PRESS
Praise for Let It Go: Free Yourself from Old Beliefs and Find a New Path to Joy
“This book is a wonder. It is simultaneously a celebration of one woman’s becoming and an invitation for all of us to rediscover our joy. Chelene Knight has given us a workbook for the soul. It feels relevant yet ancient, profound yet accessible, practical yet never preachy. A much-needed transmission from the ancestors.”
— Antonio Michael Downing, author of Saga Boy
“Let It Go excavated pieces of my insides that I didn’t know even existed. The way Chelene Knight weaves her narrative while guiding us––her friends, not merely readers––to explore, unlearn, and rethink our experiences and futures is truly refreshing. . . . I am so grateful that Let It Go came into my life when it did. A true North Star.”
— Matthew R. Morris, author of Black Boys Like Me
“A brilliantly crafted revolution, where Blackness is cause for celebration and elevation. You leave these pages with confirmation of the external spaces in which you belong, and the internal places where you can let things go and find your joy.”
— Wanda Taylor, author of The Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children: The Hurt, the Hope, and the Healing
“Let It Go is a bountiful harvest: brimming with tips on how to be your best self. Drawing from the voices of Black creatives and offering us the gems from her intimate conversations with them, Chelene Knight generously shares with us a blueprint for growing and trusting in your own intuitive voice. A truly joyful book.”
– Minelle Mahtani, Associate Professor, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC, and author of May It Have a Happy Ending
The Vancouver Sun - Chelene Knight's new book Let It Go sets the discovery of joy in its sights
Arc Poetry - In Conversation with Literary Powerhouse and Arc’s Poet-In-Residence Chelene Knight
The Sh*t No One Tells You Podcast - Working with a Writing Coach
The Georgia Straight - Well Read: Chelene Knight, author of “Let It Go”
CBC Today with Dan Burritt - Author Chelene Knight on achieving balance in life
Praise & Media for Let It Go
Praise for Junie
The past pulses to life in this sublime coming-of-age story! — Lindsay Wincherauk
How did the book make Lindsay feel?
”I live in Vancouver. I have walked, driven, across, under, and around the Georgia Viaduct thousands of times, ignorant of the vibrant Black community that used to lay where the viaduct is now. I was introduced to Hogan’s alley in the fantastic book, Becoming Vancouver (Daniel Francis). Even with the introduction, I remained blind to the thriving community erased by gentrification and the displacement of those who added matchless character to the city. Systemic racism saw to that. The city’s leaders decided moving cars in and out of the city’s core was more important than protecting a beating, thriving heart. I’m appalled. Thanks to Junie, when I walk under the viaduct now, in the now nondescript area once known as Hogan’s Alley, the area springs to life. I can hear cheerful souls rejoicing, jazz floating through the air. The fragrance of different tickles the senses. Chelene Knight is masterful at bringing what once was to life and reminding us of what could have been if we had only evolved. Are we evolving, even today? In this enchanting coming-of-age story, Knight explores what it is like to be a young Black girl growing up in a harsh world where her mother does not relish the role because alcohol and unreachable dreams have muddied her mind. Her mother’s unquenchable thirst for the spotlight, coupled with neglecting her daughter’s needs—turns Junie into the matriarch by default as she tries to find her way in a racist world. Knight arouses the enormity facing Junie (including sexuality), as she has to be strong, not only for her mother but also for her best friend, whose mother, the polar opposite of Junie’s, also doesn’t relish the role of motherhood. I walk by where Hogan’s Alley used to be once more; it pulses to life. I see Junie walk on by, smiling.” — Lindsay Wincherauk
“Bracing, intimate, Junie explores what it means to be young, black and gifted in 1930s Vancouver. Through the eyes of the budding artist, the thriving and electric community of Hogan’s Alley comes alive in all its vibrancy and splendour. This is a vivid, indelible world, one made more poignant by its coming loss.” — Esi Edugyan, two-time Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning author of Washington Black and Half-Blood Blues
“Junie is a debut novel of uncommon beauty, wisdom, and significance. It is a book about the neighborhood that we remember as Hogan’s Alley -- about the caring relations, insistent expressivity, and fiercest joys that have defined Black communities, past and present, against the animus of cities. And it is a book, as movingly, about a complex mother/daughter relationship, and about the amending love between friends. Chelene Knight proves once again an exacting cartographer of both place and the heart.“ — David Chariandy, author of Brother.
“The picture Knight paints of Hogan’s Alley is vibrant and complex. The place comes back to life in this novel. With Junie as our wise and wide-eyed guide, it’s hard to miss the magic in this lost community, and even harder to accept that it’s gone.” —Harrison Mooney, author of Invisible Boy: A Memory of Self Discovery
“Chelene Knight’s poignant and enchanting novel immerses us in a reverie of 1930s Hogan’s Alley—the storied Black neighbourhood in East End Vancouver. The main character, Junie, is as dreamy and driven as any classic coming-of-age heroine—Francie Nolan of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn springs to mind. Despite poverty and the unkindness of a bitter, disillusioned mother, Junie discovers wisdom and artistic inspiration in the beautiful complexity of her community—even as she fully embraces her racial and sexual identity. Page by page, we grow fonder of this compelling young Black woman who ultimately wins our compassion, delight, and respect.” — Donna Bailey Nurse, literary critic
“Junie by Chelene Knight is a jewel of a novel. Set in the Hogan’s Alley neighbourhood in Vancouver, Junie celebrates the Black community and its history with beauty, precision, and an irresistible protagonist, a dreamer and artist searching for love and belonging. I have spent many years hoping someone would write a novel about Hogan’s Alley, a once thriving neighbourhood that was razed for an overpass, and I am so happy that Chelene has written a book and characters that sparkle off the page and pay a gorgeous tribute to an often forgotten history.” — Jen Sookfong Lee, author of The Shadow List
Praise & Media for Junie
Praise for Dear Current Occupant
“I want to thank Chelene Knight for not forcing her memoir into a point “a” to “b” narrative. Too often complex and stigmatized stories are dumbed-down, but Knight elevates! She uplifts both her her experiences and the poetic prose and hybrid forms used to share these experiences. Dear Current Occupant will surely become a nuanced creative touchstone that shows us how our stories of survival can and should be told.” —Amber Dawn, author of Sub Rosa and How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir
“Knight is a poet at heart, somewhat disinclined to follow the dusty rules of prose writing, and we are all richer for it. This memoir is built from shards of pure resilience, expertly pieced together into a compelling—and at times devastating—chronicle of youth, family, and sense of place. From Clark Drive to Commercial and Broadway, Dear Current Occupant is a love song to East Vancouver—it is a map of scars, and as everyone knows, scars make for good storytelling.” —Carleigh Baker, author of Bad Endings, finalist for the 2018 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize
“Dear Current Occupant is an astonishing book: haunting, intimate, and deeply rendered. A lyrical memoir set against the backdrop of Vancouver’s gritty East Side, it triumphantly melds together prose, poetry, letters, and imagery, to illuminate the pain of un-belonging, the search for a home, and the power of words to heal and transform us. It is a book that boldly takes risks, unafraid and brimming with raw energy, tenderness, and heartbreaking beauty. Chelene Knight emerges as a fierce new voice in Canadian literature, deserving of our full attention.” —Ayelet Tsabari, author of The Best Place on Earth