A livestreamed event of readings and conversation with Kate Cayley, Robin Pacific, and Nicola Winstanley. Live from TYPE Books in the Junction. 2887 Dundas Street West, Toronto.

Kate Cayley joins us with How You Were Born, a tenth-anniversary edition of Kate Cayley’s award-winning collection includes three new stories.

"The stories in How You Were Born, each more incisive and devastating than the last, examine the difficult business of love, loyalty, and memory. Sharing the bizarre and tragi-comic of life—whether in present-day Toronto or in small towns of the early 20th century—Cayley champions the importance of connections, even when missed or mislaid, and the possibility of redemption."

Robin Pacific's will share a reading from Skater Girl "a collection of intensely personal essays, an archaeology of the self. Robin Pacific sifts through the midden of consciousness to find shells, potsherds, a broken piece of mirror. Themes of art, spirituality and social justice run like a current through otherwise disconnected pieces and fragments, many as short as one paragraph. Further, ideas about aging, loss and mortality colour many of them. The book is about the formation of Robin Pacific's many selves, about creativity, spiritual seeking, and the dream of a more equal society."

Nicola Winstanley will read from her short story collection, Smoke. "This deftly written linked short story collection moves between New Zealand and Canada following the lives of a fascinating collection of characters and considers the impact of intergenerational trauma on them from multiple points of view. Questions of responsibility and fate, and a search for understanding thread through these searing, often heartbreaking stories. Yet even though these are stories of loss, Smoke is ultimately a book about grace, one which calls not only for a rejection of guilt, but also for approaching the world with deep compassion."

This is a PWYC event with free tickets available. Please consider donating to our series through our fundraiser.