In|Appropriate Online Launch

The launch party for "In|Appropriate", edited by Kim Davids Mandar, a collection of interviews with Canadian authors, on how they work through questions of difference. The launch will feature a Q&A with the audience and eadings by several of the book's contributors – Sanchari Sur, Mahak Jain, Wayne Grady, Farzana Doctor, Arif Anwar, and Angie Abdou.

In | Appropriate is a collection of interviews with Canadian authors, exploring how they work through questions of difference, identity, and appropriation in their writing. Edited by Kim Davids Mandar, and introduced by Daniel Heath Justice, the collection features interviews with Ian Williams, Ayelet Tsabari, Sanchari Sur, Eden Robinson, Jael Richardson, Waubgeshig Rice, Amanda Leduc, Chelene Knight, Mahak Jain, Wayne Grady, Alicia Elliott, Farzana Doctor, Michael Crummey, Arif Anwar, and Angie Abdou. The interviews address questions of appropriation that go beyond race and culture, extending also to gender, sexuality, ability, age, and other categories of difference. They ask how writers work to represent an increasingly diverse and complex culture in ways that avoid falling into appropriation.

Sanchari Sur will read her story from "The Unpublished City", a collection of diverse voices, a true cross-section of Toronto’s burgeoning literary community. These poems and short prose pieces reveal a series of lush vignettes through distinct voices that surprise and delight. Curated by Dionne Brand, the anthology features eighteen emerging writers, and was shortlisted for the 2018 Toronto Book Award.

Mahaj Jain will read from her story, “The Marriage Broker”, published in Issue #152 of "The New Quarterly", a story that was an inspiration for the novel that Ishe is currently writing.

Wayne Grady will read from "Emancipation Day", a novel told in three voices, set in Windsor in the 1940s, about race and deception,about fathers and sons, wives and lovers, and the effects of passing on three generations in a world on the cusp of enormous change.

Farzana Doctor will read from "Seven", a brave, soulfully written feminist novel about inheritance and resistance that tests the balance between kinship and the fight against customs that harm us.

Arif Anwar will read from "The Storm", an epic novel in the tradition of Khaled Hosseini’s The "Kite Runner" and Rohinton Mistry’s "A Fine Balance". At once grounded in history and fantastically imaginative, "The Storm explores the humanity that connects us beyond the surface differences of race, religion, and nationality.

Angie Abdou will read from "In Case I Go", a novel that "blends ghost story, adultery drama, anti-racist consciousness raising, and magical realism. [...] This book is highly recommended to anyone who cares about strong, moving fiction and about social justice." - Tom Sandborn in The Vancouver Sun