from a non-fiction view to a fictional one. A Number of Things was Jane's first non-fiction book.

The two of them are good friends and we were told when they first sat down that we were not hearing a new discussion but instead coming into the middle of one which has been going on for months.

At one point tonight, when I first arrived home from work, I debated about going, even though I had a ticket. I've been hit with a cold and it would not have taken much for me to curl up on the couch and fall asleep watching the ball game.

I'm glad I decided to suck it up and go. Both ladies had a great sense of humour and are quite passionate on the subject of Canada and how we view its history. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

"Interpreting the Past" Reading & Round Table at the International Festival of Authors

It's a busy week for me this week. I have tickets for three events at Toronto's International Festival of Authors (IFOA) and a friend's book launch to attend. Tonight I attended a reading and round table on Interpreting the Past.

Catherine Graham, the author of Her Red Hair Rises with the Wings of Insects, Winterkill, The Red Element, Pupa and The Watch,  hosted the event.

Adam Hochschild read from his newest work, Spain in our Hearts,  a sweeping history of the Spanish Civil War, told through a dozen characters, including Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell: a tale of idealism, heartbreaking suffering, and a noble cause that failed.

Guy Gavriel Kay read from his book, Children of Earth and Sky, which evokes a world inspired by the conflicts and dramas of Renaissance Europe. Against this tumultuous backdrop the lives of men and women unfold on the borderlands--where empires and faiths collide.

Lola Lafon read from The Little Communist Who Never Smiled, this fictionalized account of the life of Nadia Comaneci, a child of communist Romania and an Olympic gymnast who inspired young girls around the globe, shows how a single athletic event mesmerizes the world and reverberates across nations.

The final author was a poet, Daniel Scott Tysdal, who read two poems from his work Fauxccasional Poems, who imagines himself into poetic voices not his own, writing to commemorate events that never occurred, for the posterity of alternative universes.

Afterwards was a round table discussion of writing about history from each perspective which was moderated by Hugh Brewster.

Oh, that empty chair to the left with the photo? Pen Canada keeps an empty chair to each event representing a writer imprisoned for their views. This is Azimjon Askarov of Kyrgyzstani, a writer and political activist who has been in jail since 2010 for his writings on human rights issues within his country.

It was a very interesting night. I'm looking forward to tomorrows night;s readings and round table.