Sponsored by the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop (ACWW). Join these acclaimed authors as they share their personal stories taking us through the hardest of times to the joys and celebrations so that we cry, laugh, and cheer with them. es to the joys and celebrations so that we cry, laugh, and cheer with them. This year’s festival will be held on September 28th, 2024 at UBC Robson Square (800 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC)
Keiko Honda, Accidental Blooms (Caitlin Press) | Tara Sidhoo Fraser, When My Ghost Sings: A Memoir of Stroke, Recovery, and Transformation (Arsenal Pulp Press) | Kagan Goh, Surviving Samsara: A Memoir of Breakdowns, Breakthroughs, and Mental Illness (Caitlin Press)
Keiko Honda
Keiko Honda is a scientist, writer, community organizer and painter. She holds a PhD in international community health from New York University, but when she suddenly contracted a rare autoimmune disease that confined her to a wheelchair for life, she had to leave her career in research at Columbia University in New York. After moving to Vancouver in 2009, Keiko started hosting artist salons, for which she was awarded the City of Vancouver’s Remarkable Women award in 2014. Shortly thereafter, she founded the Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society to bridge generations and cultures through the arts and to offer members of marginalized communities in Vancouver opportunities for artistic self-discovery. She teaches the aesthetics of co-creation in the Liberal Arts and 55+ Program at Simon Fraser University. She lives in Vancouver, BC, and enjoys watercolour painting and hosting her salons.
Tara Sidhoo Fraser
Tara Sidhoo Fraser is a queer writer and creator of South Asian and Scottish ancestry. She graduated from the University of Victoria with a BA in Anthropology, and her work has been published with Autostraddle and Anathema magazine, among others. When My Ghost Sings is her first book. She lives in Vancouver.
Kagan Goh
Originally from Singapore, Kagan Goh is a Vancouver-based Chinese Canadian BIPOC multidisciplinary Mad Artist: award-winning filmmaker, published author, spoken word poet, playwright, actor, mental health advocate and activist. He was diagnosed with manic depression at the age of twenty-three, in 1993. Kagan is a well-known spoken word artist, essayist and poet, a respected and established voice in Vancouver’s literary community for over two decades. He has been invited to perform at readings, festivals and on radio, and has published in numerous anthologies, periodicals, and magazines. In 2012, Select Books in Singapore published his poetic memoir, focused upon his relationship with his esteemed father, Who Let in the Sky? Kagan is also an award-winning filmmaker with a number of releases including the award-winning film: Mind Fuck (1996); Stolen Memories (2012); Breaking the Silence (2015); The Day My Cat Saved My Life (2021); and Common Law (2024). His films have been broadcast on national television and gained entry into respected film festivals around the world. In Kagan Goh’s follow-up memoir, Surviving Samsara, he recounts his struggles with manic depression, breaking the silence around mental illness. Surviving Samsara was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize in 2022 in the creative nonfiction in English category.
Todd Wong (moderator)
Todd is well known for his community activism and contributions to both the literary and Asian Canadian cultural community, as leaders for Historic Joy Kogawa House, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and Word Vancouver. But he is not well known as survivors of cancer, depression, and heart failure, although he has shared publicly in the CBC TV documentary The Chan Legacy, and interviews about cancer survivorship. Todd is a longtime library assistant for the Vancouver Public Library. In his spare time he enjoys life by playing his accordion, paddling canoes, paddleboard & dragonboat (retired), drinking whisky, and creating cultural fusion fun through his Gung Haggis Fat Choy events.
September 28th, 2024, from 2.00PM-3.00PM.
UBC Robson Square (800 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC) at the Sunroom - Gallery