The Historic Joy Kogawa House Society has a new 2013 writer-in-residence, Ava Homa, who they will introduce during one of several events this July. Ava Homa was 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. 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.
You could join Ava Homa at one of several public events:
Thursday, July 18, 7:30pm, Far East, Middle East
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.
Sunday, July 21, 3:00 to 5:00pm, Women, Kurds, and Baha’is in Search of Equality in Iran
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.
Monday, July 22, 7:00 to 9:00pm, Southbank Writers’ Program Field Trip and Readings
Students and alumni from SFU Southbank Writers’ Program in Surrey join writer-in-residence Ava Homa for an evening of readings and discussion. Hosted by Writers’ Studio director Wayde Compton.
Sunday, July 28, 6:00 to 10:00, Outdoor Barbeque/Open Mic/Poetry Reading
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. Please also bring something for the barbeque.
All events take place at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, in the garden that is beautifully tended by volunteers Marlene Enns and Jim Wong-Chu. Music prelude by Robin Wilson. Funded in part by the Canada Council Author Residency Program and the B.C. Arts Council
Admission by donation but space is limited. To reserve a seat, please RSVP kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.