Running in the Family
with Jamie Chai Yun Liew, Tanis Rideout and Tsering Yangzom Lama
Hosted by Denise Chong
In Person Fiction
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies showcases a writer of rare talent and uncompromising vision. In these pages that speak of exile and loss, of longing and sorrow, Tsering Lama also manages to remind us–with startling beauty and compassion – how much can still survive. This novel is a testament to a people’s resolve to love, no matter what. A triumph.
Join our host, Denise Chong, for an exploration of family, community and belonging inspired by three remarkable novels that spotlight the intimate reality of colonial history.
When Lily was eleven years old, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family, never to be seen or heard from again. Now a new mother herself, Lily becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Swee Hua. Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew is a novel about motherhood, family secrets, migration, isolation, and mental illness.
Inspired by real events, The Sea Between Two Shores by Tanis Rideout, immerses us in the lives of two families connected as much by their desire for healing as by the actions of their ancestors. In the early 1800s, a Nova Scotian couple arrives on the shores of an island in the Oceanic archipelago to convert the local Indigenous peoples. Two hundred years later the Stewarts are a family locked in mourning after the accidental drowning of their youngest son when they receive an unexpected call from the island of Iparei inviting them to participate in a reconciliation ceremony for their respective ancestors.
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies, Tsering Yangzom Lama’s Giller Prize Long-listed debut, is meditation on colonization, displacement, and the lengths we'll go to remain connected to our families and ancestral lands. It recounts a Tibetan family’s fifty-year journey through exile and their struggles to forge new lives of dignity, love, and hope.
PLEASE NOTE: For the safety and comfort of all patrons, masks are required to attend in person.
Most people coming by car park for free at the Supreme Court of Canada on Wellington St.
Ticket holders unable to attend in person can request access to the livestream. Livestream links will be sent about an hour prior and will remain active for 48 hours. Please email leslie@writersfestival.org to request a link.
Books are available from our friends at Perfect Books.
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