Come meet our 2013 writer-in-residence, Ava Homa, during one of several events this July.
Ava Homa exiled from Kurdistan-Iran in 2007 and is among the few Kurdish women authors who write about the history of the Kurdish community. Her three-month residency, funded by the Canada Council Author Residency Program and the British Columbia Arts Council, began on May 1, 2013, and focuses on writing, research, and community programs. In 2010, Ava Homa published her debut collection of short stories, Echoes from the Other Land, which was nominated for 2011 Frank O’Conner International Short Story Prize and was chosen as one of ten People’s Choice finalists in the 2011 Readers’ Choice Award running concurrently with Giller Prize. While is residence at Historic Joy Kogawa House, she is completing a fiction manuscript that extends the themes of one of the stories in the collection. In addition, for each of five weeks, she will meet with a group of teen writers to discuss and practise crafting short fiction. Ava Homa has been a member of PEN Canada’s Writers-in-Exile network since 2011 and teaches English and creative writing at George Brown College in Toronto.
Please join Ava Homa at one of several public events:
Far East, Middle East
When: Thursday, July 18, 7:30pm
Julia Lin, author of Miah (Tsar, 2012) joins Ava Homa for an evening of readings and discussion about immigration, displacement, and the complexities of lives divided between Taiwan and Canada, between Iran and Canada.
Music in the Garden
When: Sunday, July 21, 3:00 to 5:00pm
Please join two artists-in-residence for an afternoon of music and readings. Farshid Samandari, a Baha’i born in Iran and composer-in-residence with the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, joins Ava Homa for an afternoon of music and words. Together they will read from and perform new work, highlighting their mutual experiences growing up as excluded minorities in Iran and the ways in which those with different histories and cultures can speak to – and through – each other. Join us for this special musical literary performance!
Southbank Writers’ Program Field Trip and Readings
When: Monday, July 22, 7:00 to 9:00pm
Students and alumni from SFU Southbank Writers’ Program in Surrey join writer-in-residence Ava Homa for an evening of readings and discussion. In collaboration with Writers’ Studio director Wayde Compton.
Outdoor Barbeque/Open Mic/Poetry Reading
When: Sunday, July 28, 6:00 to 10:00
All are welcome to this end-of-term celebration. Bring a poem, a song, or other musings to read/sing/perform to the garden and the birds and the people. Also bring something for the grill.
All events take place at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, in the garden that is beautifully tended by volunteer Marlene Enns.
Admission by donation but space is limited.
To reserve a seat, please email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.