The Italian Cultural Centre, together with the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society and the Nikkei Centre, are proud to present the Vancouver Opera Association’s production of Naomi’s Road.

Naomi’s Road is a moving and dramatic work set during World War II and adapted from Joy Kogawa’s award winning novel “Obasan”.Naomi’s Road depicts the dramatic journey of 9-year-old Naomi and her Japanese-Canadian family from Vancouver to an internment camp in the interior of B.C. This sensitive and compelling story is told through four talented singers, accompanied by a pianist.

2013 marks the 71st anniversary of the internment of Japanese and Italian Canadians. The shared history of both communities was the genesis for this operatic cross-cultural collaboration designed to create dialogue, educate, and build relationships across our multicultural bridges. The event will begin with a short historical presentation from both the Japanese and Italian communities and end with a small reception and Q&A for audience members.

Please join us this April 23rd at 7:00 pm for this special event! For more information about this event, please find here.
Tickets are $12.00. For more information or ticket purchase, please call Il Centro at 604 430 3337.

During the late 1890s to early 1900s, a small community hospital was built in Steveston, British Columbia. At the time, the hospital began as a Methodist mission turn make-shift hospital, but soon a partnership between Methodist missionaries, the Japanese Fishermen’s Benevolent Society and the Japanese Consulate created a demand for the modern medical facility. Outbreaks of typhoid amongst Japanese fishermen spurred this development, but the hospital came to symbolize much more. It was argued that the hospital would not only provide care for the sick, but would also demonstrate the success of the Japanese in Canada and provide defense again the growing movement to restrict Japanese immigration in Canada.

Speaker: Helen Vandenberg is a PhD Candidate at the University of British Columbia, School of Nursing. The focus of her dissertation research is nursing and health care history, with a specific focus on the development of health care services for Asian populations at the turn of the twentieth century. Her research interests focus on the relationship between culture, race and health in nursing. She also works as a registered nurse in Travel Medicine in the lower mainland.

Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre Address: 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby, BC V5E 4M7

Thursday, May 9, 7:00pm
Admission: members & seniors $3 / regular $5

On May 18, 2:30 PM to 4 PM, author Julia Lin will be reading from Miah at the Sun Yat-sen Classical Chinese Garden at the Hall of One Hundred Rivers.  Miah is published by TSAR Publishing.

“‘Half century under Japan then half century under Kuomintang . . .too much,’ my mother would sigh and shake her head.”  Miah means “fate” in Taiwanese. Spanning much of the twentieth century, these linked, subtly understated stories trace the destinies of simple folk from the brutal Japanese occupation of the early twentieth century through to the “White Terror” of the exiled Chinese Mainlanders and the Kuomintang, and finally to modern Taiwan and Canada. In the powerfully gripping “Miah,” a woman from Vancouver accompanies her mother to Taiwan for her grandmother Ah Mah’s funeral. There she discovers the tragic story of Fifth Uncle, who was hounded by Kuomintang forces until he took pesticides and died . . . In “The Colonel and Mrs Wang” a Mainlander officer and his Taiwanese-raised son confront each other over politics. One day, the son is betrayed to the authorities. Who was the anonymous informer? . . . In the touching story “Lysander,” a modern day Taiwanese boy is sent to Vancouver for his education. A diamond cannot be polished without friction, he has been taught.  He must bear the hardship in an alien teenage culture where he tries to desperately cope and eventually loses himself.

This is the first Taiwanese-Canadian story collection ever published.  Miah is a rare look at Taiwanese and modern Canadian life, historical, and personal, and completely honest.

This award-winning film is presented by the International Development Research Network and the Liu Institute for Global Issues “Indian-Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja’s documentary …[is a] thought-provoking film that examines women’s limited choices in a patriarchal country reeling from the contradictions of rapid modernization. Along the way, it highlights how such concepts as oppression, empowerment and dignity can be manipulated for political purposes.”

For more information about this film, please visit its website: https://streamingmoviesright.com/us/movie/the-world-before-her

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j21b1r13hbE]

Celebrating through dance this Spring April 4-30, 2013!  The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (April 4 to 30) invites you to reserve your place now to be part of the spectacular World Umbrella Dance April 13. Sign up at www.vcbf.ca for a series of rehearsals to learn the funky new moves from all over the world  

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF7HE0PLe9k]

World Poetry’s Third Annual World Poetry Canada International Peace Festival in 2013 is being hosted this year at Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia.  The Theme for this Festival: Inspire Peace!

The Festival will feature:

1. International guests, local poetry groups, community partners, dancers, musicians, filmmakers and multimedia.
2. Display tables, Poetic Necklace display at Ike’s Art Gallery April 4-30th.
3. Extra event: World Poetry Youth Peace Poetathon World Wide.
4. The World Poetry Canada International Month, April 4-30th with our partner the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
5. World Poetry National Poetry Month Peace Display plus the large display cases in the library, April 4-30th
6. Gift poems!

Also featured will be a cross country tour of authors: Penn Kemp: Jack Layton, Art in Action. Poetry readings: Trevor Carolan, Ruth Hill and others plus international guests. Bring your stories about Jack Layton, poems and thoughts. We acknowledge the support of the League of Canadian Poets, the Guild of Canadian Playwrights and the Canada Council for the Arts. Free. Please register at www.worldpoetry.ca

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh088VSyjIg&w=660&h=415]

The Documentary Film Festival (DOXA) presents the Mosuo Sisters on May 6, 2013 at 12.30PM.  The Mosuo people in China make up one of the last matriarchal societies in the world. Juma (25) and Latso (22) are sisters from a remote Mosuo village tucked away in the foothills of the Himalayas. The film follows the sisters as they navigate their way through two parallel worlds: China’s changing economy and Mosuo tradition. When the sisters move to Beijing, to take jobs in the entertainment industry, their understanding of the world undergoes a profound shock. As one sister says, “I felt like a tiny grain of sand.” The scale of the city is like nothing they have seen before. Even the idea of apartment dwelling confounds the sisters. When they first arrive they think that each skyscraper tower is a single dwelling, only to discover the homes are divided up like an enormous beehive. Just as they’re settling in, the economic downturn of 2009 forces Juma and Latso to postpone their dreams of higher education and modern jobs, and return to their village.

Determined to keep their family out of poverty, Latso agrees to stay home to help their mother on the farm, while Juma heads back to the city to make money as a singer. Juma learns to protect herself from gangsters and other wealthy bar dwellers and Latso gives up her dream of education to take on hard labour and child rearing. Whether it’s breathing in the dusty air of farm life or the second-hand smoke of cocktail lounges, both lifestyles carry their own set of challenges. “Staying at home, or leaving. They are both hard,” says Latso. The burden these women must bear takes its toll on their relationship. Despite their disagreements and disappointments, what keeps these sisters strong, is their open communication and unquestionable loyalty. After all, as Juma says, “The family you are born into is the most important thing in all life.”

DOXA 2013 is a festival featuring seventy-four screenings, 5 venues, and dozens of opportunities to engage in discussion with panelists and filmmakers. This is the 12th annual DOXA Documentary Film Festival, and will feature 10 days of some of the best documentaries from around the world, across Canada, May 3-12, 2013.

Dr. Laifong Leung will talk about the Chinese community in Canada in the 20th century in “Chinese Canadian Stories: From Early Literature to Modern Archives.”  Having completed extensive research to reconstruct the much neglected literary contributions of the immigrants from Guangdong province in China to the body of Chinese Canadian literature, professor Leung discusses groundbreaking research on the literary activities of the early Chinese immigrants in BC, examining the literary and cultural activities of the Cantonese speaking Chinese immigrants in B.C. from the Gold Rush era to the 1990s in order to present an accurate picture of Chinese community.

In examining the “wall poems” written by early Chinese in the detention center in Victoria, B.C, to the huge Collection of Poetry in 1957 by the Chinese Timesnewspaper, her talk explores the major characteristics of these poems and particularly the incorporation of images in order to show the transformation of Chinese classical poetry in the diaspora.  As part of this program, tours of UBC’s cultural collections will complement this talk afterwards: (A) The Museum of Anthropology featuring the oral history lab and Cantonese Opera collection; and (B) The Chung Collection of early Chinese Canadian historical materials at UBC Rare Books & Special Collections.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Laifong Leung taught Chinese literature, language, and calligraphy at the University of Alberta. Her publications include many books on classical Chinese poetry and post-Mao literature, and a Mandarin language textbook. Her current projects include developing the Chinese learning courseware Concise Interactive Chinese and working on a forthcoming co-authored book History of Literary Interactions between China and Canada. She is the co-founder and current Chair of the Chinese Canadian Writers Association and editor of the e-journal of the Canadian Teaching Chinese as a Second Language Association.   Laifong Leung completed her MA and PhD at the University of British Columbia in Asian Studies. Laifong is currently a board of director at the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIMUuGR-XbY]

Laiwan is an artist and writer recognized for her interdisciplinary practice based in poetics and philosophy. Born in Zimbabwe of Chinese parents, she immigrated to Canada in 1977 to leave the war in Rhodesia.  Laiwan teaches in the MFA Interdisciplinary Arts Program at Goddard College in Washington State, USA, and lives in Vancouver, Canada.   Laiwan, an Asian Canadian writer and long-time contributor to the arts community recently published in Ricepaper Magazine’s first ever special double issue, with 96 pages with features, reviews, poetry, and prose from writers across Canada.

On February 27, Laiwan and a host of other Aboriginal and Asian writers who published in the magazine performed poetry readings at Rhizome’s Cafe.   The Aboriginal Writers Collective West Coast presented this night of multicultural poetry and music as a special fundraiser featuring Larissa Lai, Jonina Kirton, Janey Lew, Wanda John, Joanne Arnott, Janet Rogers, Kelly Roulette, Larry Nicholson,Laiwan, Arlene Bowman, Alex Jacobs, annie ross, Michelle Sylliboy, and Trevor Carolan, with special thanks to Fred Wah, Parliamentary Poet Laureate.  Guest Editors Joanne Arnott (Aboriginal Writers Collective West Coast) and  Jim Wong-Chu were also on hand to celebrate.