Blogs
120 Days given to Kogawa House, as demolition timeline extended
Sat, 2005-11-26 21:51 — Todd Wong
For immediate release
November 3, 2005
120 days given to Kogawa House, as demolition timeline extended
This afternoon Vancouver City Council voted unanimously to grant an unprecedented 120-day delay of demolition for 1450 West 64th Avenue, the childhood home of author Joy Kogawa.
The present home owner bought the house in 2003, unaware that the Save Kogawa Homestead committee was trying to raise funds to turn the house into a writers’ retreat. The owner has now decided to demolish and rebuild on the site, prompting the now renamed Save Kogawa House committee to action, soliciting support from writing and arts organizations across the country.
Gerry McGeough, senior heritage planner in the Vancouver City Planning Department, was instrumental in bringing the motion before city council. He stated that the 1915 house could be registered as Class A heritage because of its cultural value and local and national prominence.
Todd Wong and Ann-Marie Metten led the committee’s presentation to council, with additional presentations from Diane Switzer of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, Heather Redfern of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, and Marion Quednau of the Writers’ Union of Canada, demonstrating the wide local and national support across Canada to preserve the house,
Kogawa, received the Order of Canada in 1986 and her novel Obasan is school curriculum across Canada and studied around the world. The novel was also chosen as the Vancouver Public Library’s One Book One Vancouver selection for 2005. An operatic adaptation of the children’s story, Naomi’s Road, is now touring BC schools with the Vancouver Opera in the Schools program.
Joy Kogawa arrived via car and ferry from a performance of Naomi’s Road in Ucuelet, BC, just in time to read from her novel Obasan. Kogawa had only left City Hall on Tuesday, November 1st, which had been proclaimed “Obasan Cherry Tree Day”, as a graft from the cherry tree from Kogawa’s childhood home was planted at City Hall.
Council was so moved by the presentation that Councillor Raymond Louie immediately challenged other councillors to pull out their wallets and match his $100 donation. Councillor Ellen Woodsworth wrote an equivalent cheque and said council would challenge other city councils to match their donations as well. At the end of the meeting, the committee walked out of council chambers $540 richer.
An estimated $750,000 is needed to purchase the house from the owner at “fair market value.” McGeough has been mediating with the house owner and the Save Kogawa House committee, and the 120-day delay will give the committee time to fundraise this amount.
Charitable donations can be made online through the Vancouver Heritage Foundation website at http://www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org/Kogawa.html.
To celebrate this milestone in the Save Kogawa House campaign, a performance of the opera Naomi’s Road by the Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble will be presented free to the public on November 12 at 2 pm. It will take place in the Alice MacKay Room of the Vancouver Public Library downtown. Special guest musician is Harry Aoki, who was interned at age 20.
For further information contact:
www.kogawa.homestead.com
www.kogawahouse.com
www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/OneBookOneVancouverJoyKogawasObasan
Ann-Marie Metten, Save Kogawa House Committee Vancouver Coordinator
604-263-6586; ametten@telus.net
Todd Wong, Vancouver Committee spokesperson
604-240-7090; toddwcan@yahoo.com
Anton Wagner, Committee Chair
416-863-1209; awagner@yorku.ca
Gerry McGeough, Senior Heritage Planner, Planning
Department, City of Vancouver
604-873-7091; gerry.mcgeough@vancouver.ca
Diane Switzer, Executive Director, Vancouver Heritage Foundation
604-264-9642; diane@vancouverheritagefoundation.org
hello
Sat, 2005-11-26 20:27 — Joy Kogawa
I don't know if this works. I've never blogged before. I wasn't going to do this, but then I had a dream last night of Todd Wong and his friend Roland in the middle of a busy street, 'blogging.' Todd was wearing a bright orange coverall type of suit. I can't remember the rest of the dream. But I woke up thinking I'd better try this. So here I am, the night before flying back to Vancouver from Toronto.
Is this worth submitting? Hardly.
Is this worth submitting? Hardly.
Joy Kogawa, one of Almanac's 100 greatest British Columbians
Sun, 2005-11-20 13:43 — Todd WongJoy Kogawa is one of 100 greatest British Columbians, accordion to the book authored by CBC Radio's BC Almanac host Mark Forsythe. Kogawa is listed among the top 10 literary figures including the inaugural Canadian poet Laureate George Bowering, poet Dorothy Livesay and Wayson Chow.
The list was compiled with the assistance of BC Bookworld's Alan Twigg.
Obasan - "100 Most Important Canadian books ever written" listed by Literary Review of Canada
Sun, 2005-11-20 13:26 — Todd WongJoy Kogawa's 1981 novel Obasan is one of "100 most important Canadian books ever written" according to a Literary Review of Canada November 17th press release.
Books are listed in order of publicatiion, beginning in 1545 with"Account of the Second Voyage of Navigation 1535 and 1536" by Jaques Cartier. Jane Jacob's "A Dark Age Ahead is the newest entry from 2004"
Obasan is one of eleven books published in the 1980's and the first one by an Asian-Canadian author. Rohinton Mistry's "A Fine Balance" (1995) and Wayson Choy's "Jade Peony" (1995), are the only other novels listed by Asian-Canadian or South Asian-Canadian authors.
Fundraising drive launched for Joy Kogawa House
Sun, 2005-11-20 13:18 — Todd Wong
Fundraising Drive Launched for Joy Kogawa House
Organizers of the drive to preserve the childhood home of novelist and poet Joy Kogawa were jubilant after Vancouver City Council voted unanimously on November 3 to grant a 120-day demolition delay order to preserve the home and to recognize its historical and cultural heritage. The four month period will allow the Save Kogawa House Committee to raise funds to purchase the property and convert it into a major centre for Canadian and international writers.
For Kogawa, the West 64th Avenue property became a symbol of lost hope and happiness after Joy, then six years old, and her family were removed from their home and interned in the Slocan Valley in 1942 as part of the forced evacuations and internment of 21,000 Japanese-Canadians during World War II. Joy's family was never compensated for the confiscation of their property. Their house and personal belongings, like those of other internees, were auctioned off at rock bottom prices by the government's “Custodian of Enemy Alien Property” and the proceeds used to pay for the government's expenses in running the internment camps.
The loss of the house and the dispersal of the Japanese Canadian community until their civil rights were restored in 1949 inspired Kogawa’s best-known novel, Obasan, winner of the Canadian Authors’ Association Book of the Year Award in 1981. Its adaptation for children, Naomi’s Road, premiered as a Vancouver Opera production on September 30th and visits more than 140 schools and community centres from Vancouver Island to the Kootenays until May 2006. Roy Miki, 2003 Governor General's Award Winner for Poetry, has called Obasan the most important literary work of the past 30 years for understanding Canadian history. In 2005 Obasan was selected by the Vancouver Public Library for its One Book One Vancouver program, encouraging all Vancouverites to read this single book.
In her letter on behalf of the League of Canadian Poets, Mary Ellen Csamer wrote Mayor Larry Campbell and the Vancouver City Councillors that “The League of Canadian Poets, representing over 730 professional poets across Canada, supports the effort to save Joy Kogawa's childhood home on 1450 West 64th Avenue in Vancouver from demolition, and would like to encourage its conversion into a major writers centre for Canadian and international writers. Just as Emily Carr’s home in Victoria and Pierre Berton’s in the Yukon provide a unique sense of the physical space that helped to define those artists, so this building forms an important part of our collective cultural imagination. To create a writers’ centre would be an appropriate and timely action, which would draw national and international writers to the West Coast for cultural stimulation and peaceful retreat.”
In addition to the League, the other writers’ organizations supporting converting Kogawa House into a writers-in-residence centre include the Writers Union of Canada, the Federation of BC Writers, the Playwrights Guild of Canada, the Canadian Authors Association, the Periodical Writers Association of Canada, PEN Canada, the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, and the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop. The project has also been endorsed by the Vancouver Public Library Board, Vancouver Opera, the Alliance for Arts and Culture, Heritage Vancouver, the Land Conservancy, the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre, and the National Association of Japanese Canadians.
The Save Kogawa House Committee is looking for one thousand individuals to donate $100 each for the Joy Kogawa Writers-in Residence Centre but would of course greatly welcome donations of all sizes. The Committee is also targeting corporations, foundations and the federal government for support.
Donations can be made through the Vancouver Heritage Foundation which has established a Kogawa house rescue fund and will issue charitable receipts. All donations to the rescue fund receive a tax receipt for the full amount of the donation. Cheques should be made out to “Vancouver Heritage Foundation” and mailed to the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, 844 West Hastings St., Vancouver, B.C. V6C 1C8. Donors are asked to indicate on the cheque memo line: “Save Kogawa House.” Donations can also be made on-line on the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s website
Speaking at the Vancouver International Writers Festival on October 13, Margaret Atwood declared, “The destruction of the Kogawa home would be a great loss of cultural heritage for Vancouver, for British Columbia, and for Canada. Although Canada scored high on the recent all-nations report card, it scored low on culture, history and heritage. Why destroy more of this precious asset?”
Organizers of the drive to preserve the childhood home of novelist and poet Joy Kogawa were jubilant after Vancouver City Council voted unanimously on November 3 to grant a 120-day demolition delay order to preserve the home and to recognize its historical and cultural heritage. The four month period will allow the Save Kogawa House Committee to raise funds to purchase the property and convert it into a major centre for Canadian and international writers.
For Kogawa, the West 64th Avenue property became a symbol of lost hope and happiness after Joy, then six years old, and her family were removed from their home and interned in the Slocan Valley in 1942 as part of the forced evacuations and internment of 21,000 Japanese-Canadians during World War II. Joy's family was never compensated for the confiscation of their property. Their house and personal belongings, like those of other internees, were auctioned off at rock bottom prices by the government's “Custodian of Enemy Alien Property” and the proceeds used to pay for the government's expenses in running the internment camps.
The loss of the house and the dispersal of the Japanese Canadian community until their civil rights were restored in 1949 inspired Kogawa’s best-known novel, Obasan, winner of the Canadian Authors’ Association Book of the Year Award in 1981. Its adaptation for children, Naomi’s Road, premiered as a Vancouver Opera production on September 30th and visits more than 140 schools and community centres from Vancouver Island to the Kootenays until May 2006. Roy Miki, 2003 Governor General's Award Winner for Poetry, has called Obasan the most important literary work of the past 30 years for understanding Canadian history. In 2005 Obasan was selected by the Vancouver Public Library for its One Book One Vancouver program, encouraging all Vancouverites to read this single book.
In her letter on behalf of the League of Canadian Poets, Mary Ellen Csamer wrote Mayor Larry Campbell and the Vancouver City Councillors that “The League of Canadian Poets, representing over 730 professional poets across Canada, supports the effort to save Joy Kogawa's childhood home on 1450 West 64th Avenue in Vancouver from demolition, and would like to encourage its conversion into a major writers centre for Canadian and international writers. Just as Emily Carr’s home in Victoria and Pierre Berton’s in the Yukon provide a unique sense of the physical space that helped to define those artists, so this building forms an important part of our collective cultural imagination. To create a writers’ centre would be an appropriate and timely action, which would draw national and international writers to the West Coast for cultural stimulation and peaceful retreat.”
In addition to the League, the other writers’ organizations supporting converting Kogawa House into a writers-in-residence centre include the Writers Union of Canada, the Federation of BC Writers, the Playwrights Guild of Canada, the Canadian Authors Association, the Periodical Writers Association of Canada, PEN Canada, the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, and the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop. The project has also been endorsed by the Vancouver Public Library Board, Vancouver Opera, the Alliance for Arts and Culture, Heritage Vancouver, the Land Conservancy, the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre, and the National Association of Japanese Canadians.
The Save Kogawa House Committee is looking for one thousand individuals to donate $100 each for the Joy Kogawa Writers-in Residence Centre but would of course greatly welcome donations of all sizes. The Committee is also targeting corporations, foundations and the federal government for support.
Donations can be made through the Vancouver Heritage Foundation which has established a Kogawa house rescue fund and will issue charitable receipts. All donations to the rescue fund receive a tax receipt for the full amount of the donation. Cheques should be made out to “Vancouver Heritage Foundation” and mailed to the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, 844 West Hastings St., Vancouver, B.C. V6C 1C8. Donors are asked to indicate on the cheque memo line: “Save Kogawa House.” Donations can also be made on-line on the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s website
Speaking at the Vancouver International Writers Festival on October 13, Margaret Atwood declared, “The destruction of the Kogawa home would be a great loss of cultural heritage for Vancouver, for British Columbia, and for Canada. Although Canada scored high on the recent all-nations report card, it scored low on culture, history and heritage. Why destroy more of this precious asset?”
Save Kogawa House Nov 12 concert program 2pm
Sat, 2005-11-12 12:20 — Todd Wong
Here's the program for our special
Save Kogawa House
Celebration and Awareness Concert
November 12, 2005
Alice Mackay Room
Vancouver Public Library
350 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC
Presented by
Save Kogawa House Committee
The Save Kogawa House Committee welcomes you to this celebration of our 120-day moratorium on demolition of the childhood home of author Joy Kogawa.
This 1915 home at 1450 West 64th Avenue stands as reminder of the 1942 removal from their homes of men, women and children of Japanese descent. Joy’s memories of her happy life in this modest home in Marpole stayed with her throughout internment in Slocan and inspired parts of her 1981 novel Obasan and the children’s story Naomi’s Road, on which this opera is based.
The opera Naomi’s Road, which premiered on September 30 as Vancouver Opera’s second-ever commissioned original work, is now touring 140 schools and community centres throughout British Columbia.
On November 1, a graft of the cherry tree from Joy’s childhood home was planted at City Hall and Mayor Larry Campbell proclaimed the day Obasan Cherry Tree Day. On November 3, Vancouver City Council voted unanimously to pass an unprecedented order to delay demolition of Joy’s childhood home. This 120-day period allows us time to raise funds so that the house can be purchased and converted into a writers’ centre.
Charitable donations can be made online through the Vancouver Heritage Foundation website at http://www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org/Kogawa.html.
For more information,
visit www.kogawahouse.com and www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com or
contact
Todd Wong at gunghaggis@yahoo.ca or 604-240-7090 and Ann-Marie Metten at ametten@telus.net or 604-263-6586.
SAVE KOGAWA HOUSE
Celebration and Awareness Concert
November 12, 2005
2:00pm Introductions
2:05pm Harry Aoki & Friends
2:25pm Raymond Chow Special Presentation
2:40pm Naomi’s Road - Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble
3:25pm Questions and Answers
3:40pm Closing Remarks and Thank You
Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble
Cast and Crew
Naomi …………………………………………........................ Jessica Cheung
Mother, Obasan, Mitzi ………………………….......….….. Gina Oh
Stephen ……………………………………...........................Sam Chung
Father, Trainmaster, Rough Lock Bill, Bully …….. Sung Chung
Pianist: Angus Kellett
Stage manager: David Fuller
Music by Ramona Leungen
Libretto by Ann Hodges
Music director: Leslie Uyeda
Commissioned by Vancouver Opera, James W. Wright, general director
Running time is approximately 45 minutes.
Raymond Chow
Internationally recognized as an artist, Raymond Chow’s drawings of Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles form a unique history of the heritage of the Pacific coast. Raymond is also a pianist and composer who has produced music for ballet, CD and video.
Harry Aoki
Harry’s personal story mirrors that of the role of 10-year-old Steven in the Naomi’s Road opera. Harry had to leave behind his beloved violin, when he was removed from the West Coast in 1942 because he is Japanese Canadian. Today Harry hosts First Friday Forum, a monthly evening of music and discussion at the Nikkei Centre in Burnaby.
Special Thanks
to Vancouver Opera, Vancouver Public Library, Mayor Larry Campbell, Councillors Jim Green, Raymond Louie and Ellen Woodsworth, Vancouver City Council, Parks Commisioners Suzanne Anton and Heather Deal, Gerry McGeough, Diane Switzer, Vancouver Heritage Foundation, Heather Redfern, Marion Quednau, Jackie Byrn, James Wright, Paul Whitney, Ellen Crowe-Swords, Scott McIntyre, James Johnstone, Yosef Wosk, Alma Lee, Hitomi Nunotani, Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, Don Montgomery, Ricepaper Magazine, ExplorASIAN, Ross Bliss and the many writer associations across the country.
Raymond Chow's canvas of Joy Kogawa available
Sat, 2005-11-12 00:41 — Roland TanglaoAll proceeds go to the Save Kogawa House campaign.
House of Joy
Raymond Chow original canvas of Joy Kogawa as a child in front of the house at 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver in 1942
This painting is created in acrylic on a 14-inch-by-29-inch canvas. Reproductions of the original are available in digital and giclée prints on demand.
Digital prints on paper
2-inches-by-5-inches Edition: 5,000 Price: $35 each
4-inches-by-10-inches Edition: 3,000 Price: $75 each
Giclée prints on canvas
7-inches-by-15-inches Edition: 400 Price: $250 each
12-inches-by-25-inches Edition: 325 Price: $375 each
18-inches-by-33-inches Edition: 200 Price: $500 each
7% provincial and GST taxes apply. Please allow two to three weeks for delivery.
To order, please contact Raymond Chow at 604-274-3587, PST 8:30 to 5:30.
Kogawa House Demolition plea at City Hall: Presentation by Todd Wong
Thu, 2005-11-03 22:11 — Todd Wong
The following is the basic text of my presentation to Vancouver City Council's Standing Committee on Planning and Environment, November 3rd, 2005.
Hello Council members and guests
Thank you for receiving our request for a delay of demolition for 1450 West 64th Ave, known as “Kogawa House.”
Thank you also to council for attending the Joy Kogawa Cherry Tree planting and ceremony that took place here on Tuesday.
Save Kogawa House committee is a local and national advocacy committee in existence for two years since Kogawa House first came on the market.
We also thank the owner and representative, for working together with us to seek a peaceful resolution and a win, win, win situation for all parties involved. The current owner of the house, the Save Kogawa House committee, and the citizens of Vancouver, and throughout Canada.
It is our vision to purchase the house from its current owner and transform it into a writers-in-residence centre, to give writers a taste of Vancouver’s multicultural diversity. This will give special attention to writers of conscience, who can address human rights issues like those that removed Joy and her family away from their home to internment camps for the Japanese Canadians.
I am 5th Generation Vancouverite, my family has lived in Vancouver for 7 generations. We suffered the racism of early Vancouver, and paid the Chinese head tax, clustered in Chinatown for protection. After the Japanese Canadians were interned in camps, we were all afraid that what happened to the Japanese-Canadians, could happen to the Chinese too! The experience shaped our Asian-Canadian pioneer communities, and we tried to be good Canadians, to integrate, and not cause trouble.
As I grew up in Vancouver, I have always related to the Japanese Canadian experience as a shared Asian Canadian experience, due to racism that lumped all Asians together. But as my family intermarried into the many other ethnicities of Vancouver, I have come to understand that as Canadians, we are no longer two solitudes of English and French, but inclusive of Scottish, Irish, First Nations, Chinese, South Asian and Japanese culture. Nor are we solitudes at all, but one family that is intermarried to each diverse immigrant group.
Kogawa House is not a Japanese Canadian issue. It is a Canadian issue. Kogawa House is not just a Japane-Canadian Internment Redress issue, it is a literary legacy for all Canadians. By truly embracing the stories of Joy Kogawa’s works and the story of Kogawa House, we can truly say “never again” to a sorry episode in Canada’s history.
I was on the inaugural committee for the Vancouver Public Library’s One Book One Vancouver program, that introduced Vancouverites to Wayson Choy’s “The Jade Peony” The program made the book come alive through many programs and events from May to September.
Since January of this year, I have been enthused by the idea that Obasan could be the 2005 choice. I wrote an article citing 20 reasons why Obasan was the best choice including:
1) Roy Miki stating that Obasan is the most important book written to understanding the Japanese Canadian experience;
2) that Quill and Quire named Obasan one of the most influential Canadian works of fiction;
3) that Joy was born in Vancouver and recieved the Order of Canada in 1986.
Obasan is a book that every Vancouverite should read.
In September, Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop hosted the Ricepaper Magazine 10th Anniversary Dinner, attended by councillors Roberts, Woodsworth, and Sullivan. And we celebrated Joy with a Community Builders’ Award.
Joy is an author that every community should be so lucky to have.
I attended the Vancouver Opera world premiere of Naomi’s Road. It brought tears to my eyes, and I wrote a review. It is the story of two young children who were separate by their parents. Their aunt takes them on a vacation, and while on the train, they come to the understanding that it isn't a vacation at all - they are going to an internment camp. During the next 3 years, they will be branded enemy aliens, and they will never see their home again.
Naomi’s Road is an opera that every Vancouverite should see.
We would like to demonstrate our vision for Kogawa House, as a vision for Vancouver, and for Canada. We will share with you how we will do this, and how writers and Canadians across Canada feel about this, and we hope to touch your hearts and inspire joy in your lives for this city we love.
I hope that we can say that Vancouver loves this book so much that we bought the house and we saved it.
Thank you.
Oh - one more thing....
Just as I arrived at City Hall today, house genealogist James Johnstone gave me a house history of Kogawa House. He just decided to do this two days ago. He found that it is one of the oldest houses in Marpole, and lists all the owners to present. This is just one of the examples of how much this book and this house have moved people.
Thank you.
Writing Associations across Canada support preservation of Kogawa House
Thu, 2005-11-03 12:31 — Todd Wong
Writing associations across Canada support preservation of Kogawa House
OUR VISION FOR KOGAWA HOUSE
The Save Kogawa House Committee believes it can preserve that heritage by purchasing the property from its current owner and converting the home into a writers-in-residence centre. Ten writers associations representing several thousand writers have endorsed our proposal and would select members from their organizations to reside in the house for a period of approximately one month each.
This is their vision of the house as well:
Brian Brett, Chair of the Writers Union of Canada:
“The Writers’ Union of Canada, representing over 1,500 professional writers, supports the effort to save Joy Kogawa’s childhood home on 1450 West 64th Avenue in Vancouver from demolition, and would like to encourage its conversion into a major writers centre for Canadian and international writers.
Vancouver would greatly benefit by designating the Joy Kogawa House as a literary landmark and establishing it as a writers-in-residence centre in which Canadian writers and writers from abroad could write first hand about our complex and evolving multi- and inter-cultural society and how different values and traditions can peacefully interact.”
Brian Busby, President of the Federation of BC Writers:
“The house at 1450 West 64th Avenue which Joy Kogawa and her family were forced to leave during the relocation of Japanese Canadians is the central image of her famous novel Obasan, one of Canada’s best-loved works of fiction. The many groups now coming together to save it (whether at its present address or at another location) is one of the strongest yet most diverse such alliances we have ever seen rally round a cause. The emerging consensus favours employing the house as a new cultural centre that would highlight the contributions of Vancouver artists from all backgrounds—not as a shrine but rather as a working place and as a place for work to be seen. This vision includes having the facility in operation well before the 2010 Olympic Games.”
Amela Simic, Executive Director of the Playwrights Guild of Canada, representing over 500 members:
“Playwrights Guild of Canada members add their support to the Kogawa Homestead Committee in their struggle to preserve the house and turn it into a writers' centre. We think that it would be a grave mistake to allow the demolition of Joy Kogawa's home, which is an important landmark for Canadian culture and Canadian history in general. A vibrant writers' centre would put Vancouver on the map along with other cultural centres, like Mexico City with its beautiful Casa del Escritor or Dublin with its Irish Writers' Centre.”
Rosemary Patterson, President of the Vancouver Branch of the Canadian Authors Association:
“The members of the Canadian Authors Association, Vancouver Branch, would like to add their support to the Joy Kogawa House Committee in their efforts to prevent the demolition of Joy Kogawa’s former family home and save it for a writers’ centre as a permanent Olympics benefit for Vancouver and all of Canada.”
Gordon Graham, President of the Periodical Writers Association of Canada:
“The Periodical Writers Association of Canada was founded in 1976 and currently represents more than 550 freelance writers across Canada. (PWAC) would like to offer its support to the proposal to develop Joy Kogawa’s home into a writers’ centre. Writers’ centres and retreats, such as the Pierre Burton House in the Yukon, have proved to be extremely valuable to writers, which directly contributes to the further development of Canadian writing. This in turn reinforces our national cultural resources and hence our ability to promote ourselves internationally at events such as the Olympics.”
Mary Ellen Csamer, President of the League of Canadian Poets:
“The League of Canadian Poets, representing over 730 professional poets across Canada, supports the effort to save Joy Kogawa's childhood home on 1450 West 64th Avenue in Vancouver from demolition, and would like to encourage its conversion into a major writers centre for Canadian and international writers.
Just as Emily Carr’s home in Victoria and Pierre Berton’s in the Yukon provide a unique sense of the physical space that helped to define those artists, so this building forms an important part of our collective cultural imagination. To create a writers’ centre would be an appropriate and timely action, which would draw national and international writers to the West Coast for cultural stimulation and peaceful retreat.”
Constance Rooke, President of PEN Canada:
“PEN Canada supports with immense enthusiasm the idea of turning Kogawa House into a writers’ centre, and of making this venture a central piece of legacy of the [Olympic] games. Certainly, we would make extensive use of this resource. We would use it, for PEN Canada’s allotted time, to house writers-in-exile, brave men and women who have fled oppression in their own countries and sought refuge in Canada. We work very hard to find short-term positions for these writers in universities and libraries and so on, all across Canada, in order to help them find their feet in a new country, and accommodation is always a big part of the challenge we face. You have an opportunity here to do something of historical importance: a chance to turn threatened destruction into a very public gesture of preservation, reparation, and new life.”
Jim Wong-Chu, Executive Director of the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop:
“Joy Kogawa is a pioneer for Asian Canadian literature, and we recognized her with the 2005 ACWW Community Builders Award. Joy’s works and legacy brings us closer together as Canadians, learning to overcome our challenges and diversity. It is important to save Kogawa House as both a literary and historical landmark. Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop supports the preservation of Kogawa House, and the creation of a writing centre.”
Alma Lee, Founding Artistic Director, and Hal Wake, Incoming Artistic Director, of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival:
“We understand the historical and cultural significance of this house as part of Vancouver’s literary heritage and believe that all efforts should be made to save it from the wrecker’s ball.”
Sylvia McNicoll, President of the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers:
On behalf of the members of CANSCAIP I would like to offer our recommendation and support that Joy Kogawa’s house be saved from demolition and be converted to a writer’s retreat.”
Joan Andersen, Chair of the Vancouver Public Library Board:
VPL was honoured to declare Obasan as this year’s One Book One Vancouver. The community’s positive response to both the book and Joy has been most gratifying. Joy has spoken of the importance for her of her first Vancouver home in public meetings and in the media throughout the summer. The VPL Board understands the symbolic importance of this modest house in the history of Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada as well as its significance in Canada’s literary heritage. The Vancouver Public Library Board supports in principle the campaign to delay the demolition of the house with the hope of saving it and converting it to a public use.”
James Wright, General Director, Vancouver Opera:
“Please accept this letter as support in principle from Vancouver Opera to help exercise a ‘stay of demolition’ of Joy Kogawa’s childhood home in Vancouver. We were honoured and delighted to receive Joy’s permission to adapt Naomi’s Road into an opera for young people, which is currently touring in schools across the province. In its premiere four-performance run at the Norman Rothstein Theatre, before audiences composed mostly of adults, it was a huge hit. We at Vancouver Opera appreciate the historical and cultural significance of this house and believe that all efforts should be made to save it from the wrecker’s ball.”
Tamsin Baker, Lower Mainland Regional Manager of The Land Conservancy:
“TLC would like to express our support towards the efforts to secure the site and building in perpetuity. TLC is a provincial land trust working to protect BC's places of natural and cultural heritage. There are many benefits for the community that come from the conservation and long-term management of important heritage places. TLC would be willing to possibly provide support to the community in securing the Kogawa home if the extension to delay the demolition of the house is granted.”
Henry Kojima, President of the National Association of Japanese Canadians:
“The National Association of Japanese Canadians strongly supports the retention of the Kogawa House. The proposed international writer-in-residence centre in Kogawa House would, indeed, be an appropriate acknowledgement of our nation’s past, as well as be a fitting tribute to the importance of Canada’s multi-cultural society today. We respectfully urge Council to order a temporary protection of the property for 120 days in order that sources of funding can be pursued to purchase the home.”
Fred Yada, President of the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre:
“To the Japanese Canadian community and to Canada, Joy's stories have captured an important aspect of Canadian history, her contribution has enriched Canadian literature, and she has told a story of many of our people with dignity and grace. Most importantly, through her, Canadians have gained awareness and
appreciation for harmony, acceptance, understanding and cultural exchange. We believe that her work, and that a centre dedicated for writing, will be a legacy for all Canadians, today and for the future.”
The Save Kogawa House Committee thanks the current owner of the 1450 West 64th Avenue property for giving us the opportunity to mobilize this extensive local and Canada-wide support to raise the funds and purchase the house as a writers centre.
OUR VISION FOR KOGAWA HOUSE
The Save Kogawa House Committee believes it can preserve that heritage by purchasing the property from its current owner and converting the home into a writers-in-residence centre. Ten writers associations representing several thousand writers have endorsed our proposal and would select members from their organizations to reside in the house for a period of approximately one month each.
This is their vision of the house as well:
Brian Brett, Chair of the Writers Union of Canada:
“The Writers’ Union of Canada, representing over 1,500 professional writers, supports the effort to save Joy Kogawa’s childhood home on 1450 West 64th Avenue in Vancouver from demolition, and would like to encourage its conversion into a major writers centre for Canadian and international writers.
Vancouver would greatly benefit by designating the Joy Kogawa House as a literary landmark and establishing it as a writers-in-residence centre in which Canadian writers and writers from abroad could write first hand about our complex and evolving multi- and inter-cultural society and how different values and traditions can peacefully interact.”
Brian Busby, President of the Federation of BC Writers:
“The house at 1450 West 64th Avenue which Joy Kogawa and her family were forced to leave during the relocation of Japanese Canadians is the central image of her famous novel Obasan, one of Canada’s best-loved works of fiction. The many groups now coming together to save it (whether at its present address or at another location) is one of the strongest yet most diverse such alliances we have ever seen rally round a cause. The emerging consensus favours employing the house as a new cultural centre that would highlight the contributions of Vancouver artists from all backgrounds—not as a shrine but rather as a working place and as a place for work to be seen. This vision includes having the facility in operation well before the 2010 Olympic Games.”
Amela Simic, Executive Director of the Playwrights Guild of Canada, representing over 500 members:
“Playwrights Guild of Canada members add their support to the Kogawa Homestead Committee in their struggle to preserve the house and turn it into a writers' centre. We think that it would be a grave mistake to allow the demolition of Joy Kogawa's home, which is an important landmark for Canadian culture and Canadian history in general. A vibrant writers' centre would put Vancouver on the map along with other cultural centres, like Mexico City with its beautiful Casa del Escritor or Dublin with its Irish Writers' Centre.”
Rosemary Patterson, President of the Vancouver Branch of the Canadian Authors Association:
“The members of the Canadian Authors Association, Vancouver Branch, would like to add their support to the Joy Kogawa House Committee in their efforts to prevent the demolition of Joy Kogawa’s former family home and save it for a writers’ centre as a permanent Olympics benefit for Vancouver and all of Canada.”
Gordon Graham, President of the Periodical Writers Association of Canada:
“The Periodical Writers Association of Canada was founded in 1976 and currently represents more than 550 freelance writers across Canada. (PWAC) would like to offer its support to the proposal to develop Joy Kogawa’s home into a writers’ centre. Writers’ centres and retreats, such as the Pierre Burton House in the Yukon, have proved to be extremely valuable to writers, which directly contributes to the further development of Canadian writing. This in turn reinforces our national cultural resources and hence our ability to promote ourselves internationally at events such as the Olympics.”
Mary Ellen Csamer, President of the League of Canadian Poets:
“The League of Canadian Poets, representing over 730 professional poets across Canada, supports the effort to save Joy Kogawa's childhood home on 1450 West 64th Avenue in Vancouver from demolition, and would like to encourage its conversion into a major writers centre for Canadian and international writers.
Just as Emily Carr’s home in Victoria and Pierre Berton’s in the Yukon provide a unique sense of the physical space that helped to define those artists, so this building forms an important part of our collective cultural imagination. To create a writers’ centre would be an appropriate and timely action, which would draw national and international writers to the West Coast for cultural stimulation and peaceful retreat.”
Constance Rooke, President of PEN Canada:
“PEN Canada supports with immense enthusiasm the idea of turning Kogawa House into a writers’ centre, and of making this venture a central piece of legacy of the [Olympic] games. Certainly, we would make extensive use of this resource. We would use it, for PEN Canada’s allotted time, to house writers-in-exile, brave men and women who have fled oppression in their own countries and sought refuge in Canada. We work very hard to find short-term positions for these writers in universities and libraries and so on, all across Canada, in order to help them find their feet in a new country, and accommodation is always a big part of the challenge we face. You have an opportunity here to do something of historical importance: a chance to turn threatened destruction into a very public gesture of preservation, reparation, and new life.”
Jim Wong-Chu, Executive Director of the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop:
“Joy Kogawa is a pioneer for Asian Canadian literature, and we recognized her with the 2005 ACWW Community Builders Award. Joy’s works and legacy brings us closer together as Canadians, learning to overcome our challenges and diversity. It is important to save Kogawa House as both a literary and historical landmark. Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop supports the preservation of Kogawa House, and the creation of a writing centre.”
Alma Lee, Founding Artistic Director, and Hal Wake, Incoming Artistic Director, of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival:
“We understand the historical and cultural significance of this house as part of Vancouver’s literary heritage and believe that all efforts should be made to save it from the wrecker’s ball.”
Sylvia McNicoll, President of the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers:
On behalf of the members of CANSCAIP I would like to offer our recommendation and support that Joy Kogawa’s house be saved from demolition and be converted to a writer’s retreat.”
Joan Andersen, Chair of the Vancouver Public Library Board:
VPL was honoured to declare Obasan as this year’s One Book One Vancouver. The community’s positive response to both the book and Joy has been most gratifying. Joy has spoken of the importance for her of her first Vancouver home in public meetings and in the media throughout the summer. The VPL Board understands the symbolic importance of this modest house in the history of Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada as well as its significance in Canada’s literary heritage. The Vancouver Public Library Board supports in principle the campaign to delay the demolition of the house with the hope of saving it and converting it to a public use.”
James Wright, General Director, Vancouver Opera:
“Please accept this letter as support in principle from Vancouver Opera to help exercise a ‘stay of demolition’ of Joy Kogawa’s childhood home in Vancouver. We were honoured and delighted to receive Joy’s permission to adapt Naomi’s Road into an opera for young people, which is currently touring in schools across the province. In its premiere four-performance run at the Norman Rothstein Theatre, before audiences composed mostly of adults, it was a huge hit. We at Vancouver Opera appreciate the historical and cultural significance of this house and believe that all efforts should be made to save it from the wrecker’s ball.”
Tamsin Baker, Lower Mainland Regional Manager of The Land Conservancy:
“TLC would like to express our support towards the efforts to secure the site and building in perpetuity. TLC is a provincial land trust working to protect BC's places of natural and cultural heritage. There are many benefits for the community that come from the conservation and long-term management of important heritage places. TLC would be willing to possibly provide support to the community in securing the Kogawa home if the extension to delay the demolition of the house is granted.”
Henry Kojima, President of the National Association of Japanese Canadians:
“The National Association of Japanese Canadians strongly supports the retention of the Kogawa House. The proposed international writer-in-residence centre in Kogawa House would, indeed, be an appropriate acknowledgement of our nation’s past, as well as be a fitting tribute to the importance of Canada’s multi-cultural society today. We respectfully urge Council to order a temporary protection of the property for 120 days in order that sources of funding can be pursued to purchase the home.”
Fred Yada, President of the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre:
“To the Japanese Canadian community and to Canada, Joy's stories have captured an important aspect of Canadian history, her contribution has enriched Canadian literature, and she has told a story of many of our people with dignity and grace. Most importantly, through her, Canadians have gained awareness and
appreciation for harmony, acceptance, understanding and cultural exchange. We believe that her work, and that a centre dedicated for writing, will be a legacy for all Canadians, today and for the future.”
The Save Kogawa House Committee thanks the current owner of the 1450 West 64th Avenue property for giving us the opportunity to mobilize this extensive local and Canada-wide support to raise the funds and purchase the house as a writers centre.
120 Days given to Kogawa House, as demolition timeline extended
Thu, 2005-11-03 12:27 — Todd WongFor immediate release
November 3, 2005
120 days given to Kogawa House, as demolition timeline extended
This afternoon Vancouver City Council voted unanimously to grant an unprecedented 120-day delay of demolition for 1450 West 64th Avenue, the childhood home of author Joy Kogawa.
The present home owner bought the house in 2003, unaware that the Save Kogawa Homestead committee was trying to raise funds to turn the house into a writers’ retreat. The owner has now decided to demolish and rebuild on the site, prompting the now renamed Save Kogawa House committee to action, soliciting support from writing and arts organizations across the country.
Gerry McGeough, senior heritage planner in the Vancouver City Planning Department, was instrumental in bringing the motion before city council. He stated that the 1915 house could be registered as Class A heritage because of its cultural value and local and national prominence.
Todd Wong and Ann-Marie Metten led the committee’s presentation to council, with additional presentations from Diane Switzer of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, Heather Redfern of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, and Marion Quednau of the Writers’ Union of Canada, demonstrating the wide local and national support across Canada to preserve the house,
Kogawa, received the Order of Canada in 1986 and her novel Obasan is school curriculum across Canada and studied around the world. The novel was also chosen as the Vancouver Public Library’s One Book One Vancouver selection for 2005. An operatic adaptation of the children’s story, Naomi’s Road, is now touring BC schools with the Vancouver Opera in the Schools program.
Joy Kogawa arrived via car and ferry from a performance of Naomi’s Road in Ucuelet, BC, just in time to read from her novel Obasan. Kogawa had only left City Hall on Tuesday, November 1st, which had been proclaimed “Obasan Cherry Tree Day”, as a graft from the cherry tree from Kogawa’s childhood home was planted at City Hall.
Council was so moved by the presentation that Councillor Raymond Louie immediately challenged other councillors to pull out their wallets and match his $100 donation. Councillor Ellen Woodsworth wrote an equivalent cheque and said council would challenge other city councils to match their donations as well. At the end of the meeting, the committee walked out of council chambers $540 richer.
An estimated $750,000 is needed to purchase the house from the owner at “fair market value.” McGeough has been mediating with the house owner and the Save Kogawa House committee, and the 120-day delay will give the committee time to fundraise this amount.
Charitable donations can be made online through the Vancouver Heritage Foundation website at http://www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org/Kogawa.html.
To celebrate this milestone in the Save Kogawa House campaign, a performance of the opera Naomi’s Road by the Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble will be presented free to the public on November 12 at 2 pm. It will take place in the Alice MacKay Room of the Vancouver Public Library downtown. Special guest musician is Harry Aoki, who was interned at age 20.
For further information contact:
www.kogawa.homestead.com
www.kogawahouse.com
www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/OneBookOneVancouverJoyKogawasObasan
Ann-Marie Metten, Save Kogawa House Committee Vancouver Coordinator
604-263-6586; ametten@telus.net
Todd Wong, Vancouver Committee spokesperson
604-240-7090; toddwcan@yahoo.com
Anton Wagner, Committee Chair
416-863-1209; awagner@yorku.ca
Gerry McGeough, Senior Heritage Planner, Planning
Department, City of Vancouver
604-873-7091; gerry.mcgeough@vancouver.ca
Diane Switzer, Executive Director, Vancouver Heritage Foundation
604-264-9642; diane@vancouverheritagefoundation.org
