A new novel by Joan Haggerty tells of a disappeared Japanese Canadian during the Second World War
The Dancehall Years with Joan Haggerty
Young Gwen Killam enjoys idyllic summers on Bowen Island until the sudden disappearance of her swimming teacher, Takumi Yoshito, along with his parents. The novel goes on to trace an intricate and intimate geography of time, place, and people from the Depression, to Pearl Harbor, to the 1980s.
Joan Haggerty spent her formative years “on the coast in cedars and salt water,” but then lived abroad, writing and publishing a book about teaching as well as the experimental feminist novel, Daughters of the Moon (1971). It was praised by Marge Piercy and John Irving. Joan Haggerty returned to British Columbia, where she published The Invitation (1994), a memoir about re-uniting with the child she gave up for adoption. It was nominated for a Governor General’s Award. The Dancehall Years (Mother Tongue) was published earlier this summer. Tracy Sherlock of the Vancouver Sun called it a “gorgeously rendered novel.”
Please join us as we welcome author Joan Haggerty with refreshments and music. Copies of the novel will be available for sale and signing.
When: Saturday, September 10, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Cost: By donation
Kogawa House writer-in-residence Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall
It Isn’t Easy to Read When You’re Blind
Acclaimed sight-impaired author Ryan Knighton (Cockeyed, C’mon Papa) and Jacqui Bishop, a reader of books for the blind, speak with Kogawa House writer-in-residence Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall about literacy and accessibility of books for sight-impaired readers.
When: Monday, September 12, at 7 p.m.
Where: Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street
Cost: Free
Joy Kogawa’s memoir of her tireless search for healing and restoration, personally and for her community.
Joy Kogawa Launches Her Latest Book
Joy Kogawa’s new memoir, Gently to Nagasaki is presented in partnership with LiterAsian, the Vancouver Public Library, and Caitlin Press. This intimate exploration, both communal and intensely personal, invites you on a spiritual pilgrimage of forgiveness and resilience. Set in Vancouver and Toronto, the outposts of Slocan and Coaldale, the streets of Nagasaki and the high mountains of Shikoku, Japan, it is also an account of a remarkable life.
When: Thursday, September 22, 6:30pm
Where: Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street
Cost: Free