Join us to celebrate the launch of poetry anthologies HEAVEN LOOKS LIKE US, edited by George Abraham and Noor Hindi, and THE GATE OF MEMORY, edited by Brynn Saito and Brandon Shimoda, published by Haymarket Books in spring 2025.  Featuring work by anthology contributors and community artists, includingBassam Jamil (with translations by Nicole Mankinen), Erica H Isomura, Hajer Mirwali, Leanne Toshiko Simpson, Mona Oikawa, Nawal Serhan, Paper Cranes for Palestine, and shō yamagushiku. This free, all-ages community event will include poetry readings, paper art installations, a print fundraiser for Hamza, book sales by Another Story bookshop, and more. Doors open at 1:45pm event begins at 2pm. This is a free, all-ages community event.   It's OK* Studios is accessible via the 501/510 streetcar. Street parking is limited.   All performances and art installations will be on the first floor of the venue. The venue entrance and washroom (single stall/gender neutral/with grab bar) are accessible at ground level. The washroom entrance measures 34  wide. There will be plastic chairs, wooden benches, and couches available for seating. The venue will be dimly lit during the event. Masks will be made available at the door. Light snacks will be offered.  Funding for this event is provided by the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation.
***about the event contributors: Bassam Jamil is a Palestinian writer living in the Galilee refugee camp near Baalbek, Lebanon. He has published two collections of short stories and a novel, and his play “Death Boats” was shortlisted at the Sundance Festival in Morocco (2016). @bassam_jamel Erica H Isomurais a writer-artist who works with plants, text, book arts, printmaking, collage, and mixed-media. She was raised by a Chinese-born-Canadian mom and a sansei dad on Qayqayt territories/New Westminster, BC. Her paternal grandparents and great-grandparents were incarcerated in Tashme and Greenwood, BC. Erica is currently developing a visual book in Toronto/Tkaronto. @ericahiroko Hajer Mirwaliis a Palestinian and Iraqi writer living in Toronto. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Her work has been published in The Ex-Puritan, Brick Magazine, Room Magazine, and Joyland. Her first book, Revolutions, is forthcoming with Talonbooks in Spring 2025. @hajermirwali Leanne Toshiko Simpsonis a mixed-race Yonsei writer and psychiatric survivor. Her maternal grandparents were interned in Slocan Valley, BC. Leanne teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto and co-founded Mata Ashita, an intergenerational writing workshop for Japanese Canadians. Her debut novel Never Been Better explores mental health from cross-cultural perspectives. @leannetoshiko Mona Oikawa is a faculty member at York University and lives on the Dish With One Spoon Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee. She is the author of Cartographies of Violence: Japanese Canadian Women, Memory, and the Subjects of the Internment. Her mother and maternal grandmother Shizu were incarcerated in the Slocan, BC camp. Her father was incarcerated in the Schreiber, ON Camp and her paternal grandmother was incarcerated in the Tashme, BC camp. Nawal Serhan is a Greek-Arab healer, caretaker, and artist. Using the movement of water and inspiration from plant life, they work with watercolour, collage, and mixed-media. As a queer nurse, their work prioritizes mental health and community wellness. They studied Linguistics at Concordia University and received their nursing training from the University of Toronto. @they.do.art  Nico Koyanagi is a mixed-race Yonsei who lives in Nogojiwanong on Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg territory. She is a community organizer, facilitator, mediator, and peer supporter who centers connection and healing in her work. Through Tsuru for Solidarity—a nonviolent, direct action project of Japanese American social justice advocates—Nico facilitates healing circles within the Japanese American/Canadian community and beyond.  Nicole Mankinenis a settler with European heritage living in Toronto, Canada. She is a freelance editor and writer and a lifelong advocate for the Palestinian cause. @mank__abda shō yamagushikuwrites against the imperial inheritances that breathe life into the word “nikkei.” His first poetry collection entitled shima reflects ancestors, violence, and tradition. He is located on the homelands of the Lekwungen and WSÁNEĆ peoples (Victoria, BC). @sho_yamagushiku *** Another Story Bookshop (315 Roncesvalles Ave, Toronto) has been selling books that focus on equity, diversity and social justice for more than 35 years. They host author events, table conferences, attend festivals and support community events in the shop. They sell to school boards throughout southwestern ontario and host school book fairs and fundraisers to give back to their communities. @anotherstorybookshop Haymarket Booksis a radical, independent, nonprofit book publisher based in Chicago. @haymarketbooks It’s OK* Studios (468 Queen Street W, Toronto ) is an independent Black-led and operated, interdisciplinary, multipurpose arts space. Transformed from a vacant retail building in the historic Queen West district, the space is a hub for artistic growth and development and a vibrant gathering place for Toronto’s Black artistic community. @itsok.world louf (501 Davenport Rd, Toronto), co-founded by Chef Fadi Kattan and Nicole Mankinen, combines local, indigenous, and Palestinian ingredients with centuries-old techniques. louf is first and foremost about bringing people together to share exceptional food. The restaurant serves as a celebration of this illustrious yet under-represented cuisine and is a place to gather with events that enrich and support the Toronto arts and culture scene. @louftoronto @fadi.f.kattan Paper Cranes for Palestineinvites community members to fold paper cranes to make wishes for a free, free Palestine. The tsuru have marched in solidarity protests from Toronto, Canada to Tokyo, Japan. They will take flight again in Hiroshima, Japan for the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb drop. This is a grassroots project led by Nikkei and Japanese Canadians. @papercranes4palestine

Information Source: Another Story Bookshop | eventbrite

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Time:	May 31, 2025 (UTC-5) ENDED
Location:	It's Ok* Studios

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