All The Shining People

by Kathy Friedman

House of Anansi Press

All The Shining People

by Kathy Friedman

House of Anansi Press

Twelve exquisitely written stories depicting the search for human connection and the attempt to fit in far from home.

All the Shining People explores migration, diaspora, and belonging within Toronto’s Jewish South African community, as individuals come to terms with the oppressive hierarchies that separate, and the connections that bind. Seeking a place to belong, the book’s characters — including a life-drawing model searching the streets for her lover; a woman confronting secrets from her past in the new South Africa; and a man grappling with the legacy of his father, a former political prisoner — crave authentic relationships that replicate the lost feeling of home. With its focus on family, culture, and identity, All the Shining People captures the experiences of immigrants and outsiders with honesty, subtlety, and deep sympathy.

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This book may also be available at the TIFA Festival Bookstore.

Kathy Friedman emigrated with her family from South Africa to suburban Toronto when she was five. Her debut collection of short stories, All the Shining People (House of Anansi, 2022) was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the Trillium Book Award. She studied creative writing at the University of British Columbia and the University of Guelph, and was a previous finalist for the Writers’ Trust Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Grain, Geist, PRISM international, Canadian Notes & Queries and the New Quarterly. Kathy Friedman teaches creative writing at Humber College and lives in Toronto.

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