The writer-in-residence program at Historic Joy Kogawa House welcomes writers and readers to join our community of people who are passionate about books and reading and about working with words as a way to take meaning from our lives.
The purpose of this site is to provide information about the writer-in-residence program at Joy Kogawa's childhood home, a historic literary landmark for Vancouver and all of Canada.
The house was purchased by The Land Conservancy of BC in May 2006. Funds are now needed to restore the house to its appearance between 1938 and 1942, when author Joy Kogawa lived there as a child; to further enhance the house as a historic literary landmark; and to sustain and expand our annual writers-in-residence program.
Donate now to the campaign.
Winds of Heaven film viewing
Wed, 2011-12-07 11:14 — Ann-Marie Metten
Wednesday, December 7, 7:00 p.m.
Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level
Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street
Admission is free. Seating is limited.
To commemorate the 140th anniversary of Emily Carr’s birth on December 13, please join author Susan Crean for commentary on and a screening of Winds of Heaven: Emily Carr, Carvers, and the Spirits of the Forest by Michael Ostroff. This impressionistic film explores the spirit that informed the solitary life of one of Canada’s most celebrated painters. Emily Carr began painting in an era when women didn’t paint, travelling to remote locations that few professional adventurers chose to go. Not only did she adopt the painting techniques of modernism, when such ideas were considered dangerous, Carr chronicled the extraordinary art and culture of native peoples, who were invisible the dominant culture. The film runs 87 minutes.
Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level
Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street
Admission is free. Seating is limited.
To commemorate the 140th anniversary of Emily Carr’s birth on December 13, please join author Susan Crean for commentary on and a screening of Winds of Heaven: Emily Carr, Carvers, and the Spirits of the Forest by Michael Ostroff. This impressionistic film explores the spirit that informed the solitary life of one of Canada’s most celebrated painters. Emily Carr began painting in an era when women didn’t paint, travelling to remote locations that few professional adventurers chose to go. Not only did she adopt the painting techniques of modernism, when such ideas were considered dangerous, Carr chronicled the extraordinary art and culture of native peoples, who were invisible the dominant culture. The film runs 87 minutes.
Salon Sundays at Historic Joy Kogawa House
Sun, 2011-11-27 09:06 — Ann-Marie Metten
Salon Sundays are a treat, largely because of a willing audience. Each week a different dynamic; each time a little bit of magic.
There are Sundays left. I look forward to seeing you.
December 4th — Shirley Bear
2pm – 4pm
Shirley Bear returns to Vancouver to read from her 2006 collection Virgin Bones – Belayak Kcikug’nas’ikn’ug at Kogawa House. A visual artist, writer, and activist, she was honored last week at Rideau Hall with the Order of Canada.
December 11th – Open House
1pm – 5pm
Please come to visit Kogawa House for a celebration of the people who created it and keep it running. Can I ask you to bring along something hand-made and simple like a jar of jam, a sheaf of paper, a holiday ornament? We’ll have a craft table with proceeds going to the House.
Place: 1450 West 64th Avenue, east of Granville
To reserve a seat, email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca
Other Kogawa House Events
Special Screening of Winds of Heaven
Emily Carr was born 140 years ago in Victoria this December 13th. Susan Crean will host a screening of Michael Ostroff’s documentary film that was featured at the Vancouver International Film Festival last year. It was based on my book, The Laughing One. And similarly explores Carr’s legacy and First Nations’ history. John Walker was cinematographer, Peter Raymont, producer with Michael Ostroff.
Time: Wednesday, December 7th, 7:00pm
Place: VPL Central Library, Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level
There are Sundays left. I look forward to seeing you.
December 4th — Shirley Bear
2pm – 4pm
Shirley Bear returns to Vancouver to read from her 2006 collection Virgin Bones – Belayak Kcikug’nas’ikn’ug at Kogawa House. A visual artist, writer, and activist, she was honored last week at Rideau Hall with the Order of Canada.
December 11th – Open House
1pm – 5pm
Please come to visit Kogawa House for a celebration of the people who created it and keep it running. Can I ask you to bring along something hand-made and simple like a jar of jam, a sheaf of paper, a holiday ornament? We’ll have a craft table with proceeds going to the House.
Place: 1450 West 64th Avenue, east of Granville
To reserve a seat, email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca
Other Kogawa House Events
Special Screening of Winds of Heaven
Emily Carr was born 140 years ago in Victoria this December 13th. Susan Crean will host a screening of Michael Ostroff’s documentary film that was featured at the Vancouver International Film Festival last year. It was based on my book, The Laughing One. And similarly explores Carr’s legacy and First Nations’ history. John Walker was cinematographer, Peter Raymont, producer with Michael Ostroff.
Time: Wednesday, December 7th, 7:00pm
Place: VPL Central Library, Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level
Wayde Compton event postponed
Sun, 2011-11-27 09:00 — Ann-Marie Metten
Grey Cup Sunday overshadowed our plans to host Wayde Compton at Historic Joy Kogawa House on Sunday, November 27. Wayde will spend an afternoon with us at some later date. Thanks for your interest.
Shirley Bear, activist, visual artist, and elder, in conversation at Historic Joy Kogawa House
Sun, 2011-11-27 08:57 — Ann-Marie Metten
Join writer-in-residence Susan Crean for her conversation with Shirley Bear, activist, visual artist, and elder of the Maliseet First Nation. Shirley Bear’s writing includes an essay in the third volume of the anthology of writing from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission edited by Ashok Mathur. Two additional pieces are considered essential statements on her art and spiritual philosophy. The first is the opening piece in her book Virgin Bones (2006). The second is her curatorial statement accompanying the exhibition Changers: A Spiritual Renaissance (1989). In November 2011, Shirley Bear was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada. She lives on the Tobique Reserve (Negootkook) in New Brunswick.
“Artists are the movers and changers of the world. They have always been revolutionaries, creating change in thought and style within their societies.”
—Shirley Bear, Changers: A Spiritual Renaissance, Curatorial Statement
Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Sunday, December 4, 2 to 4pm
Admission by donation.
Space is limited. To reserve a seat, email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca
Also, if you plan to attend, please find us on Facebook and Like this event.
“Artists are the movers and changers of the world. They have always been revolutionaries, creating change in thought and style within their societies.”
—Shirley Bear, Changers: A Spiritual Renaissance, Curatorial Statement
Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Sunday, December 4, 2 to 4pm
Admission by donation.
Space is limited. To reserve a seat, email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca
Also, if you plan to attend, please find us on Facebook and Like this event.
Joy Kogawa: Essays on Her Work
Wed, 2011-11-16 08:36 — Ann-Marie Metten
When: Sunday, November 20, 2:00 p.m.
Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue
Cost: Admission is free. Seating is limited.
This event celebrates the publication of a collection of essays that explore Joy Kogawa’s work, both literary and activist. Essay contributors include Rocío G. Davis, Glenn Deer, Jonathan Hart, Julie McGonegal, Ann-Marie Metten, Tim Nieguth, Irene Sywenky, Barbara Turnbull, and Sheena Wilson. In a significant move forward from Kogawa criticism written to date, these essays give attention to Kogawa’s work beyond Obasan. This collection includes an interview with Joy Kogawa, which reveals both new biographical information and connections between Kogawa’s life story and written work.
For more information and to reserve a seat, contact Historic Joy Kogawa House at kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.
We acknowledge the Canada Council author residency program, B.C. Arts Council and private donors for their financial support.
Find us on Facebook and like this event.
Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue
Cost: Admission is free. Seating is limited.
This event celebrates the publication of a collection of essays that explore Joy Kogawa’s work, both literary and activist. Essay contributors include Rocío G. Davis, Glenn Deer, Jonathan Hart, Julie McGonegal, Ann-Marie Metten, Tim Nieguth, Irene Sywenky, Barbara Turnbull, and Sheena Wilson. In a significant move forward from Kogawa criticism written to date, these essays give attention to Kogawa’s work beyond Obasan. This collection includes an interview with Joy Kogawa, which reveals both new biographical information and connections between Kogawa’s life story and written work.
For more information and to reserve a seat, contact Historic Joy Kogawa House at kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.
We acknowledge the Canada Council author residency program, B.C. Arts Council and private donors for their financial support.
Find us on Facebook and like this event.
Writing Non-Fiction: Writing Life Workshop
Wed, 2011-11-02 22:57 — Ann-Marie Metten
When: Saturday, November 19, 10am to 3pm
Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Please join writer-in-residence Susan Crean for a writing workshop with a total of 5 participants.
This workshop is directed at writers with some experience who are writing memoir, biography, history, or a combination of these. We will focus on story development, including research techniques and interviewing.
Together we will answer the following questions:
Cost: $125 (includes lunch)
To register, please email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca
Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Please join writer-in-residence Susan Crean for a writing workshop with a total of 5 participants.
This workshop is directed at writers with some experience who are writing memoir, biography, history, or a combination of these. We will focus on story development, including research techniques and interviewing.
Together we will answer the following questions:
- What are the pitfalls in writing about someone very different from me?
- How do I know what to research?
Cost: $125 (includes lunch)
To register, please email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca
Playwright Tara Beagan in Conversation
Thu, 2011-10-20 21:41 — Ann-Marie Metten
When: Sunday, October 30, 2 to 4pm
Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Admission by donation
Space is limited
To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca
Tara Beagan, a Toronto playwright of Thompson River Salish heritage, won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for her first play, Thy Neighbour’s Wife. She is currently artistic director of Native Earth Theatre, Canada’s oldest professional Aboriginal performing arts company, and we've brought her to Vancouver for a conversation with our writer-in-residence, Susan Crean, about writing as a means of social change.
Please join us.
Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Admission by donation
Space is limited
To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca
Tara Beagan, a Toronto playwright of Thompson River Salish heritage, won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for her first play, Thy Neighbour’s Wife. She is currently artistic director of Native Earth Theatre, Canada’s oldest professional Aboriginal performing arts company, and we've brought her to Vancouver for a conversation with our writer-in-residence, Susan Crean, about writing as a means of social change.
Please join us.
Writing Your Family Story
Tue, 2011-10-18 21:21 — Ann-Marie Metten
Writing Life Workshop
When: Saturday, October 29, 10am to 3pm
Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Cost: $125 (includes lunch)
Are you interested in telling your family story? Perhaps you have begun to write the history of your ancestors and their journey to Canada from China.
Please join writer-in-residence Susan Crean and author Larry Wong for a writing life workshop for unpublished and beginning writers who are writing memoir or personal history.
Participating in this workshop will help writers answer the following questions:
– What do I do about the gaps in the story?
– How do I make it interesting for others to read?
This workshop is open for a total of 7 participants. Participants will submit up to 15 pages of work for discussion during the workshop.
To register, email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca
Larry Wong is a local historian and past president of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society, and author of Dim Sum Stories: A Chinatown Childhood, about his childhood in Vancouver’s Chinatown of the 1940s to 60s. Wong’s personal short stories reveal a world filled with people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Susan Crean is a writer, editor and cultural critic whose most recent book, The Laughing One: A Journey to Emily Carr, was nominated the Governor General’s Award for Literature in 2001 and won the Hubert Evans Prize for Non-Fiction in British Columbia. She is a frequent contributor to magazines such as Geist, This and The Capilano Review. She was the first Maclean-Hunter Chair in Creative Non-Fiction appointed at the University of British Columbia. Susan Crean is currently working on a major book about a head-tax payer, Mr. Wong Dong Wong, whose life she has been researching for the past two years. The book is a large undertaking, and like Crean’s book on Emily Carr, combines the genres of history, biography, journalism and memoir.
When: Saturday, October 29, 10am to 3pm
Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Cost: $125 (includes lunch)
Are you interested in telling your family story? Perhaps you have begun to write the history of your ancestors and their journey to Canada from China.
Please join writer-in-residence Susan Crean and author Larry Wong for a writing life workshop for unpublished and beginning writers who are writing memoir or personal history.
Participating in this workshop will help writers answer the following questions:
– What do I do about the gaps in the story?
– How do I make it interesting for others to read?
This workshop is open for a total of 7 participants. Participants will submit up to 15 pages of work for discussion during the workshop.
To register, email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca
Larry Wong is a local historian and past president of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society, and author of Dim Sum Stories: A Chinatown Childhood, about his childhood in Vancouver’s Chinatown of the 1940s to 60s. Wong’s personal short stories reveal a world filled with people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Susan Crean is a writer, editor and cultural critic whose most recent book, The Laughing One: A Journey to Emily Carr, was nominated the Governor General’s Award for Literature in 2001 and won the Hubert Evans Prize for Non-Fiction in British Columbia. She is a frequent contributor to magazines such as Geist, This and The Capilano Review. She was the first Maclean-Hunter Chair in Creative Non-Fiction appointed at the University of British Columbia. Susan Crean is currently working on a major book about a head-tax payer, Mr. Wong Dong Wong, whose life she has been researching for the past two years. The book is a large undertaking, and like Crean’s book on Emily Carr, combines the genres of history, biography, journalism and memoir.
Eric Enno Tamm in Conversation This Sunday
Wed, 2011-10-12 13:24 — Ann-Marie Metten
When: Sunday, October 16, 2 to 4pm
Where:Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Join author and adventurer Eric Enno Tamm in discussion about his latest book, The Horse That Leaps through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China. He'll show photos from his research in China, during which he retraced the epic journey of a Russian spy who trekked from St. Petersburg to Beijing a century ago along the Silk Road. Books will be for sale and signing.
Space is limited. To reserve a seat, please RSVP kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.
Admission by donation. We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council Author Readings program. Eric Enno Tamm is an author, journalist and activist with more than 15 years’ experience in the media and non-profit sector. His first book, Beyond the Outer Shores: The Untold Story of Ed Ricketts, the Pioneering Ecologist Who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell, was a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book in 2005. His latest book, The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China (Douglas & McIntyre, 2010), chronicles his epic journey retracing the route of a Russian spy who traveled the Silk Road a century ago. Born in Tofino and raised in Ucluelet, Eric currently lives in Ottawa where he continues to write and work on environmental issues.
Where:Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Join author and adventurer Eric Enno Tamm in discussion about his latest book, The Horse That Leaps through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China. He'll show photos from his research in China, during which he retraced the epic journey of a Russian spy who trekked from St. Petersburg to Beijing a century ago along the Silk Road. Books will be for sale and signing.
Space is limited. To reserve a seat, please RSVP kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.
Admission by donation. We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council Author Readings program. Eric Enno Tamm is an author, journalist and activist with more than 15 years’ experience in the media and non-profit sector. His first book, Beyond the Outer Shores: The Untold Story of Ed Ricketts, the Pioneering Ecologist Who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell, was a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book in 2005. His latest book, The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China (Douglas & McIntyre, 2010), chronicles his epic journey retracing the route of a Russian spy who traveled the Silk Road a century ago. Born in Tofino and raised in Ucluelet, Eric currently lives in Ottawa where he continues to write and work on environmental issues.
Word on the Street event this Friday, September 23
Mon, 2011-09-19 05:56 — Ann-Marie Metten
On Friday, September 23, from 7 to 9pm, crafters, readers, and writers are welcome to join artist Laura Bucci at Historic Joy Kogawa House to create collage buttons using text and a variety of other materials. Crafters of all levels are welcome to attend this FREE button-making workshop at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue.
This event is part of a community celebration to welcome non-fiction writer Susan Crean as our 2011 writer-in-residence at Historic Joy Kogawa House. Susan Crean arrives from Toronto on September 15 to spend three months living and working in the former childhood home of Joy Kogawa. Members of the community will have the opportunity to meet Susan Crean during the workshop, and she will entertain crafters with daring tales of her plans as writer-in-residence, books will be available for sale and signing, and refreshments will be served. Buttons and collage materials will be provided free of charge but donations are appreciated!
For more information see www.laurabucci.com and Word on the Street.
