Hello readers. Welcome to the Sunday Edition.
I’m happy to bring you a wonderful and insightful interview today with award-winning writer and poet Chelene Knight, and a reflection piece from a member of this community. Stories from the Pink House reader Gertrude King shares with us her thoughts on what reading for Black History Month has taught her.
Happy reading.
On Reading for Black History Month
by Gertrude King
Reading has always been a meaningful activity for me. As a kid, I would settle down at night after reading the day's adventure in 365 Bedtime Stories. When I became a new mom, I’d walk the stroller to Parkdale Library where I went through the Russian novels. I figured it was best to get those classics done before I got too busy with an active toddler. And while I'm loyal to the feel of a book, an electronic reader has often been helpful for quickly finding missing titles in a series.
In February 2020, my reading focus was greatly impacted after attending a talk by Dr. Jean Augustine. She served as Canada's first Black woman elected to Parliament, and in 1995 she successfully brought forward the motion that now recognizes February as Black History Month. Listening to Dr. Augustine inspired me to bring some personal purpose to my reading by focusing on Black authors in February.
This has turned into a tremendous learning experience. The practice led me to catching up on authors I kept intending to read, such as W.E.B. Dubois, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Lawrence Hill. I have also gained new favourites, including Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ibram X. Kendi, and Esi Edugyan. I'm not the fiction fan I used to be, but an occasional romance is fun where the characters are navigating their relationship, but also travel to Africa as part of their challenge.
One of the most impactful books I have read is Born In Blackness by Howard French. It is a broad reframing of modern history that gives Africa a rightful place in the economic development of Europe and America. I also learned a great deal about the American Black experience from Caste: The Origins Of Our Discontent and The Warmth Of Other Suns, two in-depth studies by Isabel Wilkerson.
Throughout the year, as I consider my Black History Month reading plans, I may hold off on a book that grabs me, knowing we will get together in February. My main exception to this is Barack Obama. His writing is just so wonderfully readable. It was a great treat, however, when my grand-daughter gifted me with the audiobook of A Promised Land. What a pleasure to listen to the cadence of the former President reading his own words.
This season's heavy winter weather has certainly encouraged settling down in a cozy chair whether with a specific theme, a favourite author, or good old-fashioned escapist reading. I know I'll soon be done with that excuse, however, and will put away the snow shovel. Then I'll just indulge in a cozy chair outside, with a stack of gardening books.
After reading Gertrude’s piece, I was moved to ask her what she feels she has learned the most from her reading. Here is her answer:
The biggest take-away from my reading has been that it broadened my understanding of slavery. I see it now as more than just one shameful moment in world history among many times of slavery. Slavery's impact on the development of northern and southern American economy is astounding. I used to dismiss the idea of reparations to slave descendants as fanciful and unrealistic. When you understand how much slavery enabled wealth, however, the idea of wages owed is not so farfetched.
I also learned how much other countries beyond the English and the Americans were involved in African slavery: the Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish. When I look at Haiti, some of its failure can be traced back the reparations France demanded for the island's independence.
On a more personal level, I wonder how my life might have been experienced had my ancestor not been thrown on to a slave ship with the strength to survive Middle Passage to the West Indies. Is slavery the only reason I'm a North American Black woman, rather than African-born? How do I feel about that - beyond a sense of owing it to my ancestor to make their sacrifice meaningful.
Not sure that I have any thoughts about what others could learn. To me, history always has value. But that idea may not grab someone else. We can all go back to the time when we sat around the fire to listen and learn. I'd just like us to remember that time and bring that practice into our present lives. - Gertrude King
Thank you Gertrude for your reflections, insights and reading list.
If you too would like to share a personal piece on books, and their impact and importance in your life, please send me an email. I hope to include more reader pieces in future newsletters.
Why I Write with author and poet Chelene Knight
CHELENE KNIGHT is the author of Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old Beliefs and Find a New Path to Joy, Braided Skin, and the memoir Dear Current Occupant, winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award and longlisted for the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. Her novel, Junie, won the 2023 Vancouver Book Award, was longlisted for the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and was a finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ fiction. Her essays have appeared in multiple Canadian and American literary journals, plus the Globe and Mail, the Walrus, Writer’s Digest, and the Toronto Star. Her work is anthologized in Making Room, Love Me True, Sustenance, The Summer Book, and Black Writers Matter, winner of the 2020 Saskatchewan Book Award. Her poem, “Welwitschia” won the 2020 CV2 Editor's Choice award. She was shortlisted for PRISM's 2021 short forms contest.
Why I Write
CHELENE KNIGHT is the author of Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old Beliefs and Find a New Path to Joy, Braided Skin, and the memoir Dear Current Occupant, winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award and longlisted for the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. Her novel,
Reader’s Digest - In Case You Missed it
Beer & Books - 2025 Spring Author Events - Tickets now on sale
April 24th - Claire Cameron
May 13th - Jesse Thistle
June 6th - Helen Humphreys
June 13th - Bianca Marais
You can purchase tickets online through Ticketscene, in person at Curiosity House Books, or by emailing us at info@curiosityhousebooks.com or reply to this email.
Click on the link before for ticket information and to purchase tickets:
Announcing our Spring Author Events
Claire Cameron, Jesse Thistle, Helen Humphreys, Bianca Marais, oh my!
New & fresh art show just in time to welcome Spring at Curiosity House Books:
A Little Whimsy - artist Liane Brossard
Have a great week. See you next time.