In Conversation with Sheila Murray, Dawn Promislow and Reema Patel

Join Diaspora Dialogues Saturday, June 12th, 12-1pm, as we celebrate three stunning debut novels by alumni of our mentoring programs: Dawn Promislow, Wan (Freehand Books, May 1), Sheila Murray, Finding Edward (Cormorant, June 15) and Reema Patel, Such Big Dreams (Penguin Random House Canada, May 10). Moderated by journalist Aparita Bhandari. In partnership with Word On The Street Toronto.

About the Presenters

Aparita Bhandari is an arts and life reporter in Toronto. She has been published in Canadian media including CBC, the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail and Walrus magazine. Her areas of interest and expertise lie in the intersections of gender, culture and ethnicity. She is the producer and co-host of the Hindi language podcast, KhabardaarPodcast.com.

Sheila Murray’s short fiction has been published in various literary journals including Descant, The Dalhousie Review, and The New Quarterly. Finding Edward is her first novel. Murray is an advocate for social justice and climate change response and currently works as project director with CREW (Community Resilience to Extreme Weather). She was born in St. Albans, England and now lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

Reema Patel holds a B.A. from McGill University and a J.D. from the University of Windsor. After working in Mumbai in the youth non-profit sector and in human rights advocacy, she has spent the last ten years working in provincial and municipal government. Such Big Dreams is her first novel, and an excerpt from the novel won the Penguin Random House Student Award for Fiction at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies. She lives in Toronto, where she currently works as a lawyer

Dawn Promislow was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, and has lived in Toronto since 1987. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers where she was mentored by Olive Senior, and she was mentored by Nalo Hopkinson in Diaspora Dialogues's short-form mentorship program. Her collection Jewels and Other Stories (Mawenzi House, 2010) was critically acclaimed, long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and named one of the eight best debuts of 2011 by The Globe and Mail. Dawn has published short stories, poems, and essays, in literary journals in Canada, the US, and the UK, where they have been short-listed for awards.

Wan, her novel, was published by Freehand Books on May 1, 2022.

Presented By

The Word On The Street Toronto in partnership with Diaspora Dialogues.

The Word On The Street is an annual celebration of storytelling, ideas and imagination, hosting Canada's largest FREE book and magazine festival each September and promoting great books by Canadian and Indigenous authors year-round.

Diaspora Dialogues (DD) supports emerging writers to turn their craft into a career through mentorship, professional development and opportunities to publish and present their work. Our mentoring programs are the most successful in the country for alumni getting published. More than 750 writers/artists have participated as mentors or mentees, emerging playwrights or dramaturges, commissioned artists or panelists, readers or performers. 450+ new literary works have been created through DD programs, 300 events produced and a live audience well in excess of 150,000 Canadians has attended those events. DD also publishes TOK Magazine, an online platform for fiercely honest, freshly original writing and convenes TOK Symposiums, multi-day events for readers and writers which combine author talks and professional development seminars.

During these strange and challenging times, Diaspora Dialogues continues to support those who create stories we turn to for comfort, solace, and strength — our authors. To do that we need your help.

This event is registered by donation, please consider supporting us at this time. Thank you.