The past isn't even past – and the present is tense with conflicting desires and untold stories. What brings clarity to this setting is Shani Mootoo's limpid prose, clean and bracing. Polar Vortex is an honest, but also moving, exploration of true intimacy. – author Amitiva Kumar

In Giller Prize-nominated writer and visual artist Shani Mootoo’s highly-anticipated new novel Polar Vortex, couple Priya and Alexandra move to a picturesque countryside town, only to have their quiet lives upended by the reappearance of a figure from one of the woman’s pasts. Seductive and tension-filled, Polar Vortex is a story of secrets, deceptions, and revenge.

In light of having to postpone the Toronto launch of Polar Vortex and conversation between Shani Mootoo and author Catherine Bush, the Koffler’s Mary Anderson, Manager of Literary & Public Programs, asked Shani to record herself reading the opening pages of her new book from her home in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Books-Ideas/Book-Reading-Polar-Vortex-by-Shani-Mootoo

The Koffler’s Books & Ideas series presents the launch of curator Catherine Clement’s book, Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow.

In conversation with author and Associate Professor at York University, Lily Cho.

Chinatown Through a Wide Lens showcases the once-hidden photographs of Vancouver’s first and most prolific Chinese photographer, Yucho Chow. He operated a commercial studio in the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown from 1907–1949 and chronicled life during a tumultuous and transformative time in Canadian history.

https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Books-Ideas/Catherine-Clement

The launch of award-winning fiction writer Joseph Kertes’ Last Impressions, a deeply moving yet comic novel that revels in the energy of its extraordinary characters. At the centre is Zoltan Beck, an aging Jewish-Canadian patriarch who has done his best to hide the trauma of his refugee past from his beloved children. Set in both mid-20th century Hungary and contemporary Toronto, Last Impressions is a story of lost love and newfound connections, of a father and his sons desperately reaching out to bridge an ever-widening gap... even as their time together ebbs away.

In conversation with award-winning writer and humourist Terry Fallis, author of The Best Laid Plans, The High Road, and Albatross.

https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Books-Ideas/Joseph-Kertes-Terry-Fallis

Dubbed “the rising star of literary Houston” (Literary Hub), Bryan Washington is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Recipient, the recipient of an Ernest J. Gaines Award, and the recipient of an O. Henry Award. His stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Vulture, The Paris Review, Tin House, One Story, GQ, among others.

Lot, Washington’s critically-acclaimed first collection of linked short stories, was released in 2019. Set in Houston – a sprawling, diverse microcosm of America – the book traces the coming-of-age of a young man growing up Black, Latino and gay. Lot captures Houston’s culturally-rich yet gritty urban landscape, revealing the vulnerable existence of communities living under the shadow of poverty and violence with raw power and tenderness. Offering rare insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot explores trust and love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms.

Adnan Khan has written for VICE, The Globe and Mail, and Hazlitt. He has been nominated for a National Magazine Award and in 2016 won the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. There Has to Be a Knife (2019) is his first novel.

https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Books-Ideas/Bryan-Washington

In this first episode of Thresholds, Maria Bangash shares how she made it through her first year of college in Toronto with a physical disability, and how she confronted her fear to advocate for herself on campus and within her able-bodied friend group.

Thresholds is a new Koffler.Digital podcast hosted and produced by Maya Bedward in collaboration with members of Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council. Presented in 5 parts, each episode of Thresholds explores the experiences of these youth with disabilities, as they transition into the adult world.

https://kofflerarts.org/Exhibitions/Digital/Digital-Projects/Thresholds

In the fifth and final episode of Thresholds, Lexin Zhang performs a poetic narrative, which is followed by a personal reflection and interpretation by Logan Wong.

Thresholds is a new Koffler.Digital podcast hosted and produced by Maya Bedward in collaboration with members of Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council. Presented in 5 parts, each episode of Thresholds explores the experiences of these youth with disabilities, as they transition into the adult world.

https://kofflerarts.org/Exhibitions/Digital/Digital-Projects/Thresholds

In the fourth episode of Thresholds, Bianca Salvo narrates the story of how Conductive Education Therapy took her to Budapest, where she learned to walk independently in spite of the diagnosis she was given at birth, and brought her back to Toronto—and a public speaking career—many years later.

Thresholds is a new Koffler.Digital podcast hosted and produced by Maya Bedward in collaboration with members of Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council. Presented in 5 parts, each episode of Thresholds explores the experiences of these youth with disabilities, as they transition into the adult world.

https://kofflerarts.org/Exhibitions/Digital/Digital-Projects/Thresholds

In the third episode of Thresholds, Samantha Alfaro relays the challenges of Toronto’s public transit system for a person with a disability.

Thresholds is a new Koffler.Digital podcast hosted and produced by Maya Bedward in collaboration with members of Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council. Presented in 5 parts, each episode of Thresholds explores the experiences of these youth with disabilities, as they transition into the adult world.

https://kofflerarts.org/Exhibitions/Digital/Digital-Projects/Thresholds

In the second episode of Thresholds, Mika Hjorngaard and Tai Young share snapshots of their everyday lives—dating, going to the fair, drinking—and discuss the ways in which perceptions of disability are often more difficult to navigate than physical barriers.

Thresholds is a new Koffler.Digital podcast hosted and produced by Maya Bedward in collaboration with members of Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council. Presented in 5 parts, each episode of Thresholds explores the experiences of these youth with disabilities, as they transition into the adult world.

https://koffler.digital/thresholds/

Erika DeFreitas, Gunilla Josephson, Heather Nicol, Shellie Zhang, Gord Peteran, Iris Häussler, Carmela Laganse, with Curator Mona Filip and Art Director Nicolas Fleming

A conversation with seven artists featured in the Koffler Gallery’s fall 2019 exhibition, Undomesticated. Each offer insights into their artistic practice, and how their featured works relate to the theme of domesticity. The artists are joined by curator Mona Filip and art director Nicolas Fleming to discuss how the exhibition considers the psychological, political and emotional layers that shape our sense of home and belonging.

https://kofflerarts.org/Exhibitions/Gallery/Gallery-Exhibitions/Undomesticated