Poetic Journeys: Shani Mootoo & Pamela Mordecai

Shani Mootoo, Pamela Mordecai and Fiona Raye Clarke

1:00pm

Sunday, September 25

Inner journeys and voyages of discovery define the latest works of celebrated Canadian writers Shani Mootoo and Pamela Mordecai. Giller-shortlisted writer and visual artist Shani Mootoo brings us Cane | Fire, an immersive and vivid collection that marks a long-awaited return to poetry. Through evocative and sensual prose, Mootoo’s narrator moves from Ireland to San Fernando, and finally to Canada – triggering questions about making and reimagining a life. Mordecai presents de book of Joseph: A Performance Poem, the third book in the epic trilogy about the lives of Jesus, his mother, Mary and his foster father, the tekton of Nazareth – a dazzling work told in Jamaican Creole. The story invites readers into the mind of a modest Joseph and his journey to prevail over life’s vicissitudes. Mordecai will also discuss A Fierce Green Place: New and Selected Poems, which brings together – across the span of thirty-plus years – some of her most rebellious and innovative work.

Moderated by Fiona Raye Clarke.

Ticket Info:
Date & Time: September 25 at 1pm ET
Where: Brigantine Room in Harbourfront Centre
Duration: 60 minutes
Ticket prices: $17 – Regular; $12 – Youth; or Get a TIFA Pass
*This event will be followed by a book signing

Inner journeys and voyages of discovery define the latest works of celebrated Canadian writers Shani Mootoo and Pamela Mordecai. Giller-shortlisted writer and visual artist Shani Mootoo brings us Cane | Fire, an immersive and vivid collection that marks a long-awaited return to poetry. Through evocative and sensual prose, Mootoo’s narrator moves from Ireland to San Fernando, and finally to Canada – triggering questions about making and reimagining a life. Mordecai presents de book of Joseph: A Performance Poem, the third book in the epic trilogy about the lives of Jesus, his mother, Mary and his foster father, the tekton of Nazareth – a dazzling work told in Jamaican Creole. The story invites readers into the mind of a modest Joseph and his journey to prevail over life’s vicissitudes. Mordecai will also discuss A Fierce Green Place: New and Selected Poems, which brings together – across the span of thirty-plus years – some of her most rebellious and innovative work.

Moderated by Fiona Raye Clarke.

Ticket Info:
Date & Time: September 25 at 1pm ET
Where: Brigantine Room in Harbourfront Centre
Duration: 60 minutes
Ticket prices: $17 – Regular; $12 – Youth; or Get a TIFA Pass
*This event will be followed by a book signing

Featured Authors

Shani Mootoo is a writer and visual artist. She was born in Ireland, grew up in Trinidad, and moved to Canada in her early twenties. She’s the author of two poetry books, The Predicament of Or, and her latest, Cane | Fire. She’s the author of several novels, including Polar Vortex, finalist for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the acclaimed Cereus Blooms at Night, now a Penguin Modern Classic. Mootoo is the recipient of a Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Award and has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Western University. She lives in Southern Ontario.

Read more about Shani Mootoo

Pamela Mordecai

Pamela Mordecai writes poetry, fiction and plays. Her collections of poetry include Journey Poem, de Man, Certifiable, The True Blue of Islands, Subversive Sonnets, de book of Mary, Up Tropic, and A Fierce Green Place: new and selected poems. Her first collection of short fiction, Pink Icing and Other Stories, appeared to enthusiastic reviews in 2006, and her first novel, Red Jacket, was published in 2015 and shortlisted for the Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Award. El Numero Uno, a play for young people, had its world premiere at the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People in Toronto in 2010.

Read more about Pamela Mordecai

Fiona Raye Clarke

Fiona Raye Clarke is an award-winning Trinidadian-Canadian writer and community-engaged artist. Her co-created screenplay, Intersecting won the 2017 CineFAM Short Film Challenge and her writing has appeared in various publications online and in print, including the Puritan Town Crier, the Room Magazine blog, and the League of Canadian Poets Chapbook edited by Chelene Knight: These Lands. Her plays have been produced by the rock.paper.sistahz festival and InspiraTo Festival and she is an alumnus of the Banff Centre. She holds a Creative Writing Certificate from Humber College and a Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School.

Read more about Fiona Raye Clarke