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John Asfour, our first writer-in-residence, returns to Historic Joy Kogawa House

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John Asfour with his friend Judy Rebick, author and activist. – photo T.Wong
The return of John Asfour to Historic Joy Kogawa House
– our inaugural writer-in-residence from 2009. Tuesday, April 17, 7:30 till 9:00pm, for readings from his new poetry collection, Blindfold.

John Asfour served as our inaugural writer-in-residence in 2009, and during his three-month residency he completed this moving collection of poems on the distance surrounding disability. The poems were published in 2011 by McGill-Queens University Press and were recently selected to tour North America for the Association of American University Presses Book, Jacket, and Journal Show.

“Asfour provides readers with a deeply moving glimpse into the frustrations and disorientation of physical loss, as well as the heroic effort to find the language and metaphors that will translate his experience into poetry.” Harold Heft, The Montreal Gazette

John Asfour with friends: Shelagh Rogers, Jean Baird, George Bowering and George Stanley – photo T. Wong

 

John Mikhail Asfour is a translator and former professor of literature. The editor of the landmark anthology When the Words Burn: An Anthology of Modern Arabic Poetry, he has written four previous books of poems.

Admission by donation, but space is limited. To reserve a seat, please RSVP to Kogawahouse@yahoo.ca

http://www.kogawahouse.com/node/285

Kogawa House farewell event to Deborah Willis, our 4th writer-in-residence

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Deborah Willis hosted her final reading at Historic Joy Kogawa House where she has been writer-in-residence since January.  John Asfour, our first writer-in-residence, was a surprise guest, as he is in town from Montreal for book launches of his new work Blindfold.
Deborah now goes on to her next writer in residence in Spain, and at University of Calgary,
Deborah Willis read a new short story that she had written while at Kogawa House.  The final event at the house was attended by friends, students and members of Kogawa House Society.
Prior to the reading, we had a dinner with members of the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society Board.  We were joined by Tamsin Baker, Vancouver area manager for The Land Conservancy of BC – owners of Kogawa House.  Author John Asfour was a surprise guest.  left to right in the photo is Tamsin, Deborah, Christine, Ann-Marie Metten and John Asfour.

www.gunghaggis.com is back! and now on Word Press

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From March 29 to April 14, the GungHaggis.com blog was down due to migration to a new software program.   All stories and pictures have now been migrated to Word Press format.

We apologize for any inconvenience to our readers.

But this now updates our presentation abilities with up-to-date blog software.  The previously used Blogware software was a pioneer in 2003, when Gung Haggis Fat Choy blog was first launched.  It held up pretty well, without significant changes, while the blogware added taglines, and the social media world turned to Facebook and Twitter.

In the next few weeks, we will try to maximize the presentation options available through the Word Press format.

Here are some of the highlights from the first month of blogging in December 2003:

Gung Haggis Fat Choy – a Poem by Todd Wong

My first post on December 3 was a poem I wrote about Gung Haggis Fat Choy

Todd’s first post – brief history of the dinner

 

The first post that I wrote was a history of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner starting from the first 1998 dinner for sixteen guests.  It also described the upcoming 2004 dinner that had been expeanded to two nights to host five hundred people.

Todd’s smart cross-cultural outfit – The finest in kilts and dragons

Sometime in the 21st century, Todd sports a smart ensemble consisting of a dragon’s head and a kilt.

Our blog site is mentioned in the Vancouver Sun! We’re almost famous now!

By December 13th, the brand new two-week old blog was mentioned in the Vancouver Sun.  On page H1 is an article called “Life is but a blog.” On page H2 is a continuation with a call out titled B.C. Blogging Sites and Blogs – which included the Gung Haggis Fat Choy blog.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Poetry Night – January 12, 2004, Monday – 7:30pm Vancouver Public Library

Dec 16 post listed poets that were being featured in our Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night at the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch including: Neil Gray: (Scotland) to recite Robbie Burns, Fiona Tin Wei Lam (born in Scotland), Joe McDonald: bagpipes, Norman Morrison: (Scotland) reciting Canadian poet Robert Service, Louie Hummer : (Scotland) vocals, Jacinda Oldale: Scottish Canadian, Trev Sue-A-Quan: (Guyana), Jim Wong-Chu: author and poet, Mr. Yizhong: Chinese (Mandarin)

TV Special coming in January

December 19th post gave a brief description of the upcoming CBC television performance special titled “Gung Haggis Fat Choy”. It was amazing to be part of the creation of this program, which also featured performances by The Paperboys, Silk Road Music, George Sapounidis, and my good bagpiper friend Joe McDonald and his band Brave Waves.

Here is a link to a video clip, produced by Moyra Rodger of Out To See Productions.  Check it out to see a re-creation of the first dinner for 16 people, but with my parents and my then 94 year old grandmother.


View Clip http://www.outtosee.ca/clips/index.php