In Person Event

Join Farzana Doctor, Chelene Knight and Kamra Hakim in a discussion about their new books and self and community care.

Farzana Doctor is a Toronto-based Registered Social Worker who has been working with individuals and couples since 1993. As an activist, educator and writer, she has taught clinicians, co-written manuals for mental health providers and contributed chapters and articles about 2SLGBTQ+ issues, anti-oppression, self-care and female genital mutilation/cutting. She is the co-founder of WeSpeakOut and the End FGM Canada Network. She has written four critically acclaimed novels and a poetry collection.

Chelene Knight is the author of four books including Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old Beliefs and Find a New Path To Joy (HarperCollins Canada 2024). She is founder of her own coaching studio, Breathing Space Creative through which she’s launched the Thrive Coaching Program where busy professionals can learn how to manage their energy and make space for all the things they are passionate about.

Kamra Habib is an autodidact audio composer and entrepreneur. Raised in the dry desert now living between the Western Catskill Mountains and Toronto, Kamra owns and operates a small-scare farm. Kamra co-produced their record, Verdant Banks, and shot a music video for their lead single “Hear My No”. Their second record out later this year is set to receive label representation.

Kamra is the author of Care Manual, a workbook pulling up fixed notions of consent, harm, care, and pleasure from their roots and Care Ecology, a newsletter of personal essays. They presented their book at Dia Chelsea and Brooklyn Museum. Kamra curates and hosts Activation Residency, a satellite artist residency known for its restorative programming, in collaboration with other artists and facilitators, and also formed Activation Cooperative Fund to support working artists through the pandemic.

Award-winning author, Chelene Knight shares openly about Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old beliefs and Find a New Path To Joy. Through warm, candid reflection, Knight, the founder of the Breathing Space Creative Literary Studio, draws on personal experience and the advice of leaders from various Black communities to share hard-won tools for joy-discovery—tools such as how to say no with love; how to call back activities that feel good; how to reshape communication with those closest to you; how to revise language; and most of all, how to learn to let go in order to redefine what we think joy is.

Chelene Knight will be joined in conversation by Matthew R. Morris, author of Black Boys Like Me.

This is a free virtual event.

Educator and writer, Matthew R. Morris shares candidly about the intersection of race, Black masculinity, hip-hop culture, and education from his new book, Black Boys Like Me.

Morris has written for TVO, Huffington Post, ETFO’s “The Voice” magazine, and Education Canada magazine. His TEDx talk, “The Fresh Prince Syndrome,” speaks to the perils and promises urban Black male students are presented with in public schooling in today’s ever evolving world. Morris has spoken at numerous colleges and conferences across North America and has been featured in the Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, CBC Radio, and CityNews Toronto.

Matthew R. Morris currently teaches at the Faculty of Education at Ontario Tech and Brock University. He will be joined in conversation with Chelene Knight, award-winning writer, creator of Breathing Space Creative Literary Studio.

Questions about online programs? Please email us at programproposals@tpl.ca

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Accessibility

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request an accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks' notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca

Let It Go draws on personal experience and the advice of leaders from various Black communities to share hard-won tools for joy-discovery — tools such as how to say no with love; how to call back activities that feel good; how to reshape communication with those closest to you; how to revise language; and most of all, how to learn to let go to redefine what we think joy is.

Organized around the seasons and the natural cycle of reflection and renewal, Let It Go showcases, through conversation and solitary reflection, the broad spectrum of Black realities and reveals the colourful kaleidoscope of joy and your own ways to find it.

In this free event, Knight will be joined by the wonderful poet (and Upstart & Crow staffer) Franz, in a conversation about the origins of the book, how joy manifests in our lives, and how to move through the world while being more deliberate about how we release energy and cultivate joy.

Moderated by Franz Seachel

Join SFU Library's 2024 Writer-in-Residence Chelene Knight, along with past Writers-in-Residence Angela Sterritt (2023) and Eternity Martis (2022), for a casual and candid chat as they share their insights into the art of writing and the joy of living their creative lives to the fullest.

This residency celebrates the power of non-fiction writing to share knowledge beyond academia, enhancing the SFU community's capacity to tell compelling research and scholarship stories. As the 2024 Writer-in-Residence, Chelene Knight will deliver workshops for the SFU community on non-fiction writing for the public, offer opportunities for feedback on writing projects, and showcase the power of non-fiction writing.

This event is online.

Join award-winning author Chelene Knight, guest Minelle Mahtani, and host Harrison Mooney for a delightful afternoon filled with joy, love, and an all around community celebration as we welcome the new year with Chelene's latest book, Let it Go: Free Yourself from Old Beliefs and Discover a Fresh Path to Joy. We'll engage in a wonderful discussion about what joy looks like for us and how writing can become one of the biggest acts of self-love.

About the book:

Discover joy like never before with Let It Go – an essential book by acclaimed writer, editor, and work-life balance coach Chelene Knight. Drawing from personal experiences and insights from Black community leaders, this warm and candid guide offers valuable tools for finding joy on your unique path. Learn to say no with love, reclaim activities that bring you happiness, reshape communication with loved ones, and redefine your understanding of joy. Organized around the seasons, 'Let It Go' explores the rich tapestry of Black realities and helps you uncover your own colourful journey to joy.

New York Times bestselling author Ross Gay discusses his latest book, a new essay collection of small, daily wonders, again written over the course of a year

In The Book of (More) Delights, Gay explores why what delights us is what connects us, what gives us meaning, from the joy of hearing a nostalgic song blasting from a passing car to the pleasure of refusing the “nefarious” scannable QR code menus, from the tiny dog he fell hard for to his mother baking a dozen kinds of cookies for her grandchildren.

Ross Gay speaks with author Chelene Knight about The Book of (More) Delights, a collection that explores the mysterious ways this glorious earth delights us.

The Brockton Writers Series (BWS) is a bi-monthly literary reading series founded in the west-end Toronto neighbourhood of Brockton in November 2009, and now held at Glad Day Bookshop, 499 Church St. Our vision for the series is to host writers who reflect Canadian literature and Canadian diversity. Our definition of diversity includes: established and emerging writers, writers of colour, queer and trans writers, younger and older writers, Black and indigenous writers, writers with disabilities, and other writers who might not always have the platform to showcase their work.

Brockton Writers Series presents readings by:
Paola Ferrante
Jeffrey Luscombe
David Demchuk
Chelene Knight
with guest speaker Madeline Ashby

Special note: As we adapt with current social distancing regulations, we’re happy to announce our event will be hosted in-person at the Glad Day Bookshop, located at 499 Church St., Toronto. We will also live stream the event on the Brockton Writers Series YouTube channel! The event starts at 6:30 p.m.

The reading is PWYC (suggested $3-$5) and features a Q&A with the writers afterward. Books are available for sale.

University of Winnipeg: A PUBLISHING SPEAKERS’ SERIES

A Zoom reading and Q&A session with the acclaimed author of Junie and Dear Current Occupant, Chelene Knight.

Hosted by Lindsay Wong, assistant professor of Creative Writing, Department of English, University of Winnipeg.

This virtual event is free and open to the public.

Register and submit your questions in advance.

8-bit bunny says they're ready for the Year of the Water Rabbit. Join List Jean Helps, Chelene Knight, Hazel Jane Plante, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Jessica Johns, and Annabelle Lin.

Sunday February 26 at 4PM PT | 7PM ET
Live online hosted by Dina Del Bucchia and Sean Cranbury!

A quarterly literary reading series featuring great Canadian writers hosted on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations.

In her debut novel, Junie, Chelene Knight tells the story of a talented young Black girl and her mother, who move into Hogan’s Alley in the 1930s. The book explores their complex relationship, and paints a picture of a vibrant, caring community in this East Vancouver neighbourhood.

Junie has been called a “novel of uncommon beauty, wisdom, and significance” (David Chariandy) and was recommended on the CBC Books fall reading list: 30 Canadian books to read now. 

Chelene Knight will appear in conversation with award-winning singer, songwriter, and actress Shakura S’Aida.

Harrison Mooney, shares about his life as a reader, writer, and transracial adoptee. Born to a Ghanaian immigrant mother, Mooney was adopted as an infant by a white family and raised in the Bible belt of British Columbia. Both The Globe & Mail and the CBC named his critically acclaimed debut memoir, Invisible Boy, among the best releases of 2022. Mooney will be joined in conversation with Chelene Knight.

Speakers:
Harrison Mooney is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author of two nonfiction books. Mooney's writing has also appeared in the National Post, the Guardian, Yahoo, and Maclean's. He lives in East Vancouver with his partner, two children, and family dog, Bootsy.

Chelene Knight is an award-winning writer, creator of Breathing Space Creative Literary Studio and a literary agent with the Transatlantic Agency.

In this final session, Chelene Knight will take off her writer hat and put on her literary agent hat. Joined by a special guest acquiring editor and author Jen Sookfong Lee, both will answer all your questions based on the creation, drafting, revising, and pitching of your uniquely shaped memoir. How polished does your project need to be? Should you pitch directly to publishers or seek out an agent?

This workshop is divided into two parts. The first is webinar style via Crowdcast and you will not be on camera. The second part is interactive via Jitsi and will allow you to be on camera to participate.

Both sessions are geared towards beginner writers and no experience is necessary, but all experiences are welcome.

During part one of this final workshop, Chelene will be joined by a special guest where we look at current market trends, what publishers are looking for and why the hybrid form can sometimes make for a more difficult sell. We will discuss successful ways to position your unique memoir before pitching it to editors or agents.

This workshop is divided into two parts. The first is webinar style via Crowdcast and you will not be on camera. The second part is interactive via Jitsi and will allow you to be on camera to participate.

Both sessions are geared towards beginner writers and no experience is necessary, but all experiences are welcome.

AugurCon is two 9+ hour days full of panels, workshops, and industry learning opportunities. Join a workshop to up your game in fiction, poetry, or a killer first page. Attend an Industry AMA, and get your deepest questions answered live by active agents and editors. Attend our panels, and explore the intricate research processes that go into writing a SFF novel; the depths of speculative genres like YA, slice of life fantasy, and horror; and how we can build more compassionate, caring publishing spaces.

Want to hop into one of our workshop or industry sessions? When you register, snag a limited spot in our fiction workshop, poetry workshop, first page workshop, or industry AMA programming, and boost your skills.

Moderated by Avi Silver

Panelists include Aleksandra (Ola) Hill, Chelene Knight, Jenny Ferguson

It's time to celebrate the amazing Black women doing big things in the publishing world and beyond. Whether it's freelance writing, running or starting a business, teaching, building and publishing books, parenting, these three women do it all—and more.

Join Danielle Jernigan, Wanda Taylor and Chelene Knight for this powerful discussion about not only finding creative balance but how holding close their non-negotiables, building community, and working on mindset have helped clear a path to joy and success.

Danielle Jernigan is a doula, healing-centered book coach who writes about Black motherhood and complex trauma. Her writing has been featured in Madame Noire, Nourishing Word, and NYT Parenting newsletter. She hosts the Rewriting Black Motherhood podcast and serves as a Reviews editor for Literary Mama. She enjoys extra hot chai tea year-round, yoga, and African dancing with her daughter Zoë a nonverbal person with autism.

Wanda Taylor is an author, journalist, filmmaker, college instructor, and journalist. Her magazine features appear in numerous publications, and her poems and essays are anthologized in books across Canada, the US, and the UK. Wanda is a former CBC Producer and currently teaches college courses in story writing, communications, and journalism. She also serves as Faculty/Mentor for the Kings College MFA Creative Non-Fiction program. Wanda’s awards include the Women of Excellence Award for Arts and Culture.

Chelene Knight is the author of 3 books including the award-winning Dear Current Occupant with two more in the the works. She is a literary agent, and founder of Breathing Space Creative.

FBCW's Fireside Chat with Chelene Knight. This chat will be about an hour long and will feature our special guest host, Megan Cole. The audience will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Join Massy Arts, Massy Books, and Unbound Reading Series’ creators, Hope Lauterbach and Alisha Davidson + guest authors, for a reading event to explore and celebrate the works of emerging and established authors, and to engage in discussions about community, creativity and Black futures.

“Unbound: Affirmations” will highlight works of poetry and prose from six writers – Junie Désil, Karmella Benedito De Barros, Chelene Knight, Siobhan Barker, D Fretter, and Brandon Wint, followed by a panel discussion on the theme “Affirmations”.

Alisha says, “an affirmation can be an internal or external force, the turning point when clouds part and the sun bursts unexpectedly. Affirmation is a source of hope”.

“Family, for all its importance, is a fragile idea. It changes as we do,” says The New Yorker. Delving into the changing nature of family relationships and their power to galvanize or devastate are three of the most celebrated authors in Canada, in a fascinating conversation during The Alma Lee Opening Night Event.

City of Vancouver Book Award-winner Chelene Knight explores a complex mother/daughter relationship in her anticipated “jewel of a novel,” Junie. In The Theory of Crows, David A. Robertson asks how far the bonds between father and daughter can stretch after a devastating ordeal and a journey that lies ahead. And bestselling favourite Lisa Moore explores stories across generations in This is How We Love. You can’t pick your family; you can pick your books. Here’s a good place to start. Moderated by Kathryn Gretsinger.

With Guy Gavriel Kay, Chelene Knight, Shaena Lambert, Zarqa Nawaz, WIBA Winner

Join moderator Charles Demers as he and the author panel discuss wide ranging topics that drive their work: isolation and loneliness, the search for meaning and connection, persecution of race and faith, feminism, and environmental politics. Featuring Guy Gavriel Kay (All the Seas of the World), Chelene Knight (Junie), Shaena Lambert (Petra), and Zarqa Nawaz (Jameela Green Ruins Everything). The event will also include the winner of the Whistler Independent Book Awards for fiction.

Moderator: Charles Demers

Tibet after the Chinese invasion. Vancouver in the 1930s. Victorian London. Syria in 2003. The settings of the books featured are as diverse as the authors who imagined them, but all are breathtaking in scope and marvelous in detail. Tsering Yangzom Lama’s haunting novel We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies recounts a Tibetan family’s fifty-year journey through exile and their struggles to forge new lives of dignity, love, and hope. Chelene Knight’s Junie is a riveting exploration of the complexity within mother-daughter relationships set in the dynamic vitality of Vancouver’s former Hogan’s Alley neighbourhood. J.M. Miro’s spellbinding fantasy, Ordinary Monsters, presents a catastrophic vision of the Victorian world—and of the gifted, broken children who must save it. Danny Ramadan’s The Foghorn Echoes is a deeply moving epic about a forbidden love between two boys in war-torn Syria and the fallout that ripples through their adult lives.

with Chelene Knight, Tsering Yangzom Lama, J.M. Miro, and Danny Ramadan Live music by Peach Pyramid/Jen Severtson

The readings will be woven together with music by Jen Severtson/Peach Pyramid

An exciting conversation between Chelene Knight and Aparita Bhandari discussing her new release, Junie (Book*Hug Press).

Diaspora Dialogues (DD) supports emerging writers to turn their craft into a career through mentorship, professional development and opportunities to publish and present their work.

In this follow up session, we will discuss possible shapes and structures based on what we learned in the previous session. What are some patterns our projects can take? Can we combine forms (i.e. poetry and prose)? How will we decide how these stories can unfold (in other words, how do we want the reader to experience our story?).

This workshop is divided into two parts. The first is webinar style via Crowdcast and you will not be on camera. The second part is interactive via Jitsi and will allow you to be on camera to participate.

Both sessions are geared towards beginner writers and no experience is necessary, but all experiences are welcome.

Hosted by David Chariandy

Chelene Knight joins us in-person to discuss her new book, Junie, a riveting exploration of the complexity within the mother-daughter relationship. Intimate and urgent, Junie is an unflinching tale of the dynamic vitality and eventual destruction of the once thriving Black and immigrant community of Vancouver's former Hogan's Alley neighborhood.

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca

You have the elements to build your house, now it's time to think about the construction! During this workshop we will go deeper into what we learned makes for interesting creative nonfiction, and zoom the lens on memoir. How does using a unique shape help you retell your story as a moment in time? What are the differences between memoir and autobiography? Why does structure matter?

This workshop is divided into two parts. The first is webinar style via Crowdcast and you will not be on camera. The second part is interactive via Jitsi and will allow you to be on camera to participate.

Both sessions are geared towards beginner writers and no experience is necessary, but all experiences are welcome.

Presenters: Martha Bátiz (No Stars in the Sky), Chelene Knight (Junie), and Heather O’Neill (When We Lost Our Heads)

Host: Susan G. Cole, writer, activist and former Books Editor at NOW Magazine

Strong but damaged women in crisis.

A complicated mother-daughter relationship.

An intense and intoxicating friendship.

Join Martha Bátiz, Chelene Knight and Heather O’Neill as they discuss how they brought the compelling women in their new books to life while deftly exploring the female experience.

Every year, the Creative Nonfiction Collective (CNFC) Society holds a conference to further deepen writers’ understanding of, and feeling for, the art, craft, and ethics of creative nonfiction, to continue to develop awareness of our organization among Canada’s cultural communities, to support our members, attract new ones, and to promote creative nonfiction as a whole.

Panel: Pitching and Editing – Omar Mouallem, Steven Sandor, Evan Osenton, Chelene Knight (host: Carissa Halton)

All sessions included with registration.

Toronto Public Library Presents:
When writing from our own true stories and experiences, how do we also ensure that the work remains both intimate and impactful to others?

In this intimate participatory follow-up to session one, we will talk about what makes for powerful workshopping with your peers. In your small breakout groups, everyone will have an opportunity to share a short paragraph of creative nonfiction writing sparked from last session. Your facilitator will pose questions to the group so that we can talk about what we just heard while leaning in with curiosity, we will pin-point what resonated for us, and what we have questions about.

Toronto Public Library Presents:
When writing from our own true stories and experiences, how do we also ensure that the work remains both intimate and impactful to others? During this first workshop we will dive into the elements of what makes for powerful creative nonfiction. By sharing a handful of stellar examples and fun prompts as entry points into starting your unique story, you will be well-equipped to share during part two of this workshop.

This workshop is divided into two parts. The first is webinar-style via Crowdcast and you will not be on camera. The second part is interactive via Webex and will require you to be on camera to participate. 

Both sessions are geared towards beginner writers and no experience is necessary, but all experiences are welcome.